app_offline.htm is case sensitive

[shirhatti]

Reported here dotnet/aspnetcore#694 (comment)

[asadsahi]

What is the workaround for this right now, manually stopping website before deploy?

[mrahhal]

@asadsahi you can manually call webdeploy to add the file with the correct case before deployment and then delete the file after that.

[asadsahi]

how to do that, currently I am only adding AppOffline rule in webdeploy command (deploying website using command line)

Like this:

-enableRule:AppOffline

[mrahhal]

In its raw form, you can do this (using powershell):

$app_offline = "path/to/app_offline-template.htm"

# Deploy app_offline-template.htm as app_offline.htm (you should have
& msdeploy.exe -verb:sync -source:contentPath=$app_offline -dest:contentPath=$iisApp/app_offline.htm,ComputerName=$computerName,UserName=$username,Password=$password,IncludeAcls="False",AuthType="Basic" -allowUntrusted

# Deploy the website (without enabling the AppOffline rule)
& msdeploy.exe ...

# Delete app_offline.htm
& msdeploy.exe -verb:delete -dest:contentPath=$iisApp/app_offline.htm,ComputerName=$computerName,UserName=$username,Password=$password,IncludeAcls="False",AuthType="Basic" -allowUntrusted

Of course, you'll also have to define the other variables ($userName, $password, ...)

Now, how this fits in depends on how you deploy your app, whether you're using your own script or using Visual Studio's publishing methods. I use my own script as VS's for aspnetcore is lacking.

[asadsahi]

@mrahhal Interesting stuff. I am kind off new to powershell. But I am using VS code for asp.net core development. So what I am trying is to deploy using some automated script which I can run from command prompt or powershell as one shot.

So there are three steps involved:

Builds client assets

1. npm run build:prod

publishes .net core app

2. dotnet publish -c release

deploy

3. "C:\\Program Files\\IIS\\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\\msdeploy.exe" -verb:sync -enableRule:AppOffline -source:contentPath="%USERPROFILE%\mywebsite\bin\release\netcoreapp1.1\publish" -dest:contentPath="mywebsite",ComputerName="https://mywebsite.scm.azurewebsites.net/msdeploy.axd",UserName='$myusername',Password='mypassword',AuthType='Basic'

Have you got any idea how to combine these three steps, so that they run in order?

[mrahhal]

I do something similar, but you'll have to take control of your whole build step. Let's say you have a script called deploy.ps1 (ignored by source control). So that you'll only need to run ./deploy.ps1, without depending on anything else.

Something like this would work:

$webdeploy = "C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe"
$location = Get-Location | Select-Object $_.Path
$packOutput = Join-Path $location "bin\Release\netcoreapp1.1\publish"
$app_offline = Join-Path $location "app_offline-template.htm"

$iisApp = "..."
$computerName = "..."
$username = "..."
$password = "..."

function DeletePublishFolder()
{
	if (Test-Path $packOutput)
	{
		WriteInfo "Removing publish folder..."
		Remove-Item -Force -Recurse $packOutput
	}
}

function RunNpm()
{
	npm run build:prod
	if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0)
	{
		WriteFailed "Failed with code $LASTEXITCODE. Exiting..."
		Exit
	}
}

function Publish()
{
	dotnet publish -c Release
	WriteSuccess "Published!"
}

function Deploy()
{
	& $webdeploy -verb:sync -source:contentPath=$app_offline -dest:contentPath=$iisApp/app_offline.htm,ComputerName=$computerName,UserName=$username,Password=$password,IncludeAcls="False",AuthType="Basic" -retryAttempts:5 -allowUntrusted

	& $webdeploy -verb:sync -source:IisApp=$packOutput -dest:IisApp=$iisApp,ComputerName=$computerName,UserName=$username,Password=$password,IncludeAcls="False",AuthType="Basic" -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule -disablerule:BackupRule -enableLink:contentLibExtension -retryAttempts:5 -allowUntrusted

	& $webdeploy -verb:delete -dest:contentPath=$iisApp/app_offline.htm,ComputerName=$computerName,UserName=$username,Password=$password,IncludeAcls="False",AuthType="Basic" -retryAttempts:5 -allowUntrusted

	if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0)
	{
		WriteFailed "Failed with code $LASTEXITCODE. Exiting..."
		Exit
	}

	WriteSuccess "Deployment succeeded!"
}

function WriteFailed($text)
{
	Write-Host $text -ForegroundColor Red
}

function WriteInfo($text)
{
	Write-Host $text -ForegroundColor Cyan
}

function WriteSuccess($text)
{
	Write-Host $text -ForegroundColor Green
}

# -----------

DeletePublishFolder
RunNpm
Publish
Deploy

This is the simplest thing. With this setup, simply create an app_offline-template.htm in your project root folder and it will be used by the script. This has the added benefit of completely customizing the "App_Offline.htm" template. For an even more advanced usage, you can have arguments in your script so you can control what it does (for example a -dry argument that tells it to do all the steps except for deployment).

[asadsahi]

@mrahhal, One word, perfect script :) Thanks

I am trying to build an equivalent bash script, so that it can work cross platform. Interested in helping there? :)

[mrahhal]

Too bad I know very little about bash 😅
The script I just wrote can actually be improved, I cut stuff out to keep it short. So I'd be willing to help anyway if you put that in a gist maybe (along with the ps1 script) since I'm interested in a bash version of it too.

[asadsahi]

@mrahhal here is the gist of bash script:

https://gist.github.com/asadsahi/461c23e28097ee4b0134f94b20ea29a6

lets work together to get it working.

[ozhelenkov]

Good day guys,
I am sorry, are there any ETA for this issue to be resolved?
Thanks!

[asadsahi]

@ozhelenkov above workaround from @mrahhal will always work :)

@mrahhal see updated gist of bash script. Happy to have feedback. Thanks

[mrahhal]

@asadsahi check my comment there.

[asadsahi]

Thanks @mrahhal, comments make perfect sense. Updated. Have I missed anything else?