Default OS family for the deployment

Question

We have a web app migrated to Windows Azure. It is being deployed from inside the Visual Studio 2010 with the latest Azure SDK installed. Everything works fine except for the fact that we have some dependencies on Windows Server 2008 R2 and I need to change OS family manually through their management web portal after each deployment (Cloud Services -> Configure -> operating system).

I guess there should be an option to make this a default choice but I haven't found anything in the azure project settings inside the visual studio. Does anyone know a way to avoid doing this manually?

Answer 1

You can do it via the Service Configuration File in Visual Studio, just put a osFamily="2" attribute in the ServiceConfiguration element of your ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file.

A generally good default is the asterisk (*) which will ensure you have the most up-to-date guest OS available. (Note: As Robert Muehsig points out in his comment below, the asterisk only works with osVersion, not osFamiliy)

How to Upgrade the Windows Azure Guest OS by Modifying the Service Configuration File: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg456324.aspx

Windows Azure Service Configuration Schema (.cscfg File): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee758710.aspx