After developing the Worker Role, we have to package it and deploy to the cloud. The entire steps in this are:
- Create Worker Role
- Create Package
- Deploy to Cloud
Creating the Worker Role is performed in the previous article. Now we need to do the following steps.
Create Package
For creating the package, right click on the project context menu and click Package.
Now as dialog box will be appearing, leave the default options selected and click the Package button on the dialog.
After performing the packaging, the folder containing package is opened in a new explorer window automatically.
There are two files in the folder as shown above:
- Configuration File
- Service Package File
The Configuration file contains the instance count, application setting entries etc.
Deploy to Cloud
The deploying part contains deploying the package file and the configuration file. For deploying the files, we need to sign in to the Windows Azure Portal.
After signing in, click on the New Hosted Service button from the left top panel. The following dialog box appears.
Detailing Input Fields in Dialog Box
The subscription list automatically selects the default subscription (trial).
In the service name text box, enter a name for the service.
In the service URL prefix text box, enter a unique prefix name.
In the region, select an appropriate region of deployment.
Enter an appropriate deployment name in the final text box.
Select Package
Now, we need to specify the Package location and Configuration file. Use the Browse locally… button for these and select the files from your local machine.
After specifying all the inputs, click the Ok button. (In case of instance warning box, click Yes to override it for time being)
Now you can see that the entry is shown as preparing to upload in the list.
Waiting for Upload Operation
We need to wait a few minutes for the upload operation to be completed. After the upload operation is completed the instance will be started.
After all the operations are completed the status will turn to ready as show in the image below:
Getting the Deployed Url
The DNS name specifies the url to access the worker role as shown below:
For viewing the deployed Worker Role traces we need to change the trace configuration. This will be explained in further articles.
Warning
As the worker role we uploaded is having infinite loop, it will be quoting computing resources and any usage beyond monthly free limit will be charged to the credit card. So it is recommend you to delete the deployed worker role after the test.
Deletion is explained in the next tutorial.
Summary
In this article we have seen how to package and deploy a Worker Role to windows azure hosting.
