Deploying

Deploying the Web Host to Windows Azure After you have installed the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles you are ready to create a new project using the template and deploy your web host.

Below you will find step by step instructions on how to create your project and deploy the web host.

1. To get started, open Visual Studio and create a new project. You will find a new project template called “Windows Azure Web Deploy Host” with your cloud templates. Select this package and create the solution.

2. You will be prompted to provide your storage account information. You must use a real Windows Azure storage account and not local storage for this. Go here for instructions on how to create a storage account. After you enter your account details click “Next”.

3. Next you will be prompted to create a username and password for the accelerator’s administration site. These are the credentials you will use to login to the web interface of the accelerator to create and manage your IIS sites.

4. Your project is now created and ready to deploy.

5. To begin the deployment process, right click on the Cloud project and click “Publish”.

6. Now you will need to configure Remote Desktop. Click the “Configure Remote Desktop connections…” link at the bottom of the deploy dialog. For more information see these instructions.

7. Select “Enable connections for all roles”, enter your user name and password, and change the Account expiration date. You will most likely want a date that is way out in the future as you won’t be redeploying this role very often. Note that this username and password are the credentials you will use when deploying sites to your role with Web Deploy.

8. Now you will need to select your Windows Azure deployment credentials or create new credentials. You should deploy to production and select your storage account. The storage account can be the same that you used earlier. After you are done click “OK” and wait for your role to deploy.