Troubleshooting Deployment Problems Using the Deployment Properties

I cannot access my website even though my deployment is started and all role instances are ready.

The website URL link shown in the portal does not include the port. The default port for websites is 80. However, if your application is configured to run in a different port, you must add the correct port to the URL when accessing the website.

1. In the Management Portal, click the deployment of your hosted service.
   
   
2. In the Properties pane of the Management Portal, check the ports for the role instances (under Input Endpoints).
   
   
3. If the port is not 80, add the correct port value to the URL when you access the application. To specify a non-default port, type the URL, followed by a colon (:), followed by the port number with no spaces.
   
   

My roles instances restarted without me doing anything.

Service healing occurs automatically when the Windows Azure detects problematic nodes and moves role instances to new nodes. When this occurs, you might see your role instances restarting automatically. To find out if service healing occurred:

1. In the Management Portal, click the deployment of your hosted service.
   
   
2. In the Properties pane of the Management Portal, review the information and determine if service healing occurred during the time you observed the roles restarting.
   
   

I cannot do a VIP swap and receive an error whenever I try.

A VIP swap is not allowed if a deployment update is in progress. Deployment updates can occur automatically when:

• A new guest operating system is available and you are configured for automatic updates
  
  
• Service healing occurs
  
  

To find out if an automatic upgrade is preventing you from doing a VIP swap:

1. In the Management Portal, click the deployment of your hosted service.
   
   
2. In the Properties pane of the Management Portal, look at the value of Status. If it is Ready, then check Last operation to see if one recently happened that might prevent the VIP swap.
   
   
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the production deployment.
   
   
4. If an automatic update is in process, wait for it to finish before trying to do the VIP swap.
   
   

A role instance is looping between Started, Initializing, Busy, and Stopped.

This condition could indicate a problem with your application code, package or configuration file. If true, then you should be able to see the Status changing every few minutes. This would indicate that there is something wrong with the application that is keeping the role instance from running.

1. In the Management Portal, click the role instance.
   
   
2. In the Properties pane of the Management Portal, look at the value of Abort count, wait 1 minute, and then refresh the information.
   
   
3. Repeat step 2 a few more times to see if the count changes. If it does, then you need to troubleshoot your application for problems that are causing the role instance to stop. The problem could be that you are missing some necessary files like certificates or assemblies that your application depends on.
   
   

For more information on how to troubleshoot for this problem, seeTroubleshooting Hosted Service Deployment States.

My application stopped working.

1. In the Management Portal, click the role instance.
   
   
2. In the Properties pane of the Management Portal, consider the following conditions to resolve your problem:
   
   
   • If the role instance has recently stopped (you can check the value of Abort count), the deployment could be updating. Wait to see if the role instance resumes functioning on its own.
     
     
   • If the role instance is Busy, check your application code to see if the StatusCheck event is handled. You might need to add or fix some code that handles this event.
     
     
   • If the role instance is not responsive, it is very likely the instance has run out of CPU or memory resources. You can restart the application by clicking the deployment and clicking Stop, waiting for the application to stop, and then clicking Start.
     
     

Note
If you restart your hosted service, you reset the properties for the deployment, effectively erasing the information for the original problem.

A CName for my hosted service has stopped working .

The most common cause of CName problems is an error with the URL or IP address assigned to the CName.

1. In the Management Portal, click the deployment.
   
   
2. In the Properties pane of the Management Portal, check the VIP address and make sure the CName is pointed to the correct address.
   
   
3. Make sure the DNS name refers to a URL in the cloudapp.net domain.
   
   
4. Check the Last operation to see if a service healing is in progress, which would account for your application stopping. Wait to see if the application resumes functioning correctly on its own.