Azure DevOps ASP.NET Web API Could not download zip YAML issue - azure

Question

I am trying to deploy a .NET (not .NET Core) web api using Azure DevOps to an Azure Web App. Its a standard issue web api which i have no issues running locally or deploying via Visual Studio Code Azure Deploy extension.
I have the following YAML file. The entire pipeline runs fine without any errors. No errors in the YAML file itself.
# ASP.NET
# Build and test ASP.NET projects.
# Add steps that publish symbols, save build artifacts, deploy, and more:
# https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/apps/aspnet/build-aspnet-4
trigger:
- master
pool:
vmImage: 'windows-latest'
variables:
solution: '**/*.sln'
buildPlatform: 'Any CPU'
buildConfiguration: 'Release'
steps:
- task: NuGetToolInstaller#1
- task: NuGetCommand#2
inputs:
restoreSolution: '$(solution)'
- task: VSBuild#1
inputs:
solution: '$(solution)'
msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)"'
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
configuration: '$(buildConfiguration)'
- task: VSTest#2
inputs:
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
configuration: '$(buildConfiguration)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts#1
inputs:
pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
artifactName: drop
- task: ArchiveFiles#2
inputs:
rootFolderOrFile: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
includeRootFolder: false
- task: AzureWebApp#1
inputs:
azureSubscription: 'BariBasicConnection'
appName: 'baribasicsapiserverjune21st2020b'
package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/$(Build.BuildId).zip'
The web app itself, when I try to load, it gives the following error.
The service is unavailable.
And, when i check the app files via Kudu, I see this in the wwwroot folder, webconfig file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
<system.webServer>
<rewrite>
<rules>
<rule name = "Site Unavailable" stopProcessing = "true">
<match url = ".*" />
<action type = "CustomResponse" statusCode = "503" subStatusCode = "0" statusReason = "Site Unavailable" statusDescription = "Could not download zip" />
</rule>
</rules>
</rewrite>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>
At this point, I am pretty sure, I am not picking up the right folder to deploy or something but Azure DevOps focuses mostly on .NET Core and Node and I am finding it difficult to find .NET specific related solutions.

Answer 1

Took me a good 6 hours of browsing around like some 100 azure doc files but finally got it to work.
A few things I found out.
The main problem was AzureWebApp#1. That is not the deployment component for .NET projects at all.
Further, the packager was already generating a zip file. So, the zip and unzip components in my file is actually not required. but i left it there anyway as it is required for other projects. It took me a while to figure that out.
Here is the full YAML file.
# ASP.NET
# Build and test ASP.NET projects.
# Add steps that publish symbols, save build artifacts, deploy, and more:
# https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/apps/aspnet/build-aspnet-4
# commit made to the master branch triggers the pipeline run.
trigger:
- master
# agent pool to run
pool:
vmImage: 'windows-latest'
# standard variables for a asp.net project deployment
variables:
solution: '**/*.sln'
buildPlatform: 'Any CPU'
buildConfiguration: 'Release'
# .net needs all those nuget packages installed
steps:
- task: NuGetToolInstaller#1
- task: NuGetCommand#2
inputs:
restoreSolution: '$(solution)'
# this is the building of the project
- task: VSBuild#1
inputs:
solution: '$(solution)'
msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)"'
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
configuration: '$(buildConfiguration)'
# run the unit tests
- task: VSTest#2
inputs:
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
configuration: '$(buildConfiguration)'
# publish the build artifacts
# this is where you get the deployment settings
# the deployment zip folder that you can later use for other things.
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts#1
inputs:
pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
artifactName: drop
# archive the build artifact for later processing
- task: ArchiveFiles#2
inputs:
rootFolderOrFile: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
includeRootFolder: false
# Extract files
# Extract a variety of archive and compression files such as .7z, .rar, .tar.gz, and .zip
# just extract it as an extra step
- task: ExtractFiles#1
inputs:
archiveFilePatterns: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/**/$(Build.BuildId).zip'
destinationFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/temp1'
cleanDestinationFolder: false
# finally deploy it.
- task: AzureRMWebAppDeployment#4
inputs:
Package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/projectname.zip'
appType: 'webApp'
ConnectedServiceName: ''
WebAppName: ''
The full repo is also available here - https://github.com/Jay-study-nildana/APIServerDotNetWithSimplePasswordToken/blob/master/azure-pipelines.yml