Using Web Deploy with Windows Azure

A Windows Azure application is deployed into a hosted service by publishing the application package and its associated service configuration file, ServiceConfiguration.cscfg. The package is a compressed, encrypted file containing the assemblies comprising the application. The Windows Azure Fabric Controller allocates the components of the package to the instances of each role in the hosted service. A similar process is used when the hosted service is upgraded.

This process can take 10 minutes or more, depending on the size and complexity of the hosted service. There has been much demand that the deployment process be speeded up. This is particularly true for web roles where developers have become used to seeing their changes deployed almost as soon as they are made.

The IIS Web Deployment Tool (Web Deploy) provides tooling for Visual Studio that supports the rapid deployment of changes to an IIS website. The introduction of Remote Access for Windows Azure...