I'm developing an app. using Common.Logging (http://netcommon.sourceforge.net/index.html).
A simplified logging configuration (which is done in web.config) is as follows:
<configuration>
...
<arg key="configType" value="FILE" />
<arg key="configFile" value="NLog.config" />
...
</configuration>
As you can see here, the configuration points another configuration file (here, NLog.config) of a backend logging framework.
My question is: when deploying in Azure, what path should I specify here (on dev, NLog.config is copied when building the solution, and placed in the bin directory). In other words, what would be the SAFEST way to get the physical place where the app is deployed in Azure?
Thanks in advance!
In code you can find the current path to the application using Server.MapPath("/"). Now, you can simply make sure that the NLog.config file gets deployed to the application folder:
Add NLog.config to your project (in the root of your web application)
Change the Build Action to Content
In order to test this you can right click on your Azure project an choose Package. In the bin\Release|Debug\app.publish folder of your Azure project you'll find a *.cspkg file. Add a .zip extension to this file and open the file with WinRAR/ZIP/7zip/... Then you'll see a file like this one: SomeWebRole_1a91f39a-49b7-4ece-873f-862172a2fa06.cssx. Here again, add the .zip extension to this file and open it.
If you navigate to the sitesroot\0 folder you'll see the files of the web application in IIS, including the NLog.config file. This way, you' can simply reference the NLog.config file in the Common.Logging settings:
Related
I have a solution with a web project in it and a cloud project for deploying that web project as a cspkg file to a cloud service. This all works fine. However, I have a file that i don't want in the web project but I do want deployed with the cspkg file into the cloud service.
We use VSTS to build and deploy things, and I haven't figured out how to include extra files in the package within this system. I tried a Copy Files step but that doesn't get the file into the package, it does get it into the artifacts though. I tried other things I found online, like the PipelineCollectFilesPhaseDependsOn injection technique, but nothing seems to work.
Is this possible, and if so, how can it be done?
The Azure deployment package file (CSPKG) file is zipped and encrypted, there isn’t the better way to add additional files (More details: Include/Exclude files when creating Azure package). But you can include the files in BeforeBuild target. For this way, you don’t need to include files to the web project.
For example:
Edit web project file (e.g. WebRole1.csproj)
Add BeforeBuild target before tag.
Code:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="Files\TT.txt">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
I'm posting this and answering it, because this left me stumped for a very long time. I have the following line in my web.config:
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet" arguments=".\XXX.Server.dll" stdoutLogEnabled="true" stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout" forwardWindowsAuthToken="false" />
So apparently, this should be logging to logs\stdout, but when I look, there's nothing there. I went on a wild goose chase, searching the whole disk for anything named 'log' (that returned too much) or 'stdout' (that returned nothing), and still couldn't figure it out.
You could probably check the Event Viewer on your machine -> Application to see if there are any errors logged, which could explain why your log files aren't being generated.
However, the most probable reason is that IIS doesn't have a permission to write to that log folder.
Right click on the folder -> Security
Ensure that IIS_IUSRS user has the following permissions: read and execute, list, write (potentially write is missing by default)
You must make sure the log folder exists! IIS won't make it for you. Such a simple solution to this infuriating problem.
Update - Nov 2022
The Microsoft documentation on Setting up logging for Asp.Net Core on IIS now specifically lists creating the 'Logs' folder as one of the steps. This implies that IIS will not create the folder if it doesn't exist.
This issue was raised in the Asp Net Core Module's repo on GitHub: Issue #30 - Logs are not created if the log folder does not exist. Their suggested workaround is to include a dummy '.log' file in the log directory, so that the log folder is created when you publish the site.
I created the logs folder but still, nothing was logged. I found out that you can use an existing folder under home/logfiles and make it work without creating a folder. This solution worked for me as is:
1) Open the web.config file that is created in the root folder of the published application.
2) Set stdoutlogEnabled to true and stdoutLogFile to \?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout like this:
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet" arguments=".\SellCarsHereV2.dll" stdoutLogEnabled="true" stdoutLogFile="\\?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout" />
Then you can either go to that path and download the files or use the Azure Portal (if it's hosted in Azure). If you are using the Azure Portal:
1) Go to the app service.
2) Go to Advanced Tools which takes you to https://{your app service}.scm.azurewebsites.net/
3) Click on Debug Console menu --> CMD
4) Click on LogFiles
5) You'll see a file called stdout_*.log and you can click on the pencil to view it. You can also download the file if you want.
According to the provided stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout" in your web.config file, the logs directory should be created next to the web.config, inside the publish directory.
To create the logs subdirectory you can use the approach described in the ASP.NET Core directory structure.
Just paste this at the end of your published project's *.csproj file
<Project>
...
<Target Name="CreateLogsFolder" AfterTargets="Publish">
<MakeDir Directories="$(PublishDir)logs"
Condition="!Exists('$(PublishDir)logs')" />
</Target>
</Project>
During the publish process after this change the logs directory should be created if it does not exist in the output directory.
If you run for example:
dotnet publish --output <path_to_your_publish_folder> you should find the logs directory inside the <path_to_your_publish_folder>
I did the following steps in order to get logs:
Create a folder logs and give write access to IIS_IUSRS as described above
Set absolute path in web.config: stdoutLogFile="C:\xxx\xxx\logs"
Recycle the the application pool
Stop, Start the Website
Edit
Step 2 works with relative path too stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout"
Check the event viewer. If you're like me you will see an entry in the Application\Event log "Could not create stdoutLogFile c:....logs\stdout_....". You have to create the logs folder there yourself. Once I created the "logs" folder stdout_.... files began to dump into it. Of course also be sure stdoutLogEnabled="true". The location of the expected folder location will be shown in the event viewer log. This is important because it may not be where you think it should be located.
I noticed that the logs are not created immediately when you hit the website. I allowed write access for IIS_IUSRS, created 'logs' folder, restarted app_pool and after few minutes logs were there.
I'm deploying a web role to Azure using VS 2013. I added a Contents element to my .csdef file to deploy extra files that are not included in the Azure deployment package like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ServiceDefinition name="..." xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition" schemaVersion="2014-06.2.4">
<WebRole name="..." vmsize="Small">
<!-- snip -->
<Contents>
<Content destination="bin/">
<SourceDirectory path="C:\...\bin"/>
</Content>
</Contents>
</WebRole>
</ServiceDefinition>
When the package is deployed, I can see the extra files being put in the approot folder on the instance's F: drive. However, these files are never deployed to the sitesroot\0 folder, from which the web role seems to run. Because these extra files are assemblies that are to be loaded dynamically, I would like them to be together with the application's other assemblies.
Is this behavior intentional or am I doing something wrong? There doesn't seem to be much information about this online.
I ended up using the Content element in the end, but with a different destination path, pointing to the sitesroot folder. It's a bit of a hack, but at least it works without diving into MSBuild or manual packaging of the deployment.
<ServiceDefinition name="..." xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition" schemaVersion="2014-06.2.4">
<WebRole name="..." vmsize="Small">
<!-- snip -->
<Contents>
<Content destination="..\sitesroot\0\bin">
<SourceDirectory path="C:\...\bin" />
</Content>
</Contents>
</WebRole>
</ServiceDefinition>
The behaviour is as per the documentation which states that the deployed location is relative to the Role's APPROOT (the behaviour you are seeing).
If you want them deployed into your site's bin folder you need to package them as part of your Visual Studio solution.
You can add a DLL to your root directory of a project (Add -> Existing Item). If you take that DLL and change the Build Action set to Content and the Copy to Output Directory set to Copy Always then I think this will make sure that the DLL ends up being in your BIN folder, or equiv.
An example of what I've done in the past:
Two projects in a Solution named:
DependenciesProject (Class Library)
WebProject (MVC App)
I had a need where some specific DLLs that needed to be bundled into the compiled package were included but the specific DLL that would be used would change based on my compiled targets (x64 vs x86). The solution we chose to go with was to have the DependenciesProject do what I described for you to do above and we modified the .csproj file to change the path to these native DLLs based on the target specified at compile-time (we disabled Any CPU).
So the DependenciesProject had these DLLs in the root directory (with that .csproj having some tweaks for dynamic paths to the DLLs that existed in our Nuget packages folder) and the DLLs in the Solution Explorer had the Build Action set to Content and the Copy to Output Directory set to Copy Always. This means whenever a DependenciesProject.dll file was compiled, it would move the other DLLs into the same output folder as that .DLL file.
Now WebProject project would have a Project Reference to DependenciesProject. This means every time I try to compile WebProject, it will first compile DependenciesProject and then copy its output folder into the WebProject's output folder.
The end result: DependenciesProject.dll as well as MySpecial.dll existed with my web application every time I needed it.
Does this help?
I have an executable that I want to be deployed together with my Azure web role. The executable has a configuration file that needs to be included as well.
I tried adding a reference to the executable's project in my web role project, which made the exe file appear in the bin folder of the cspkg, but not the configuration file.
How can I get the configuration file to be included as well?
It seems wrong to include it directly as a content file in the web role project because this file is a build artifact (app.config gets renamed to .config.exe during build).
Thanks!
In an early SDK they added the concept of Role Content folders, or folders you could point to in the service definition file and say anything in this folder, add it to the package and deploy it with the role. If you look at the schema for the Service Definition you'll see these listed on the both the web and worker roles schemas. You can manually add this and point to any location on the local system and anything in that directory will be picked up and included.
<WebRole name="SimpleWeb" vmsize="Small">
...
<Contents>
<Content destination="ConsoleApp">
<SourceDirectory path="c:\src\SimpleWebContent\ConsoleApp\BuildOutput" />
</Content>
</Contents>
</WebRole>
For example, you could point to the output directory of the build for your executable so that anything that is generated by your build for that executable would be included. You can set the destination directory in relation to the app root, but the tricky part is the source directory. Note in my example above the full path is provided. The documentation says that you can use a relative path, but I tried many combinations and the behavior seemed very quirky. The complete path does work.
The VS SDK tools didn't expose this until SDK 1.7 and it's still not very good. Phil Hoff did a blog post on it called "Add Files to your Windows Azure Package using Role Content Folders". Note that when you use this method of adding the files you won't see the content elements appear in your service definition. They get auto injected at package time. If you are doing this as part of a build process that may not happen since VS tooling is doing the injection, but to be fair I didn't try calling cspack directly to see if having the content elements included in the service definition file actually packaged those or not. Also, I found that just adding a new folder and just having files under that folder didn't seem to work. I had to actually add the files by name there, which seemed wrong. I did hack the .ccproj file to use a wildcard on the folder include, which did work, but also seemed like a hack to me.
I am using Microsoft's AjaxMin to minify javascript on my website, which is hosted by Azure. I am using a BuildTask to automatically minify javascript at run time. This build task is specified in the .csproj file.
The process is working on my local environment, however, it does not work when I deploy to my Azure site. The azure site throws 404: file not found errors, when i try to reference the minified version of .js files.
Is it possible to use build tasks on an Azure site? Is there anything I am missing? I have made sure not to include the .min.js files in source control as this (http://www.asp.net/ajaxlibrary/AjaxMinQuickStart.ashx) tutorial suggests, but I am wondering if there is anything specific to Azure that I need to set up.
Thanks!
I've got this working properly in my projects. I'll tell you how I did it, though this may not be the simplest or most straightforward way.
Before we get started, it's helpful to be able to check if your minified files are included in the Azure deployment package without actually deploying. It's pretty easy to do. The .cspkg file is actually a zip-formatted file, so you can open it with any zip archiver. (I like to use 7Zip for this because the right-click -> Open Archive command doesn't require you to rename the file, but you could use Windows Explorer, WinRAR, etc.) Inside the .cspkg you'll see another large file with a .cssx extension. That's a zip file too. Inside of the .cssx you'll find a sitesroot folder with a subdirectory for each website you're deploying, which will contain all your actual website files. So you can poke around in there and see what files are being deployed to Azure.
First, try editing the project file for your web project (the one that contains all the Javascript/CSS files). You can use Notepad, or in Visual Studio right-click the project, select "Unload Project", then right-click again and select "Edit ". Inside the project file, insert a section like this:
<ItemGroup>
<!-- Copy over all the minified CSS & JS to the output directory-->
<Content Include="**\*.min.css" />
<Content Include="**\*.min.js" />
</ItemGroup>
Then reload the project, repackage it, and see if your files are included in the .cspkg file. If they are, then you're done.
If not, there are a couple other things to check. Your minification might not be running at the right build stage. My minification target looks like this:
<Target Name="PrepWebApp" Condition="$(Configuration)=='Release'" AfterTargets="AfterBuild">
If that's still not working and your Web Role has multiple Sites and/or Virtual Applications in it, it's possible that the packaging steps are not running for all of the sites. So when you go to package your project for deployment to Azure, it may still not be running the minification step (along with the web.config transformations, and some other things). If that's the case, see this blog post for a way to fix it.
Just in case that blog post goes away, I'll copy the most relevant bit here. You would put this in the .ccproj file for your web role (with appropriate bits changed to match your project structure):
<PropertyGroup>
<!-- Inject the publication of "secondary" sites into the Windows Azure build/project packaging process. -->
<CoreBuildDependsOn>
CleanSecondarySites;
PublishSecondarySites;
$(CoreBuildDependsOn)
</CoreBuildDependsOn>
<!-- This is the directory within the web application project directory to which the project will be "published" for later packaging by the Azure project. -->
<SecondarySitePublishDir>azure.publish\</SecondarySitePublishDir>
</PropertyGroup>
<!-- These SecondarySite items represent the collection of sites (other than the web application associated with the role) that need special packaging. -->
<ItemGroup>
<SecondarySite Include="..\WebApplication1\WebApplication1.csproj" />
<SecondarySite Include="..\WebApplication2\WebApplication2.csproj" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CleanSecondarySites">
<RemoveDir Directories="%(SecondarySite.RootDir)%(Directory)$(SecondarySitePublishDir)" />
</Target>
<Target Name="PublishSecondarySites" Condition="'$(PackageForComputeEmulator)' == 'true'
Or '$(IsExecutingPublishTarget)' == 'true' ">
<!--
Execute the Build (and more importantly the _WPPCopyWebApplication) target to "publish" each secondary web application project.
Note the setting of the WebProjectOutputDir property; this is where the project will be published to be later picked up by CSPack.
-->
<MSBuild Projects="%(SecondarySite.Identity)" Targets="Build;_WPPCopyWebApplication" Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);Platform=$(Platform);WebProjectOutputDir=$(SecondarySitePublishDir)" />
The build task will run in Visual Studio when you build the project. You need to make sure that the minified files are also being deployed to Azure.
I'm guessing that perhaps because the item is being generated at build-time that it's not part of the project itself, and is this ignored by the deployment step.
Please check that the deployment system being used will include all the script files and not just the ones that are in the project itself.