Is there a force flag in windows azure to change the role size?

Question

I tried to change the role size (upwards) in an Azure role and got the following error after uploading

"The role size specified for role 'Website' in the newly uploaded package differs from the role size for this role in the currently deployed service. Changing the size of the role will cause all local data on the role instance to be lost. Please use the Force flag if you want to allow the loss of local data."

which leads to the question - is there a force flag? Where is it? How do I set it?

Answer 1

Its just appeared!

An update to the Management Portal today (20 Oct 2011) has added an "Allow VM size or role count to be updated" tick box to the Upgrade Deployment dialog. So I guess that's the shiny new Force Flag!

Answer 2

The information I've heard on the Azure forums is that it is not possible to modify the role size without a full redeploy (and this has been my experience as well).

Over time Microsoft has allowed more things to be modified during an upgrade and Mark Russinovich may have suggested in a Mix or TechEd presentation that role size modification would be supported some point in the future.

The error message you are receiving may be an early artefact of the implementation of a size upgrade enhancement. The research I've done (and I have done a LOT of asking around) would indicate that the "Force Flag" mentioned is not actually implemented yet - although I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.

Answer 3

Right now, the vmsize is inside of the package (cspkg) which is sent to AppFabric. It's a decision which is part of the build/packaging. So, to change it, you need to change the VMSize, build the package and then [re]deploy.

If you have a running system, you can avoid down time by using VIP Swap. It will basically stand up another AT[s] in the staging slot with your new VM size and then swap over to it.

So, there's more moving parts involved but you can still change it with virtually no impact.