Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6

re: Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6

Philip Coupar — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:43:17 GMT

The build number was relatively easy. You need to modify the MSBuild command in the teambuild workflow to include the buildnumber, this makes it available in the targets file and can be added to the script command.

The problem with passing back the $Deployment.Url is that there are three layers of execution in this solution and to pass the value on to the MStest task in team build you would need to chain it through Powershell > MSbuild > teambuild. I see no easy way of doing this and hope the product team reinstate the buildnumber by default being passed to MS build and create a mechanism for passing values back up to the teambuild workflow.

I have the tear down script which I could execute after the test task in team build, but as it uses the publishsettings file I am not sure how to find the location of this file as I no longer have the context of the relevant project to get the path.

Philip

re: Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6

Tom Hollander — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:31:32 GMT

Hi Cesuz -

When you download a .publishsettings file for a Live ID associated with multiple subscriptions, the the same management certificate is used for all of the subscriptions. If you want a different certificate for each, you should either log into a Live ID that is only associated with a single subscription, or you could manage the certificates manually. Either way you'll still be able to use this build process.

Tom

re: Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6

Cezus — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:19:56 GMT

We have three subscriptions with hosted services on one Live ID, one for testing, one for release and one for RTM. Is it possible to use the solution described in this post, with for every subscription each an own management certificate?

We have a third party company to manage our Build Server. They are willing to install what is described in this blogpost.

Greetz,

re: Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6

Tom Hollander — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:25:21 GMT

Hi Philip -

Great questions. I'm far from being an MSBuild expert so I can't fully answer your questions, but I can give some hints.

1. This should be fairly easy. I think the build number is available through the $(BuildNumber) MSBuild variable. You should be able to pass this to the PowerShell script by modifying the AzureDeploy target and of course changing the PowerShell script to use this.

2. I haven't tried this but my understanding is that it's going to be tricky. According to bartdesmet.net/.../invoking-powershell-scripts-from-msbuild.aspx, "if one wants to feed back data from PowerShell to the MSBuild output for instance, a PSHost implementation would be required but that goes far beyond the scope of this post."

3. Tearing down an environment probably means stopping and deleting your Azure deployment, which is easy enough to do using the Azure Management API or via the PowerShell cmdlets. As you say, the trick is figuring out where to plug this code in.

Hope this helps!

Tom

re: Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6

Philip Coupar — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:04:27 GMT

I am still trying to figure out three things.

How do I pass in the TFS build number to use as the label for my deployment.

How to I pass $Deployment.Url from the powershell script back to TeamBuild so it updates the testsettings for MStest

How do I optionally configure a teardown script for my deployment after the test suite has run. (this one I am sure will involve modifying the workflow)