Release pipeline deploy multiple websites from single zip file - iis

Question

I'm attempting to build and deploy two applications that are in the same repository, onto a windows VM.
I would like it to deploy all the web applications into virtual applications matching the site names.
my build step is just a standard bare bones vsbuild:
variables:
solution: '**/*.sln'
buildPlatform: 'Any CPU'
buildConfiguration: 'Release'
... standard stuff ...
- task: VSBuild#1
inputs:
msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)\WebApp.zip"'
solution: '$(solution)'
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
configuration: '$(buildConfiguration)'
This generates a single zip file called webapp.zip. Looking in the zip file and it has the following structure
D_C
-> a
-> 1
-> s
-> app1
-> release
-> netcoreapp2.1
-> PubTmp
-> Out
-> <expected content>
-> app2
-> release
-> netcoreapp2.1
-> PubTmp
-> Out
-> <expected content>
Sub question - why did I get the obj folders not the bin folders?
My release, again, is just a single task with a single task "iis web app deploy". For now, I'm just leaving it as Default Web Site.
Leaving the deploy task just as default and I get no sub folders or virtual applications and it dumps app1 into the root of the web site host folder
I've tried defining two release tasks, specifying both app1 and app2 as the virtual application and although on the surface it appears to work (I get a folder called app1 and a folder called app2) both folders contain the code for app1.
Although it obviously refers to TFS rather than devops, https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/deploying-an-azure-web-site-using-the-new-build-system-in-visual-studio-online/ perfectly describes what I'm trying to do but yet doesn't seem to be working.

Answer 1

Release pipeline deploy multiple websites from single zip file
Based on my test, the IIS web app deploy task will deploy the files under the Out folder.
Vsbuild generates a zip folder, we cannot classify and deploy the two apps in the zip folder.
Since your websites are in the same zip file, you could add Extract files task to extract the zip file.
Then you could directly use the unzipped folder(app1 -> Out and app2 -> Out) to deploy.
Here is an example:
In the IIS deploy task, you could set the output folder to the Package or Folder.
For example:
You need to hard code the corresponding folder path directly.
e.g.
$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)\Destination folder name\Content\C_C\xxxxx\s\MvcMovie\MvcMovie\obj\Release\netcoreapp2.2\PubTmp\out
On the other hand, you could change the VSBuild arguments.
/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=false /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:DesktopBuildPackageLocation="$(build.artifactstagingdirectory)" /p:DeployIisAppPath="Default Web Site"
Then it will generate two zip files for the corresponding app.
In this case, it can make your deployment process clearer.