.NET 4.0 MSBuild.exe not recognizing web deploy arguments - msbuild

I have .NET 4.0 installed on a build server, along with Web Deploy 1.1
I've opened up a command window to test the web deployment, but whenever I run it, the build succeeds, and no publish happens.
I try the exact same thing on my development machine, and the deploy fires, so I'm left wondering, why does msbuild not start the publish on my build server?
Here's the command I'm runnning
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe NerdDinner.sln /P:Configuration=Release /P:DeployOnBuild=True /P:DeployTarget=MSDeployPublish /P:MsDeployServiceUrl=http://someserver/MsDeployAgentService /P:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True /P:MSDeployPublishMethod=RemoteAgent /P:CreatePackageOnPublish=True /P:UserName=user /P:Password=password

On server, the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0 seemed to be corrupted. Pasted a local one with same subfolders and worked fine!

I ended up having to reinstall .NET 4.0 on the box.
For some reason, after I reinstalled the framework, the web deploy starting working fine.
I'm still not sure what the problem was, but oh well.

Related

How to create an IIS Web Deploy Package from dotnet cli running in Linux

I have an ASP.NET Core app which currently runs under IIS in a Windows Server machine. To deploy that app there's a release pipeline that takes a Web Deployment Package (zip) as input.
I'm trying to create that Web Deployment Package from a Linux VM with a command similar to this:
dotnet build /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:DesktopBuildPackageLocation="/temp/WebApp.zip" /p:DeployIisAppPath="Default Web Site" /p:VirtualDirectory="" /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="Any CPU"
This is causing this error:
usr/share/dotnet/sdk/5.0.400/Sdks/Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Publish/targets/PublishTargets/Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Publish.MSDeployPackage.targets(183,5): error MSB4181: The "CreateManifestFile" task returned false but did not log an error. [/app/WebApp.csproj]
Anyone knows how to fix this problem? I googled and search other SO answers but couldn't find anybody trying to build a Web Deployment Package from a Linux OS.
I can successfully build that same project from a Windows VM that has Visual Studio installed but can't do it from Linux. I understand some features are tightly related to Visual Studio but I'm surprised there's no work around or any documentation at all on how to get this done.

dotnet publish succeeds on dev machine, build agent fails, asp.net Netcoreapp2.1/win-x64

On "Hosted VS2017" and self-hosted build agent (Windows Server 2012 R2), running dotnet publish with a publish profile specified fails with:
C:\Program
Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.502\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.PackageDependencyResolution.targets(198,5):
error NETSDK1047: Assets file
'C:\agent_work\11\s\\obj\project.assets.json' doesn't have a
target for '.NETCoreApp,Version=v2.1/win-x64'. Ensure that restore has
run and that you have included 'netcoreapp2.1' in the TargetFrameworks
for your project. You may also need to include 'win-x64' in your
project's RuntimeIdentifiers.
On local dev server (Win10, VS2017, many different .net sdk versions) when I dotnet publish with the exact same command line, everything works great.
I have tried everything from updating VS2017, installing the exact version of .net core SDK and runtime that we're targeting, updating the build agent, windows updates... Nothing seems to help. I can't understand why it's having different behavior.
The publish profile is a FileSystem profile and has the following two elements specified:
<TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>
<RuntimeIdentifier>win-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
The command line looks this: "C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe" publish "C:\agent\_work\11\s\Source\TheProject.csproj" --no-build -c Release -f netcoreapp2.1 /p:PublishProfile="Publish Release To Filesystem.pubxml" -o C:\agent\_work\11\a\Website -v d
Does anyone have a clue what I can do to get this working?
This turns out to be all about the Runtime Identifier. The confusion arose because I assumed building and publishing from dotnet-cli was as simple as building and publishing from Visual Studio. Visual Studio's publish was doing a full restore/build with its publish, and the publish profile had the <RuntimeIdentifier> set.
I was doing several things wrong. I wasn't including -r win-x64 to the restore and build tasks, and I was using dotnet publish --no-build. So that's where one mismatch came from. The next was that I was running dotnet test after build and before publish. That was wiping out some things that publish needed, not sure what though.
I changed dotnet test to include -p:RuntimeIdentifier=winx64 since apparently it uses -r for reporting output (apparently they're adding -runtime in 2.2).
Some things I learned in the process, dotnet-cli does NOT work well with .sln files, at least in build agent's. It seems to have a big problem with file locks and shared processes. Trying to optimize build tasks to minimize work with the dotnet-cli is a major pain in the ass.
I think Jay covered this in the other answer, but to clarify what worked for me was running:-
dotnet restore <path/to/.sln> -r linux-x64
just before running the dotnet msbuild command. (Obviously replace linux-x64 with your target).

Building .NET Core 1.0 RC2 app on the build server

I've updated my app from DNX, ASP.NET 5 RC1 to ASP.NET Core 1.0 RC2.
Locally it builds and runs fine.
On the build server, I don't have Visual Studio installed, and the build fails with:
error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\DotNet\Microsoft.DotNet.Props" was not found. Confirm that the path in the declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
I did install the: .NET Core SDK for Windows.
Trying to install the VS 2015 tooling preview fails with:
What would be the correct setup to build .NET Core 1.0 RC2 app on the build server without having to install Visual Studio 2015?
Note: The build box (TeamCity 9) builds/runs tests fine for .NET 4.5 and DNX.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/articles/core/windows-prerequisites#issues
Issues
You may be blocked from installing the .NET Core Tooling Preview 2 for Visual Studio 2015 installer due to a temporary bug. To workaround it, run the installer from the commandline with the SKIP_VSU_CHECK=1 argument, as you see in the example below.
DotNetCore.1.0.0-VS2015Tools.Preview2.exe SKIP_VSU_CHECK=1
I'm able to build the solution now. Still can't publish though.
I just copied all the new MSBuild stuff to the build server. I copied:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\
From my local computer to the build server. That includes the new DotNet sub-folder, which contains:
Microsoft.DotNet.Common.targets
Microsoft.DotNet.Extensions.targets
Microsoft.DotNet.props
Microsoft.DotNet.Publishing.targets
Microsoft.DotNet.targets
Microsoft.DotNet.Tasks.dll
Microsoft.VisualStudio.ProjectSystem.DotNet.Runtime.dll
Newtonsoft.Json.dll
I can build the Solution (without the publish arguments) it fails when I try:
MSBuild.exe Solution.sln /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:publishprofile=local
You can build and test you project via the command line - so there is no need to have Visual Studio installed. By using build steps of type "Command Line" you can run: dotnet restore, dotnet build, dotnet test
Here you can find some description how to run that as a build on TFS. It is written for the hosted TFS but works on-premise as well (and is not only meant for azure as the name of the document might imply):
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/build/apps/aspnet/aspnetcore-to-azure
For the pubsishing I have used msdeploy with RC1 but have not yet migrated my deployment build. I might document it here when this is done within the next days.
So without Visual Studio or Web Deploy, my TeamCity build is comprised of 4 builds steps:
dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet test
dotnet publish -c Release
I run dotnet test on all projects with a basic for loop.

TFS 2012 Build not deploying

I have a TFS build created. It builds fine and deploys the website to the drop folder. But the settings I am putting into the build parameters to make it webdeploy seem to be ignored. The build is being compiled with the default Relase|Any CPU configuration and there is no mention in the logs to indicate that it is even attempting to deploy.
Any ideas on where to start investigating the problem?
/p:Configuration=ecrCI
/p:Platform="Any CPU"
/p:DeployOnBuild=True
/p:DeployTarget=MsDeployPublish
/p:CreatePackageOnPublish=True
/p:MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSVC
/p:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True
/p:MSDeployServiceUrl=https://mywebserver:8172/msdeploy.axd
/p:DeployIisAppPath=myrUrl
/p:UserName=ecr
/p:Password=xxxx
/p:IgnoreDeployManagedRuntimeVersion=True
Have you tried adding /p:VisualStudioVersion=11.0 (or what ever version of VS you are using). I think I have seen some issues around this before.

After upgrading solution to .NET framework 4.5 the daily deploy stopped working

We have with success been updating our development web site at a daily basis using msdeploy from TFS2010.
This was working fine until we upgraded to VS2012, our application from .NET Framework 4.0 to 4.5 and ASP.NET MVC from 3.0 to 4.0. It look like all is well and assemblies deployed but nothing has actually been deployed.
I have been looking into this for two days now and can't figure out why this is happening and now I am running out of ideas.
Below is part of my build script in the way it has been working before the upgrade.
<MSBuild
Projects="$(SolutionRoot)\My.Web\My.Web.csproj"
Properties="MvcBuildViews=False;AllowUntrustedCertificate=True;AuthType=Basic;Configuration=Dev;CreatePackageOnPublish=True;DeployIisAppPath=dev.myweb;DeployOnBuild=True;DeployTarget=MsDeployPublish;MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSvc;MsDeployServiceUrl=https://10.xxx.xxx.xxx:8172/MsDeploy.axd;UserName=UserName;Password=Password;UseMsdeployExe=True"
ContinueOnError="False"
/>
When the upgrade was initiated and my problem discovered we were using Web Deploy 2.0 but now we have upgraded to Web Deploy 3.0. I have also made sure we are building with ToolsVersion="4.0".
UPDATE --
msbuild.exe /p:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True
/p:AuthType=Basic
/p:Configuration=Dev
/p:CreatePackageOnPublish=True
/p:DeployIisAppPath=dev.myweb
/p:DeployOnBuild=True
/p:DeployTarget=MsDeployPublish
/p:MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSvc
/p:MsDeployServiceUrl=https://10.xxx.xxx.xxx:8172/MsDeploy.axd
/p:UserName=UserName
/p:Password=Password
/p:UseMsdeployExe=True
E:\Builds\1\WhatEver\Daily_Build\Sources\My.Web\My.Web.csproj
Now I also tried to run the above msbuild command from our TFS and no response which frustrates me completely. Nothing in the event log of TFS, nothing in log file no matter verbosity... Any ideas?
It does work using msdeploy directy like below;
<Exec Command=""C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\MSDeploy.exe" -verb:sync -source:contentPath="E:\Builds\1\WhatEver\Daily_Build\Sources\My.Web\My.Web.csproj" -dest:contentPath="E:\dev.my.web",computername=https://10.xxx.xxx.xxx:8172/MsDeploy.axd,username=UserName,password=Password,authtype=Basic -allowUntrusted=True"
ContinueOnError="false" />
--
UPDATE 2 --
It appears Microsoft added a check for what type of projects that are publishable projects and our web application are not, since the Output Type is Class Library. This has been valid with v4.0 but apparently not for v4.5.
Anyone have an idea of what to do make it work again? Do I need to change the project type? Create publishing package up front and then deploy that? Or what?
--
Anyone else that has had the same problem? Have you found a solution to share?
Could there be an issue with version of MSBuild?
Here is what I would recommend. In VS2012 we have made it easy to automate publishing your web projects using the publish profiles which are created by the publish dialog. In your case create a new MSDeploy profile. When you create that profile we will save the settings into a file under Properties\PublishProfiles (or My Project\PublishProfiles for VB). The extension of this file will be .pubxml. Those files are actually MSBuild files, which you can customize if needed. You can continue to use the publish dialog as well. The password will be stored in a .user file and encrypted such that only you can decrypt it.
After you have created that profile you can publish with the command below if you are building the .sln file.
msbuild mysoln.sln /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=<ProfileName> /p:Password=<Password>
If you are building the .csproj/.vbproj then you need to tweak this a bit in the following way
msbuild mysoln.sln /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=<ProfileName> /p:Password=<Password> /p:VisualStudioVersion=11.0
More on why VisualStudioVersion is required at http://sedodream.com/2012/08/19/VisualStudioProjectCompatabilityAndVisualStudioVersion.aspx.
Once you do this you will be able to build+publish just like you did previously. FYI we have shipped all these new web publish features for VS2010 in the Azure SDK https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/#.
Also in your question I noticed that you are specifying some custom properties, like MvcBuildViews. You can now place those properties directly inside the publish profile (the .pubxml file) if you want. Of course you can still pass them in on the command line if that makes more sense for your scenario.
More info on this at http://sedodream.com/2012/06/15/VisualStudio2010WebPublishUpdates.aspx.
If you take a look at the approach that we had for developers to automate publishing it was to specify properties and targets to be executed during the build. The problem with this approach is that this limits our ability to enhance the web publish experience. In the new release we have introduced an abstraction, the publish profile, which allows us to change the underlying targets of the web publish pipeline and your automation scripts will continue to run. Hopefully from this point forward you will not have to re-visit this issue.
I had much the same problem today. I too was trying to get a .NET 4.5 web application automatically deployed using a machine that did not have Visual Studio 2012 installed on it. There were a couple of minor differences in my situation, however: I was using TeamCity instead of TFS, and our solution was created with .NET 4.5 as opposed to being one that had been upgraded from .NET 4.0.
Nonetheless, I did have the same problem described. I'd use MSBuild to build the web app and deploy it to IIS, in much the same way. This approach worked fine on my dev machine. However, when I ran MSBuild on the CI server, it quite happily built the web app, but it stopped after that: no errors, no warnings, nothing, just a message that the build was successful. There wasn't the slightest hint of an attempt at deploying the app to IIS.
It seems MSBuild was missing the relevant targets to perform the web deployment.
The fix was to copy the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web from my dev machine to the CI server, copying it to the same place on the CI server as it was on my machine.
Once I did that, MSBuild then grumbled about needing Web Deploy 3.0, but that was fixed easily enough. After installing that on the CI server too, MSBuild quite happily deployed the web app.
To extend Luke Woodward's answer:
I, too, found that deploying C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web\ from my local machine to the build server was the fix.
However, the real fix is to install the Microsoft Web Developer Tools as part of the VS 2012 installation, which will create this folder, among other things. This addresses Ieppie's licensing objection.
I tested this by...
Deleting C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web\
Running the VS 2012 installer and adding MS Web Dev tools.
Verifying that, after the install, C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web\ was back.