Configuring a Windows Azure Project

A Windows Azure project includes two configuration files: ServiceDefinition.csdef and ServiceConfiguration.cscfg. These files are packaged with your Windows Azure application and deployed to Windows Azure.

• The ServiceDefinition.csdef file contains the metadata that is required by the Windows Azure environment for the requirements of your application, including what roles it contains. This file also contains configuration settings that apply to all instances. These configuration settings can be read at runtime using the Windows Azure Service Hosting Runtime API. This file cannot be updated while your service is running in Windows Azure.
• The ServiceConfiguration.cscfg file sets values
  for the configuration settings defined in the service definition file
  and specifies the number of instances to run for each role. This file
  can be updated while your service is running in Windows Azure.

The Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio provide
property pages that you can use to set configuration settings stored in
these files. To access the property pages, double-click the role
reference underneath the Windows Azure project in Solution Explorer, or
right-click the role reference and choose Properties, as shown in the following figure.

For information about the underlying schemas for the service definition and service configuration files, see the Windows Azure SDK Schema Reference. For more information about service configuration, see Configuring an Application.

The Windows Azure Managed Library provides classes for
interacting with the Windows Azure environment at runtime, including
reading configuration settings. For more information, see the Windows Azure Managed Library Reference.

Configuring Role Properties

The following figure shows the property pages for a web role.
The property pages for a worker role are similar, although there are a
few differences, pointed out in the following sections.

The June 2012 release also provides the Caching page, from which you can configure the Azure caching services that are in preview. For more information, see How to: Configure a Windows Azure In-Role Cache.

Configuration Page

On the Configuration page, you can set these properties:

Instances

Set the Instance count property to the number of instances the service should run for this role.

Set the VM size property to Extra Small, Small, Medium, Large, or Extra Large. For more information, see How to Configure Virtual Machine Sizes .

Startup Action (Web Role Only)

Set this property to specify that Visual Studio should
launch a web browser for either the HTTP endpoints or the HTTPS
endpoints, or both when you start debugging.

The HTTPS endpoint option is available only if you have already defined an HTTPS endpoint for your role. You can define an HTTPS endpoint on the Endpoints property page.

If you have already added an HTTPS endpoint, the HTTPS endpoint
option is enabled by default, and Visual Studio will launch a browser
for this endpoint when you start debugging, in addition to a browser for
your HTTP endpoint. This assumes that both startup options are enabled.

Diagnostics

By default, diagnostics is enabled for the Web role. The
Windows Azure project and storage account are set to use the local
storage emulator. When you are ready to deploy to Windows Azure, you can
click the builder button (…) to update the storage
account to use Windows Azure storage in the cloud. You can transfer the
diagnostics data to the storage account on demand or at automatically
scheduled intervals. For more information about Windows Azure
diagnostics, see Collecting Logging Data by Using Windows Azure Diagnostics.

Settings Page

On the Settings page, you can add
configuration settings for your service. Configuration settings are
name-value pairs. Code running in the role can read the values of your
configuration settings at runtime using classes provided by the Windows Azure Managed Library. Specifically, the GetConfigurationSettingValue method returns the value of a named configuration setting at runtime.

Configuring a Connection String to a Storage Account

A connection string is a configuration setting that
provides connection and authentication information for the storage
emulator or for a Windows Azure storage account. Whenever your code must
access Windows Azure storage services data – that is, blob, queue, or
table data – from code running in a role, you will have to define a
connection string for that storage account.

A connection string that points to a Windows Azure storage
account must use a defined format. For information about how to create
connection strings, see How to Configure Connection Strings in the Windows Azure SDK.

When you are ready to test your service against the Windows
Azure storage services, or when you are ready to deploy your service to
Windows Azure, you can change the value of any connection strings to
point to your Windows Azure storage account. Click (…), select Enter storage account credentials. Enter your account information that includes your account name and account key. In the Storage Account Connection String
dialog box, you can also indicate whether you want to use the default
HTTPS endpoints (the default option), the default HTTP endpoints, or
custom endpoints. You might decide to use custom endpoints if you have
registered a custom domain name for your service, as described in Registering Custom Domain Names for Blob Resources.

Important

You must modify your connection strings to point to a Windows
Azure storage account before you deploy your service. Failing to do this
may cause your role not to start, or to cycle through the initializing,
busy, and stopping states.

Endpoints Page

A worker role can have any number of HTTP, HTTPS, or TCP
endpoints. Endpoints can be input endpoints, which are available to
external clients, or internal endpoints, which are available to other
roles that are running in the service.

• To make an HTTP endpoint available to external clients and Web
  browsers, change the endpoint type to input, and specify a name and a
  public port number.
• To make an HTTPS endpoint available to external clients and Web
  browsers, change the endpoint type to input, and specify a name, a
  public port number, and a management certificate name.

  Note that before you can specify a management certificate, you must define the certificate on the Certificates property page.

• To make an endpoint available for internal access by other
  roles in the cloud service, change the endpoint type to internal, and
  specify a name and possible private ports for this endpoint.

Local Storage Page

You can use the Local Storage property
page to reserve one or more local storage resources for a role. A local
storage resource is a reserved directory in the file system of the
Windows Azure virtual machine in which an instance of a role is running.
For more information about how to work with local storage resources,
see How to Configure Local Storage Resources.

Certificates Page

On the Certificates page, you can
associate certificates with your role. The certificates that you add can
be used to configure your HTTPS endpoints on the Endpoints property page.

The Certificates property page adds
information about your certificates to your service configuration. Note
that your certificates are not packaged with your service; you must
upload your certificates separately to Windows Azure through the Windows Azure Platform Management portal.

To associate a certificate with your role, provide a name
for the certificate. You use this name to refer to the certificate when
you configure an HTTPS endpoint on the Endpoints property page. Next, specify whether the certificate store is Local Machine or Current User and the name of the store. Finally, enter the certificate's thumbprint. If the certificate is in the Current User\Personal (My)
store, you can enter the certificate's thumbprint by selecting the
certificate from a populated list. If it resides in any other location,
enter the thumbprint value by hand.

When you add a certificate from the certificate store, any
intermediate certificates are automatically added to the configuration
settings for you. These intermediate certificates must also be uploaded
to Windows Azure in order to correctly configure your service for SSL.

Any management certificates that you associate with your
service apply to your service only when it is running in the cloud. When
your service is running in the local development environment, it uses a
standard certificate that is managed by the compute emulator.

For more information about uploading your management certificates to Windows Azure, see How to Add a Management Certificate to a Windows Azure Subscription.

Virtual Network Page

On the Virtual Network page, you associate
a Windows Azure Connect token with your role. You must have activated
the token using the Management Portal. This will let you set up an IP
connection between the selected role and other computers that are
running applications outside Windows Azure. For more information about
Windows Azure Connect, see Using Windows Azure Connect to Create Virtual Networks

Configuring the Windows Azure Project

To configure settings that apply to an entire Windows Azure
project, you first open the shortcut menu for that project node, and
then you choose Properties to open its property pages. The following table shows those property pages.