Microsoft has a cloud platform which runs .NET, NodeJS and PHP. All 101 talks out there will show you the same: it’s easy to deploy, it scales out on demand and it runs WordPress. Great! But what about doing real things? In this session, we’ll explore the things they don’t teach kids in school. How about trying to find out the architecture of this platform? What about the different deployment options for Windows Azure Web Sites, the development flow and some awesome things you can do with the command line tools? Did you know you can modify the automated build process? Join me in this exploration of some lesser known techniques of the platform.

1. Windows Azure Web Sites
Things they don’t teach kids in school
Maarten Balliauw
@maartenballiauw

2. Who am I?
Maarten Balliauw
Technical Evangelist, JetBrains
AZUG
Focus on web
ASP.NET MVC, Windows Azure, SignalR, ...
MVP Windows Azure & ASPInsider
Big passion: Windows Azure
http://blog.maartenballiauw.be
@maartenballiauw
Shameless self promotion: Pro NuGet -
http://amzn.to/pronuget

4. Agenda
Windows Azure Web Sites
Architecture
Project Kudu
Kudu kung-fu

5. Windows Azure Web Sites

6. Web Sites in Seconds
Start Simple Your way Go Live
start free, scale up and out with asp.net, php or deploy live in seconds,
as you go, friction-free node.js, develop on easily monitor
and without the headaches Windows, OSX or performance, rapidly
Linux diagnose and
fix issues

7. demo
Windows Azure
Web Sites

8. Architecture

9. Web Sites are not in IIS until a
request comes in!

10. Load balancer
Layers
1st layer: Windows Azure load balancer
2nd layer: IIS + ARR
ARR
“Reverse proxy”
Verifies hosting database (plans, quotas, …)
Negotiates best node to run your site on
Site not used much? Put it on a highly loaded machine

11. Web servers
%SYSTEM32%inetsrvconfigapplicationHost.config is taken out of the loop
SQL Azure
No refreshing of all app pools when file is saved
Storage
“File share” hosted on other machines
Using “WA drive” on blob storage
Dynamic website activation service
Verifies runtime database (plans, quotas, …)
Site not used for a while? Remove it from the server

12. 1st request (cold site)
Web Worker
IIS ARR
(LB)
Azure Runtime Other
LB DB databases
Storage
Controller

13. xth request (hot site)
Web Worker
IIS ARR
(LB)
Azure
LB Other
databases
Storage
Controller

14. Your app not being used for a while?

15. Provisioning, publishing, metering
Provisioning and publishing
Storage and database
!= launching a website on web farm
Metering
By web servers once a site is loaded
Reported back to runtime database

16. Provisioning, publishing, metering
Web Worker
IIS ARR SQL Azure
(LB)
Site
Site Blob storage
(W3WP.exe)
Site
(W3WP.exe)
(W3WP.exe)
Runtime Windows Azure Worker
DB Role
Other
Azure Metering databas
LB es
DWAS
Provisioning /
API Frontend
Storage
Deployment Controller X-Drive
Server

17. What I find awesome…
Windows Azure Web Sites runs on Windows Azure Cloud Services
ARR nodes are in fault/update domains
Web Workers are in fault/update domains
Storage nodes are in fault/update domains
Data is on SQL Azure
Files are on blob storage

18. demo
Let’s find some
proof…

19. Need more
proof?
Windows Azure
Services for Windows
Server
(http://www.microsoft.com/hosti
ng/en/us/services.aspx)
Or:
http://blog.maartenballiauw.be/
post/2012/07/24/Hands-on-
Windows-Azure-Services-for-
Windows.aspx

20. Project Kudu

21. Project Kudu
“The engine behind git deployments on Windows Azure”
Open source (www.github.com/projectkudu/kudu)
Provides git deployments
Provides builds
Provides sandboxing
Provides hosting

22. demo
Project Kudu

23. Kudu kung-fu

24. demo
Application log
streaming

25. Log streaming
All logs from the LogFiles/Application folder
Or configure it when querying: azure log tail <site> -p http
Settings
DIAGNOSTICS_LASTRESORTFILE -> file to log to when diagnostics go
wrong
DIAGNOSTICS_LOGGINGSETTINGSFILE -> settings file (json)
DIAGNOSTICS_TEXTTRACELOGDIRECTORY -> default folder
DIAGNOSTICS_TEXTTRACEMAXLOGFILESIZEBYTES-> log rotation
(bytes)
DIAGNOSTICS_TEXTTRACEMAXLOGFOLDERSIZEBYTES -> max log
size (bytes)

26. demo
Managing settings
and secrets!

27. demo
Staging and
production

28. demo
Multi-tier
Deploying a specific project file

29. Multi-tier remarks…
One .deployment file per branch
[config]
project=MultiTier.WebApi/MultiTier.WebApi.csproj
How do I deploy all tiers in a separate website?
.deployment file per branch and every tier in a branch
or customize the build

30. Customizing the build process
Check https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/wiki/Deployment-hooks
.deployment file
[config]
command=<whatever command>
Write in batch file, bash script, PHP, JavaScript, …

31. demo
Customizing
deployments
An introduction

32. What can I do in scripts?
A lot  (but not too much… there’s a sandbox)
Environment variables:
DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE
DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
DEPLOYMENT_TEMP
MSBUILD_PATH
+ everything you feed it through the management portal

33. demo
Customizing
deployments
Sample deployment script

34. Great… but why?
We’ve seen the multi-tier scenario
We can download stuff (NuGet package restore, pull in external Git repos
before build)
We can run stuff (msbuild, nuget.exe, curl, php, node, …)

35. demo
Customizing
deployments
What about running unit tests?

36. Need. Moar!

37. Moar out of the box
REST API
https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/wiki/REST-API
DropBox support
Creating a custom handler
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/python/tutorials/web-sites-with-
django/

38. Need. MOAR!!!

39. A private Kudu build in web sites?

40. A private Kudu build in web sites?
Build and FTP the artifacts/debug/KuduService to your website
Add USE_PRIVATE_KUDU=1 app setting
Enjoy the ride! (but don’t call support, you’re on your own)
See http://blog.davidebbo.com/2012/06/developing-kudu-locally-and-on-azure.html

41. Conclusion

42. Key takeaways
Windows Azure Web Sites are high density
Hosted on Cloud Services
Kudu is our best friend
Settings and secrets
Muliple environments
Multiple tiers
Build customization
Unit tests
Kudu-in-Kudu

43. http://blog.maartenballiauw.
be
@maartenballiauw
http://amzn.to/pronuget
Thank you!