Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider. It may not be installed.

Question

I have searched for the answer but haven't been able to find anything that fits my situation.

The site works completely fine when I run it locally, but when after I publish it to Azure if I try to use a page that accesses the Database it gives me the following error page:

Server Error in '/' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider.  It may not be installed. 
  Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. 

 Exception Details: System.ArgumentException: Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider.  It may not be installed.

Source Error: 


 An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.  

Stack Trace: 



[ArgumentException: Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider.  It may not be installed.]
   System.Data.Common.DbProviderFactories.GetFactory(String providerInvariantName) +1426271
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.CreateConnectionFromProviderName(String providerInvariantName) +12
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.InitializeFromConnectionStringSetting(ConnectionStringSettings appConfigConnection) +101
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.TryInitializeFromAppConfig(String name, AppConfig config) +32
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.Initialize() +127
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.get_ProviderName() +13
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.InitializeContext() +346
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.GetEntitySetAndBaseTypeForType(Type entityType) +18
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.Initialize() +52
   System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.get_InternalContext() +15
   System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbQuery`1.System.Linq.IQueryable.get_Provider() +37
   System.Linq.Queryable.Where(IQueryable`1 source, Expression`1 predicate) +63
   Dota2Finder.Controllers.HomeController.Generator(Int32 Start, Int32 End) +3287
   lambda_method(Closure , ControllerBase , Object[] ) +140
   System.Web.Mvc.ActionMethodDispatcher.Execute(ControllerBase controller, Object[] parameters) +14
   System.Web.Mvc.ReflectedActionDescriptor.Execute(ControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary`2 parameters) +182
   System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethod(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary`2 parameters) +27
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass42.<BeginInvokeSynchronousActionMethod>b__41() +28
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass8`1.<BeginSynchronous>b__7(IAsyncResult _) +10
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +50
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeActionMethod(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +32
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass39.<BeginInvokeActionMethodWithFilters>b__33() +58
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass4f.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronously>b__49() +225
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass37.<BeginInvokeActionMethodWithFilters>b__36(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +10
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +50
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeActionMethodWithFilters(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +34
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass2a.<BeginInvokeAction>b__20() +24
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass25.<BeginInvokeAction>b__22(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +99
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +50
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeAction(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +27
   System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass1d.<BeginExecuteCore>b__18(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +14
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass4.<MakeVoidDelegate>b__3(IAsyncResult ar) +23
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +55
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +39
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass4.<MakeVoidDelegate>b__3(IAsyncResult ar) +23
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +55
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +29
   System.Web.Mvc.Controller.System.Web.Mvc.Async.IAsyncController.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +10
   System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass8.<BeginProcessRequest>b__3(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +25
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass4.<MakeVoidDelegate>b__3(IAsyncResult ar) +23
   System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +55
   System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +31
   System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result) +9
   System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +9631764
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +155

Here is my connection string with the username/password/server removed.:

<add name="DefaultConnection" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Server=<server>;Database=ELO;User ID=<username>;Password=<password>;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;Connection Timeout=30;" />

Though I don't understand why it would work locally but not on Azure. The site and SQL Database are hosted on the same account.

Answer 1

For Azure I find I need the connection string in the following format:

<add name="connectionName" connectionString="Data Source=servername.database.windows.net;initial catalog=databasename;persist security info=True;user id=userid;password=pwd;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework"  providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

The key difference seems to be Data Source=.

Removing the provider name, as suggested elsewhere, is not a solution as it will simply error with "providerName is missing".