Clik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 7 – Role Recycling
In Troubleshooting Scenario 1 we looked at a scenario where the role would recycle after deployment and the root cause was easily seen in the Windows Azure Event Logs. This blog post will show...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Topology Blast–Send topology change updates to all instances at once
Windows Azure SDK 2.2 introduces the concept of a topology blast. This blog post will describe how topology changes happen at the fabric level and how you can take advantage of topology blast to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Windows Azure Storage Analytics SDP Package
In a previous post we looked at the Windows Azure PaaS SDP package which allows you to quickly and easily gather all of the log data to determine root cause for a variety of PaaS compute issues. This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Windows Azure Diagnostics – Upgrading from Azure SDK 2.4 to Azure SDK 2.5
Overview Windows Azure SDK 2.4 and prior used Windows Azure Diagnostics 1.0 which provided multiple options for configuring diagnostics collection, including code based configuration using the...
View ArticleHow to Restrict RDP Access in an Azure PaaS Cloud Service
A question I see periodically is how to restrict RDP access for PaaS services to specific network IP addresses. In the past this has always been difficult to do and the typical solution was to use a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cloud Service RDP Configuration not available via portal
<Update March 2, 2015> The ability to modify RDP plugin settings via the portal has been restored. I will leave this blog post up since the password encryption portion can still be valuable...
View ArticleAzure Cloud Services only support SHA-1 Thumbprint Algorithm
“My certificate provider recently switched to only providing SHA2/SHA256 certificates because SHA-1 certificates are no longer safe. But Azure only supports SHA1 certificates!...
View ArticleSDK 2.5 / WAD 1.2 — IIS Logs Not Transferring to Storage in PaaS WebRoles
After upgrading to Azure SDK 2.5 with Windows Azure Diagnostics 1.2 (see http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kwill/archive/2014/12/02/windows-azure-diagnostics-upgrading-from-azure-sdk-2-4-to-azure-sdk-2-5.aspx)...
View ArticleAuthenticating Storage Requests Using SharedKeyAuthenticationHandler
With the older version of the storage client library (version 1.7) you could sign HttpWebRequests using the SignRequestLite function, and there were several examples on the web of how to do this....
View ArticlePaaS Cloud Service Role Restart Scenarios
There are several reasons why a PaaS cloud service role instance would restart or recycle. This list may not be exhaustive, but I believe it covers all scenarios as of today. Some day when I have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Windows Azure Role Architecture
*Update Aug 20, 2013: The guest agent process used to be WaAppAgent, and any updates to this guest agent would come at the same time as a Guest OS update. This has been changed to use 2 guest agents –...
View ArticleDebugging Windows Azure – Resources on the VM
During the course of debugging Windows Azure applications on a daily basis I have accumulated several tips, tricks, and debugging techniques that are specific to the Azure platform. I plan to create a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Debugging Windows Azure–Getting Tools onto the VM, Part 1
Debugging Windows Azure Series Resources on the VM Getting Tools onto the VM, Part 1 In the second part of the Debugging Windows Azure series we will look at the various ways you can get your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Asynchronous Parallel Block Blob Transfers with Progress Change Notification
UPDATE March 6, 2013: This code has been significantly updated and the new version can be found at...
View ArticleHow to increase the size of the Windows Azure Web Role ASP.NET Temporary Folder
By default the ASP.NET temporary folder size in a Windows Azure web role is limited to 100 MB. This is sufficient for the vast majority of applications, but some applications may require more storage...
View ArticleRole Instance Restarts Due to OS Upgrades
Update March 7, 2013 Added to the Q&A section — Q: How long will the upgrade take? How long will my VM be down? Update October 17, 2014 Added information about Guest Agent updates. Thanks to my...
View ArticleWindows Azure Disk Partition Preservation
One of the regular questions I get asked is what happens to my disks and drive letters in Windows Azure VMs when <x> happens. The following chart will outline the different scenarios that...
View ArticleHeartbeats, Recovery, and the Load Balancer
Some of the more common questions I get are around heartbeats/probes, how the fabric recovers from failed probes, and how load balancer manages traffic to these instances. Q: How does the fabric know...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Asynchronous Parallel Blob Transfers with Progress Change Notification 2.0
This post is an update to the post at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kwill/archive/2011/05/30/asynchronous-parallel-block-blob-transfers-with-progress-change-notification.aspx. Improvements from previous...
View ArticleWindows Azure Root Certificate Migration – Impact Scenarios
Overview We recently published a blog post outlining the upcoming root certificate change from the GTE CyberTrust Global Root to the Baltimore CyberTrust Root which will take effect starting April...
View ArticleCompatibility Issue – SQL Azure connectivity using the SQL Native Client may...
Prior to July 2013 the Windows Azure Guest OS included version 10 of the SQL Native Client libraries (commonly named SQLNCLI or SNAC). The July release of the Windows Azure Guest OS (1.24, 2.16 and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Windows Azure PaaS Compute Diagnostics Data
When troubleshooting a problem one of the most important things to know is what diagnostic data is available. If you don’t know where to look for logs or other diagnostics information then you end...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 1 – Role Recycling
Continuing from the diagnostic information at Windows Azure PaaS Compute Diagnostics Data, this blog post will describe how to troubleshoot a role that fails to start. This particular scenario is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AzureTools – The Diagnostic Utility used by the Windows Azure Developer...
Getting AzureTools Direct Download Link – http://dsazure.blob.core.windows.net/azuretools/AzureTools.exe — or — Downloading from within an Azure VM (*note, this only works on Guest OS Family 2 or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 2 – Role Recycling After Running Fine For 2 Weeks
Continuing from the diagnostic information at Windows Azure PaaS Compute Diagnostics Data, this blog post will describe how to troubleshoot a role that begins recycling after it has been running fine...
View Article“HTTP 403 Server failed to authenticate the request” When Using Shared Access...
One of the more common Azure Storage shared access signature issues I see is “403 Server failed to authenticate the request. Make sure the value of Authorization header is formed correctly including...
View ArticleHow to Modify a Running Azure Service
You have deployed your service to Azure and discover that it isn’t working correctly. After going through the troubleshooting series you have identified where the problem is and you think you know...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 3 – Role Stuck in Busy
Continuing from the troubleshooting series at Windows Azure PaaS Compute Diagnostics Data, this blog post will describe how to troubleshoot a role that is stuck in the Busy state with the error...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 4 – Windows Azure Traffic Manager Degraded Status
This post will describe how to troubleshoot a Windows Azure Traffic Manager profile which is showing a Degraded status, and provide some key points to understand about traffic manager probes. This...
View ArticleAugust 2013 Windows Azure Guest OS issue with System.Runtime.Caching.MemoryCache
<Update Sept 18, 2013> The hotfix which resolves this issue has been released – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2888303. See solution #2 below. </Update> <Update Sept 17, 2013> A...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Windows Azure Traffic Manager Performance Impact
A somewhat common question regarding Windows Azure Traffic Manager (WATM) deals with potential performance problems that it might cause. The questions are typically along the lines of “How much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 5 – Internal Server Error 500 in WebRole
This post will describe how to troubleshoot an Internal Server Error 500 in an Azure webrole. This is a continuation of the troubleshooting series. Symptom You have deployed your WebRole, which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Troubleshooting Scenario 6 – Role Recycling After Running For Some Time
In Troubleshooting Scenario 2 we looked at a scenario where the role would recycle after running fine for some time due to a bug in a startup task triggered by a role recycle such as an OS update....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Azure Service Fabric – Common Networking Scenarios
One of the more common questions we have seen when creating Service Fabric clusters is how to integrate the cluster with various Azure networking features. This blog post will show how to create...
View ArticleClik here to view.
HTTP 401 Access Denied when calling Azure Cognitive Services APIs
When calling one of the Cognitive Services APIs you may receive an HTTP 401 Access Denied error with a message “Access denied due to invalid subscription key. Make sure to provide a valid key for an...
View Article