Deployment fails due to file in use

[pekkah]

Any workaround for this problem when deploying to Azure web site from VSO build server vNext?

Error Code: ERROR_FILE_IN_USE
More Information: Web Deploy cannot modify the file 'AspNet.Loader.dll' on the destination because it is locked by an external process. In order to allow the publish operation to succeed, you may need to either restart your application to release the lock
, or use the AppOffline rule handler for .Net applications on your next publish attempt.
Learn more at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=221672#ERROR_FILE_IN_USE.

I tried adding a restart azure website command before the deployment but this seems to be still creeping in too often.

[guardrex]

I noticed a similar issue with IIS file locking on Azure VM's that prevented WebDeploy deployment. My workaround is to issue three WebDeploy commands: stop the AppPool, deploy, restart the AppPool. See my script; and if you have the ability to run three WebDeploy commands, you might be able to do something similar with Azure Apps.

[Tazer]

Getting this problem in beta6.

[jochenvanwylick]

Same here! It causes my Visual Studio 2015 to freeze actually - when publishing my vNext app ( both beta6 and beta7 I think ).

[brandonmartinez]

Are you using the scripts provided by Microsoft to do the deployment? If so, you can just add a line in the PublishAspNet5Website.ps1 to restart the web app:

Restart-AzureWebsite -Name $websiteName

I have my build script modifications outlined in this post: Resolve an ASP.NET 5 Deployment Issue to Azure Web App Slot

[rubenprins]

@brandonmartinez, Restarting a website won't help, as a production website will keep receiving requests, which will therefore relock the files. The only reliable way, currently, to update a both IIS and Azure websites is to shut down the web site's application pool, then update the files, and then restart the website. Just follow @guardrex's link for more details.

However, we shouldn't need to muck about with custom deployment scripts when working under default conditions with VS2015.

Hopefully the new HttpPlatformHandler infrastructure (which no longer needs an AspNet.Loader.dll) will be a bit more forgiving, but I'm not holding my breath here. We'll probably get another locked .dll.

[jochenvanwylick]

@rubenprins That is the workaround I use as well, through the Azure SDK tools in VS.

[guardrex]

There are PS commands to do it if you can get PS access to the VM. https://github.com/GuardRex/net5-iis-ps-publish/blob/7623122dbfdc55a7c53c8edd2e97443e0eea22c9/net5-iis-ps-publish.ps1#L389-L396

[guardrex]

aspnet/vsweb-publish is also very interesting; however, it looks like it uses offline-template.html, and I thought it was discovered that that method wouldn't prevent the dll locking issue ... only stopping the AppPool, deploying, and restarting the AppPool has been a stable, working approach.

we shouldn't need to muck about with custom deployment scripts when working under default conditions with VS2015

One thing has occurred to me though: Being able to use 'Publish to filesystem' and hooking a script right after the publish that has MSDeploy bits in it has enabled very simple and useful deployment story for multiple VM's. Since the script is executed sequentially, it just goes VM-to-VM right down the line. Makes a nice coffee break. 😄

I have a question in at Get started configuring an internet facing load balancer using Azure Resource Manager with the Azure Resource Manager team asking about how to tell the load balancer to temporarily stop sending traffic to the VM while you're deploying.

Anyway ... getting back to the subject at hand that @pekkah raised. Since we know PS commands work, check for options to execute them in a VSO build:

Microsoft/vso-agent-tasks
Run a script in your build process
Running pre-build scripts in Team Foundation Service (Visual Studio Online) for Azure Continuous Deployment build process
New Build Automation Features in Visual Studio Online

... yeah ... something like that should work for you.

[brunobertechini]

Same problem here...

Still waiting for an official solution

Bruno

[moozzyk]

This will be resolved by aspnet/IISIntegration#81.

[rubenprins]

@moozzyk, That issue will only fix deployment via dedicated tooling like msdeploy. Xcopy/File sync deployment would still not be possible, which will also block/hinder many CI scenarios that just work with ASP.NET v1-4.

[ygoe]

Issue still exists in ASP.NET Core 1.0 RC2 with Visual Studio 2015.2 MSDeploy to IIS 8 on Windows 2012 R2 with latest tools for server. Killing the dotnet.exe process or recycling the application pool resolves the issue. But that needs remote desktop access to the server and is not exactly a smooth process.

[moozzyk]

@dg9ngf - this is a bug in web.deploy now. They added app_offline.htm functionality for Azure but it's disabled by default when you deploy locally. Try opening your publish profile (PublishProfiles->*.pubxml) and change:

<EnableMSDeployAppOffline>False</EnableMSDeployAppOffline>

to

<EnableMSDeployAppOffline>True</EnableMSDeployAppOffline>

If this does not work ask @vijayrkn

[vijayrkn]

If you are using VS tooling to publish using an msdeploy profile, then this property is automatically added to your pubxml.

<EnableMSDeployAppOffline>True</EnableMSDeployAppOffline>

In your output window you should see an msdeploy command similar to this.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe" -source:manifest='C:\Users\vramak\AppData\Local\Temp\PublishTemp\obj\SourceManifest.xml' -dest:manifest='C:\Users\vramak\AppData\Local\Temp\PublishTemp\obj\DestManifest.xml',ComputerName='https://netcoreappwithdb.scm.azurewebsites.net/msdeploy.axd',UserName='$netcoreappwithdb',Password='{PASSWORD-REMOVED-FROM-LOG}',IncludeAcls='False',AuthType='Basic' -verb:sync -enablerule:AppOffline -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule -retryAttempts:20

-enablerule:AppOffline in the command should take care of adding the appOffline during deployment.

If custom appOffline content is needed, you can set this property in pubxml.

<AppOfflineTemplate>Path to app offline</AppOfflineTemplate>

[ygoe]

That property was not present in the .pubxml file that Visual Studio created. So I added it but it didn't change anything. The -enablerule:AppOffline argument does not appear in the output window.