How to Publish to Azure - SparkDevNetwork/Rock GitHub Wiki

Here are the steps I took to get Rock running on Azure. This is not to say there is not another path, but only that this was the path I took after several other attempts.

Manual / Non-Source Control Setup

  1. Install a Windows Azure SDK
  2. Azure -> Add new website "CUSTOM CREATE":
    1. Page 1 - Create Web Site
      1. URL: rockchms
      2. DATABASE: Create a new SQL database
      3. DB CONNECTION STRING NAME: "RockContext"
      4. Next.
    2. Page 2 - Specify database settings
      1. NAME: rockchmA8V3QtxcL (was default)
      2. SERVER: New SQL database server
      3. SERVER LOGIN NAME: RockUser
      4. SERVER LOGIN PASSWORD: ***************
      5. Complete.
  3. Azure, select website (to see dashboard)
    1. click "Download the publish profile"
    2. click CONFIGURE tab, add ";MultipleActiveResultSets=true" to connection string as per StackOverflow.
  4. VS, edit web.config
    1. change key="AutoMigrateDatabase" value to "True"
  5. VS, edit web.connectionStrings.config
    1. Update RockContext with database connection string from earlier step (must also include ";MultipleActiveResultSets=true").
  6. VS, Right click RockWeb, and choose "Publish Web Site"
    1. Import profile (one-time)
    2. Publish
    3. Ignore the website error (because web.connectionStrings.config file is missing).
  7. VS, Right click web.connectionStrings.config and choose "Publish web.connectionStrings.config".
  8. Done. Window loads with working Rock in Azure.