How to: Migrate and Publish a Web Application to Windows Azure from Visual Studio

To create a SQL Azure server in Windows Azure management console, follow the steps in the following article: Create a SQL Azure Server.

Note
When you set up the firewall rules for your SQL Azure server, you must select the Allow other Windows Azure services to access this server check box.

To create a SQL Azure database to use for your connection string, follow the steps in the next section in the following article: Create a SQL Azure Database.

To copy the ADO.NET connection string to use for your connection string, in the Windows Azure Management Portal perform the following steps:

1. Choose the Database button. Then open the node for the subscription that you used to create your SQL Azure server.

2. To display the available SQL Azure databases, open the SQL Azure server node.

3. To view the properties for the database, choose the database. The Properties view is displayed.

   Note
   If the Properties view is not displayed, you might need to open the view by dragging the divider for the view to the left.

4. To view the connection strings, choose the ellipsis button next to View.

   The Connection Strings dialog is displayed.

5. To copy the ADO.NET connection string, highlight the text and press Ctrl+C.

6. To close the dialog, choose the Close button.

To replace the connection string in the web.config file to use this SQL Azure database, open the web.config file. Highlight the existing entry in the web.config file for the connection string entry and press Ctrl+V to replace the existing connection string with the ADO.NET connection string for the SQL Azure database.

You must also add the parameter MultipleActiveResultSets=True to the connection string. The connection string should have the following format:

connectionString=”Server=tcp:<database_server>.database.windows.net,1433;Database=<database_name>;User ID=<user_name>@<database_server>;Password=<myPassword>;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True"

(Optional) An alternative method to changing the connection string directly in the web.config file is to add a section into one of the web.config transformation files, depending on the build configuration that you use to create your service package. Open either the Web.Debug.Config file or the Web.Release.Config file. Add the following section into this file:

<connectionStrings>
   <add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Server=tcp:<database_server>.database.windows.net,1433;Database=<database_name>;User ID=<user_name>@<database_server>;Password=<myPassword>;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" xdt:Locator="Match(name)"/>
</connectionStrings>

Save the file that you modified and republish your application.

To test the application in the local development environment using the Windows Azure compute emulator, open the shortcut menu for the Windows Azure project for the web role and choose Set as Startup Project. Then choose Debug, Start Debugging (Keyboard: F5).

The Start the Windows Azure Debugging Environment dialog box is displayed. The application is started in the browser. For any specific details about how to start each type of Web application in the compute emulator, see the table in this section.

To set up the services for your application to publish to Windows Azure, you must have a Windows Live ID and a Windows Azure subscription. Use the steps in the following topic to set up your services: Setting Up Services Required to Publish a Windows Azure Application from Visual Studio.

To publish the Web application to Windows Azure, open the shortcut menu for the Web project and choose Publish to Windows Azure.

The Publish Windows Azure Application dialog box is displayed. Visual Studio starts the deployment process. For more information about how to publish the application, see Publish a Windows Azure Application from Visual Studio.

Note
You can also publish the Web application from the Windows Azure project. To do this, open the shortcut menu for the Windows Azure project and choose Publish.

To see the progress of the deployment, you can view the Windows Azure Activity Log window. This log is automatically displayed when the deployment process starts. You can expand the line item in the activity log to show detailed information, as shown in the following illustration:

(Optional) To cancel the deployment process, open the shortcut menu for the line item in the activity log and choose Cancel and remove. This stops the deployment process and deletes the deployment environment from Windows Azure.

Note
To remove this deployment environment after it has been deployed, you must use the Management Portal.

(Optional) After your role instances have started, Visual Studio automatically shows the deployment environment in the Windows Azure Compute node in Server Explorer. From here you can view the status of the individual role instances. For more information about the Windows Azure Compute node in Server Explorer, see Viewing the State of an Azure Application using Server Explorer.

The following illustration shows the role instances while they are still in the Initializing state:

To access your application after deployment, choose the arrow next to your deployment when a status of Completed is displayed in the Windows Azure Activity log. This displays the url for your Web application in Windows Azure. See the following table for the details about how to start a specific type of Web application from Windows Azure.

To create a SQL Azure database that can be used for a ASP.NET Dynamic Entities Web application, you must follow the steps in this procedure: Use a SQL Azure database for your application.

Add the tables and fields that you need for this database from the Windows Azure Platform Management Portal.

The connection string for this type of application has the following format in the web.config file:

<add name="tempdbEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model1.csdl|res://*/Model1.ssdl|res://*/Model1.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;data source=<server name>\SQLEXPRESS;initial catalog=<database name>;integrated security=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

Update the connectionString value with the ADO.NET connection string for your SQL Azure database as follows:

<add name="tempdbEntities" 
    connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model1.csdl|res://*/Model1.ssdl|res://*/Model1.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;Server=tcp:<SQL Azure server name>.database.windows.net,1433;Database=<database name>;User ID=<user name>;Password=<password>;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;multipleactiveresultsets=True;App=EntityFramework&quot;" 
    providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

To save the web.config file with the changes that you have made to the connection string, on the menu bar choose File, Save web.config.