Started working with Windows Azure? Want to have automated build and deploy, rather than clicking around in a web console or Visual Studio?

Check out the AzureBuildDeploy repository on GitHub.

I set this up for an Azure proof of concept project. It contains Powershell scripts for simple automated packaging, build and deploy, and a dummy WCF application for deployment to the cloud. The WCF application can however be easily replaced with a web application or what ever other .NET application you would like to host in the cloud.

How to use

  • Clone or download the source from http://github.com/jcrisp/AzureBuildDeploy
  • Update the $serviceName at the top of build-package-deploy.ps1
  • Update the certificate details, and subscription id at the top of deploy.ps1
  • If you plan to use SqlAzure (as in my proof of concept), update the connection details in HelloWorldService.svc.cs. If you don’t plan to use SqlAzure, just stub out the whole FindFirstGreetingUsingSqlAzure() method by returning a string.
  • Test out deployment to the cloud (run build-package-deploy.ps1). You can ensure it is working using the sample client in the repository.
  • Now you’ve got everything working, replace the dummy WCF application with whatever you want.

Notes
In my experience, the deployment of a simple application via these scripts, Visual Studio or the console takes about 16 minutes, from start of deploy to the service able to accept clients. This is extremely slow – I hope it improves!