I have had a hosting account at a company for a number of years and have hosted my umbraco sites, there..but sometimes when I deploy my sites to the server I have issues, strange umbraco errors, and some times I have to restart my app pool.. etc etc to get it working.
So the other day I tried Windows Azure, directly from Visual Studio I deployed my Umbraco site and it was very quick and worked perfectly.
So the site is running, but the problem is the database is still on the old server, I am having GREAT DIFFICULTY recreating my database on Azure.
But step 3 says Add primary key to umbracoUserLogins table(contextID, userID)
What does that mean exactly do I create a new field and make that the primary key? Or do I set the ContextId to a primary key? or is it UserId I need to set to Primary Key or both?
ANY IDEAS WELCOME... :-)
Thanks
BY THE WAY I AM USING UMBRACO 6 MVC mode... if that makes a diffrence I don't know.
Hey there, no Umbraco question is stupid on Our, however this one is not common. I have used this tool to migrate databases to Azure and never needed to setup keys http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com/ I have only ever used with Umbraco v4 but I dont think it should make any difference.Please let me know if this works for you.
Jeavon (sorry for poor formatting, using rdp via 3g iPad)
The only folks that really help here are the end users and most are as lost as you and I. The documentation is poor and fragmented and the core team does not monitor this forum close enough to ensure that answers are found. To that end, the search engine here sucks.... Welcome to "our umbraco" ;)
I have spent the last week migrating to Azure.... what a trip it has been. Installation itself is not so bad, but moving a site out there is a real PITA
I tried to follow the guides, but nothing worked right and I wasted dozens of hours. Here is what I did...
Upgraded my site to the same version available on Azures gallery. Then used the conversion tool above to convert and copy my SQL database to Azure.
setup webmatrix and the pile of dependencies to get it to run
setup an Azure website and installed Umbraco from the Azure Gallery (New --> Compute ---> website ---> from gallery)
opened the website and went through the "setup". This ensured all the file permissions were setup.
opened webmatrix and viewed the Azure site in the "REMOTE TAB"
opened my LOCAL site in windows explorer and COPIED it the the root of the site in webmatrix. This kept the already setup files permissions.
In Azure I linked the umbraco site to the SQL database that I copied from the local instance and edited and saved (in webmatrix) web.config to point to my NEW database. I then deleted the database that Umbraco setup during the install.
Is this the proper way? No idea, but I followed 4 or 5 sets of other instructions and no matter what, I eneded up with YSOD.
dev.beananimal.com is up and running... along with a few other instances of the site for testing, upgrade and live :)
Also note... not only do you need a boatload of crap installed to get webmatrix up and running... but that tool is also a PITA to get running....
Now that I have had a few days playing around IN Azure... I am a bit more comfortable. Different tools, and they are limited... but I am learning to navigate my way around them.
Migrating an Umbraco site to Azure has been pretty painless in my experience. You don't really need to use any other tools. You should be able to run any version of Umbraco within Azure. If you have a local instance, then the following steps might be useful to migrate an existing site:
Export database via SQL Server Management Studio If you have an existing SQL Azure server then you can use the 'Export Data-tier application' option via SSMS to deploy the database. It's as painless as entering the server location, specifying a new database name and clicking export.
Create a new website in Azure A new quick website will do. You might want to link the database resource to the web site at this point.
Update config I think the only config setting to update is the database connection string.
Deploy site files You can either copy all your files to the site via FTP or use Azure's automated code deployments. I prefer the latter as Azure will build the application or solution before deploying. I use Bitbucket to host my repositories.
That's pretty much it. The only thing I would say is that handling media files can be a little tricky. As long as you don't have any in source control, Azure's automatic deployment will not overwrite your existing items. Using Azure Storage would be a better solution.
Hi JW, we have a number of V4/V6/V7 sites running on Azure App Services and they seem quite happy there so far. Nothing fancy, just single web apps connected to SQL DBs, assigned in Resource Groups/Service Plans depending on size and complexity. Luckily they're small enough in traffic to avoid the need for load balancing.
Regarding the migration from your existing load-balanced server, there is no reason why you can't migrate it to Azure and implement "scaling out" on the web app. The only catch is probably the replication of Media files, being on V6 means you're stuck with the Legacy/Obsolete/Deprecated/Lapsed Umbraco Load Balancing which is likely to cause some pain when you try to configure replication of media/umbraco.config/examine indexes (see this thread for an example). One obvious alternative would be to upgrade to +7.3 and use the "Flexible load balancing", although this will not be 100% pain free. Also, you might consider instead scaling "up" so the beefed up resources on the App Service can cope with traffic on a single instance.
It all depends on how "mission critical" the site really is. Use LB for Umbraco only if you really need to.
I know this is an old question, I wrote in 2013. - And at the moment I do use Azure for 99% of my umbraco sites. -
BUT....
I just wanted to say.... some times it might seem a bit over the top to host an umbraco website in Azure, especially if its low traffic, small 5-10 page website that uses the basic umbraco features. - but you might find your self forced in to it becuase you can't use the SQL CE database because MANY shared hosting either don't support the latest .net framework... or they don't support full trust. (which umbraco needs)
Now I know a lot of people will say why would you want to use the SQL CE database anyway, thats not for production. - Which is true.....
HOWEVER....
If you a running a really small website, but you want to use Umbraco becuase its a great CMS.... then it seems a bit costly to have a hosting set-up that has full SQL server - becuase actually SQL CE is good enough
Migrating to Azure
Greatings,
I have had a hosting account at a company for a number of years and have hosted my umbraco sites, there..but sometimes when I deploy my sites to the server I have issues, strange umbraco errors, and some times I have to restart my app pool.. etc etc to get it working.
So the other day I tried Windows Azure, directly from Visual Studio I deployed my Umbraco site and it was very quick and worked perfectly.
So the site is running, but the problem is the database is still on the old server, I am having GREAT DIFFICULTY recreating my database on Azure.
I JUST found this on the wiki : http://our.umbraco.org/wiki/install-and-setup/how-to-install-umbraco-on-windows-server-2008/installing-umbraco-to-sql-azure
But step 3 says Add primary key to umbracoUserLogins table (contextID, userID)
What does that mean exactly do I create a new field and make that the primary key? Or do I set the ContextId to a primary key? or is it UserId I need to set to Primary Key or both?
ANY IDEAS WELCOME... :-)
Thanks
BY THE WAY I AM USING UMBRACO 6 MVC mode... if that makes a diffrence I don't know.
Are my questions stupid? I never seem to get replies... then i see someone else posts a question after me and 2 mins later they have 8 replies
Hey there, no Umbraco question is stupid on Our, however this one is not common. I have used this tool to migrate databases to Azure and never needed to setup keys http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com/ I have only ever used with Umbraco v4 but I dont think it should make any difference.Please let me know if this works for you.
Jeavon (sorry for poor formatting, using rdp via 3g iPad)
I did it the other day with the same tool as jeavon suggests, that worked out of the box.
Ayo,
The only folks that really help here are the end users and most are as lost as you and I. The documentation is poor and fragmented and the core team does not monitor this forum close enough to ensure that answers are found. To that end, the search engine here sucks.... Welcome to "our umbraco" ;)
I have spent the last week migrating to Azure.... what a trip it has been. Installation itself is not so bad, but moving a site out there is a real PITA
I tried to follow the guides, but nothing worked right and I wasted dozens of hours. Here is what I did...
Upgraded my site to the same version available on Azures gallery. Then used the conversion tool above to convert and copy my SQL database to Azure.
Is this the proper way? No idea, but I followed 4 or 5 sets of other instructions and no matter what, I eneded up with YSOD.
dev.beananimal.com is up and running... along with a few other instances of the site for testing, upgrade and live :)
Also note... not only do you need a boatload of crap installed to get webmatrix up and running... but that tool is also a PITA to get running....
Now that I have had a few days playing around IN Azure... I am a bit more comfortable. Different tools, and they are limited... but I am learning to navigate my way around them.
Hi Ayo,
Migrating an Umbraco site to Azure has been pretty painless in my experience. You don't really need to use any other tools. You should be able to run any version of Umbraco within Azure. If you have a local instance, then the following steps might be useful to migrate an existing site:
You can find more information at http://codecloudy.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/umbraco-cms-database-sql-azure-migration/. SQL Azure doesn't like tables without clustered indexes. I think this has something to do with being unable to replicate/distribute tables without indexes.
If you have an existing SQL Azure server then you can use the 'Export Data-tier application' option via SSMS to deploy the database. It's as painless as entering the server location, specifying a new database name and clicking export.
A new quick website will do. You might want to link the database resource to the web site at this point.
I think the only config setting to update is the database connection string.
You can either copy all your files to the site via FTP or use Azure's automated code deployments. I prefer the latter as Azure will build the application or solution before deploying. I use Bitbucket to host my repositories.
Hi everyone – bit of a noob post here and a basic one on hosting, I'm afraid...
Does anyone know if it's possible to set up a mid-size site running Umbraco 6 on Azure Web Apps? Azure have sent me back here to check!
If so, any tips on a smooth migration from a load-balanced, dedicated virtualised server environment would be really helpful.
Cheers in advance for any experiences or feedback you can share.
JW
Hi JW, we have a number of V4/V6/V7 sites running on Azure App Services and they seem quite happy there so far. Nothing fancy, just single web apps connected to SQL DBs, assigned in Resource Groups/Service Plans depending on size and complexity. Luckily they're small enough in traffic to avoid the need for load balancing.
Regarding the migration from your existing load-balanced server, there is no reason why you can't migrate it to Azure and implement "scaling out" on the web app. The only catch is probably the replication of Media files, being on V6 means you're stuck with the Legacy/Obsolete/Deprecated/Lapsed Umbraco Load Balancing which is likely to cause some pain when you try to configure replication of media/umbraco.config/examine indexes (see this thread for an example). One obvious alternative would be to upgrade to +7.3 and use the "Flexible load balancing", although this will not be 100% pain free. Also, you might consider instead scaling "up" so the beefed up resources on the App Service can cope with traffic on a single instance.
It all depends on how "mission critical" the site really is. Use LB for Umbraco only if you really need to.
Also, if you are on 6.1 and moving to an "LB" Azure configuration, you might consider installing Azure Blob Storage Provider
That's really helpful, Julio - much appreciated :)
I know this is an old question, I wrote in 2013. - And at the moment I do use Azure for 99% of my umbraco sites. -
BUT....
I just wanted to say.... some times it might seem a bit over the top to host an umbraco website in Azure, especially if its low traffic, small 5-10 page website that uses the basic umbraco features. - but you might find your self forced in to it becuase you can't use the SQL CE database because MANY shared hosting either don't support the latest .net framework... or they don't support full trust. (which umbraco needs)
Now I know a lot of people will say why would you want to use the SQL CE database anyway, thats not for production. - Which is true.....
HOWEVER....
If you a running a really small website, but you want to use Umbraco becuase its a great CMS.... then it seems a bit costly to have a hosting set-up that has full SQL server - becuase actually SQL CE is good enough
So.... I recently discovered ... https://www.discountasp.net/
They support the latest .net framework.... and you can run your site in full trust... you can get a package for $60 a year.
So you can create your umbraco website using SQL CE... and host it for a very low cost.
I hope this helps somone one day... I wish someone told me about this years ago!
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