I would like to use Go CD with .NET Web API projects and Git.
I like the idea of promoting a specific build artifact to some environments via pipelines. Currently we're using TeamCity and branching in Git. We use MSBuild to build and deploy with a specific Config Transform (Test, Staging, Live).
Our MSBuild command line arguments are the following:
/p:Configuration=%DeployConfiguration% /p:Platform=AnyCPU /t:WebPublish /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:DeleteExistingFiles=True /p:publishUrl=%DeployPath%
%DeployConfiguration% is a parameter for each environment; Test, Staging, Live and uses .NET Config Transforms to transform the Web.config for a specified environment.
%DeployPath% is a parameter for each project for each environment. So AuthAPI Live would be something like: \\liveServer\path\to\AuthAPI\.
My one question regarding this is: How to use a specific environment config (using .NET Config Transforms) when the build artifact is promoted to the next stage in the pipeline? So for example, when the build is promoted to testing environment I want to use Web.Test.config, but when promoted to staging environment I want to use Web.Staging.config, etc.
Also I would like to know if you have any experience using Go CD with .NET projects?
I have not experience using Go CD with .NET projects, but maybe my advise will be helpfull.
1.Create TransformStaging.csproj file with content:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Transform" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Import Project="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets" />
<Target Name="Transform">
<Copy SourceFiles="$(Source)" DestinationFiles="$(Source).tmp"/>
<TransformXml Source="$(Source).tmp" Transform="Web.Staging.config" Destination="$(Source)" />
</Target>
</Project>
2.Call msbuild with
msbuild.exe TransformStaging.csproj /p:Source=$configFilePath
There are parts of configuration that are environment specific (you will have a different db connection for Dev,QA, UAT, Production environments for example), and then there are configurations settings that do not change from one environment to the other, lets call these application specific config values. Example of those would be perhaps you setup a logger component and disregarding what environment app is in you want the log files to go to a certain folder, c:\logs.
I would suggest keep application specific settings in your App.Config file (these are deployed from one env to other using xcopy), but the ones that are environment specific, take out. Separate deployment of environment configuration from your app deployment. These should be deployed to machine when it is built/configured.
Environment specific variables can be set stored in OS Environment Variables, Machine.config, known file location etc.
That way your app just has to query: Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("MyAppDBName")
And Dev, QA, and Production environments/servers will have different answers.
And you will be deploying the same binaries across each environment.
Nermin Dibek is pointing the correct way to do things, but I will like to add something more specific to his answer.
I implemented the process in my organization and after you migrate to Environment Variables (With this you avoid commit the Configuration file that contains Secret Keys(Security Leaks)), in GoCD there is a place call environment that will allow you to customize the pipeline where you are running. For example in my Org I have Staging env, Testing env, Prod and you can go on as many as you like, this give you a nice feature because you can assign to differents environment different agents and different pipelines, for example we are running only unit test in Testing so I put the slowest agent for that task.
Related
I want to configure our pipeline to allow one build to be used for multiple environments without having to create separate builds. According to the docs, it seems like it is possible, as it says:
You can use this technique to create a default package and deploy it to multiple stages.
I named my stage as my environment (preview), and I created a web.config file for that environment (web.preview.config) file. All my environment configuration files in the same path as Web.Config file.
The logs say transformation was complete:
2018-11-17T00:26:52.0383966Z [command]D:\a_tasks\AzureRmWebAppDeployment_497d490f-eea7-4f2b-ab94-48d9c1acdcb1\3.4.13\ctt\ctt.exe s:D:\a_temp\temp_web_package_06958915987488234\Content\D_C\a\1\s\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp.Api\obj\Preview\Package\PackageTmp\bin\Web.config t:D:\a_temp\temp_web_package_06958915987488234\Content\D_C\a\1\s\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp.Api\obj\Preview\Package\PackageTmp\bin\Web.Release.config d:D:\a_temp\temp_web_package_06958915987488234\Content\D_C\a\1\s\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp.Api\obj\Preview\Package\PackageTmp\bin\Web.config pw i
2018-11-17T00:26:52.4335280Z [command]D:\a_tasks\AzureRmWebAppDeployment_497d490f-eea7-4f2b-ab94-48d9c1acdcb1\3.4.13\ctt\ctt.exe s:D:\a_temp\temp_web_package_06958915987488234\Content\D_C\a\1\s\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp.Api\obj\Preview\Package\PackageTmp\bin\Web.config t:D:\a_temp\temp_web_package_06958915987488234\Content\D_C\a\1\s\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp.Api\obj\Preview\Package\PackageTmp\bin\Web.Preview.config d:D:\a_temp\temp_web_package_06958915987488234\Content\D_C\a\1\s\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp\Microsoft.Xbox.Mvp.Api\obj\Preview\Package\PackageTmp\bin\Web.config pw i
2018-11-17T00:26:52.5443873Z XML Transformations applied successfully
I can see that it first transformed to release and then it applied preview as the doc says (release then environment). However, although it says XML Transformations applied successfully, when I check the config variables, they are not changed. The only way I could make the transformation work was to define the buildConfiguration variable when I queue a new build, which blocks me from using the same build for different environments.
When I was researching, I found this from this link:
Web.config is transformed during the build process, if you generate the deployment package from "Build" and then deploy it in "Release", then you cannot transform it before deployment.
But the doc said I can use one default package for multiple stages...Does that still mean I have to create separate build for each environment? Is XML transformation not what I should be looking at for the scenario I wanna solve?
Thank you in advance!
++ Edit:
Release Settings:
Release steps (I think? I have a strong feeling that this is what you are looking for...):
1) Make sure you transform works. Test it
here.
2) Ensure in your VS project that you are including the transform file, Web.Preview.config, and copying to output dir.
3) Disable the config transform during the build, you just need to add argument /p:TransformWebConfigEnabled=False in MSBuild Arguments section of your Build task. You also need to add /p:AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False if you want to update the connection string during the release. This will use the Web.Preview.config to "transform" the web.config.
4) Double check that in your release for the IIS Web App Deploy task under File Transforms & Variable Substitution Options you have XML transformation checked.
None of the answers I found on the internet worked for me on their own for my build and release pipeline. The web.config I got from the release pipeline was always pointing to the non transformed values.
After a few hours pulling my hair I got it to work though.
Some short info about my setup
I want to be able to deploy on all environments with just one build and one release pipeline.
My setup:
One build pipeline that builds all of our standard branches (test,
release, master).
One release pipeline that has different stages
depending on branch that started the release.
Our test stage releases the test branch on our test server.
Stage/Production comes from the same release branch but have their own transform files.
Solution
I followed some of the guide from Microsoft and set up my web.<environment_name>.config to match the release stage names.
I did not need to remove the <Dependent Upon> rows from my .csproj for each transform. Instead all I did was set the property Build Action of each transform to Content as shown by the image bellow.
I then added these commands to the build pipeline's Build Solution -> MSBuild Arguments:
/p:MarkWebConfigAssistFilesAsExclude=false
/p:TransformWebConfigEnabled=false
/p:AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False
The build now does not try to transform the .config on it's own and also does not exclude the transform files from the artifact, allowing the release pipeline to do the transformation instead. Also, keeping the <Dependent On> for the transform files lets us have a "cleaner" look inside our code editors.
I just got this working so I could have one build with deployment to multiple environments. This is what I did.
In the code, I set each Web.<Environment>.config property to Build Action = "Content". I also set all mine to Copy to Output Directory = "Copy Always". I also unloaded the project and edit the csproj file, then removed the <DependendUpon>Web.config</DependentUpon> lines. This dumps all your web.configs to the root (no file nesting).
In the build, I set pipeline variable BuildConfiguration = "Release". I don't have a Web.Release.config in my project.
In the release, I named the deployment stage after the environment (in my case, Development, Staging, and Production). In all stages, on the Azure deployment task, I checked the XML transform checkbox.
In Azure, I set the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT to the naming of the staging environment, in my case, Development, Staging, and Production).
I just got this working as well. My issue was actually at the Visual Studio Solution level. I had the MVC project pointed to a different Configuration than the others. So always double check the configs!
I have a windows service written in .net c#. We have three different environments say dev, test and prod. I also have 3 different config files for 3 environments say devAppConfig , TestAppConfig and ProdAppConfig.
Earlier, we used to deploy manual, so we used to replace the config files and deploy the binaries.Now the deployments are to be automated for that we are using Bamboo.
Now my question is how do I dynamically change the AppConfig for different environment deployments.
I have 3 different stages in Bamboo naming DevDeploy , TestDeploy, ProdDeploy. When I run these stages, it has to change the config file and do the deployment, but I'm not sure how.
Can anyone guide me in the right direction for my issue?
I suppose this would work:
Create few configuration files in some directory in the solution in the format Config.ConfigurationName.xml, eg Config.DEV.xml, Config.Test.xml...
Add PreBuild event (by the csproj properties window or manually in the csproj file), for example: <PropertyGroup><PreBuildEvent>xcopy /y (ProjectDir)\Configs\Config.$(Configuration).xml $(ProjectDir)\CONFIG\Config.xml</PreBuildEvent></PropertyGroup>
or in VS rigth click on the project -> Properties:
Add few configurations in VS in Configuration Manager for different configuration eg. DEV, Test.
My project configuration:
Execute in the Bamboo msbuild with arguments: /p:SolutionConfiguration=%CONFIGURATION% where %CONFIGURATION% is a variable in Bamboo saying on which ENV you are deploying, eg DEV, Test etc.
I am currently working on .net core web application deployment in multiple environment - Testing, UAT, PROD, etc.
As per documentations says, we should have environment specific appsettings.{environment}.json files so when we deploy application onto specific environment, respective file will be used.
I believe we use IIS -> configuration Editor to set ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT variable.
However, I am unable to find, how can we do this thru deployment plan without going onto server.
Currently I am using Octopus deployment tool.
Any idea?
I think you need to store environment specific settings in Octopus Deploy (in scoped variables) rather than in your .json files which will
- or should even - be under source control.
Say your appsettings.json looks like this
{
"weatherApiUrl": "dev.weather.com",
"weatherApiKey": "DEV1234567",
"tempImageFolder": "C:\temp\img"
}
In your Project Variables you specify the weatherApiUrl variable and set it to dev.weather.com scoped to Development, test.weather.com scoped to Test, etc.
In your Process, in the Deploy step, goto Configure Features and enable JSON configuration variables. Now the Deploy step will have an extra section named JSON configuration variables, specify the name of your config file there, appsettings.json and off you go.
More information here: JSON Configuration Variables Feature
Anyone have a preferred method for making web.config transforms? I am curious as to what others have done for this. I hate having to continuously update the web.config every time I update or republish.
A few years ago Scott Hanselman gave a solution using pre-build events and batch files:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ManagingMultipleConfigurationFileEnvironmentsWithPreBuildEvents.aspx
Basically you maintain a separate different configuration for each build and run the batch script pre-build to copy over the Web.Config. The obvious disadvantage is that if you have thirty different build configurations you need thirty different configs, but I find it's nice for projects where you only have two or three configs (like hobby projects, or tools you'll only ever be publishing to internal servers). Plus, it's nice knowing that if you want to you can take extra control of the build process if you want to.
The easiest way to use VS built in support:
You have versions of web.config, for your build versions, (by default Debug and Release)
In the release version you can define transforms what are applied during build. The effective web.config will be the result.
Look into the nuget package for slow cheetah: https://www.nuget.org/packages/SlowCheetah/ This does what you are looking for quite nicely. Be aware that it is for publish transformations only, switching to a different config for local debugging will have no affect.
Create a build configuration for each server you want to deploy to
Example
-Dev Server "copy from debug"-
-Prod Server Debug "copy from debug"-
-Prod Server Release "copy from release"-
Then right click your web.config and select "add config transforms"
You will get new transforms for each configuration you added above.
Now configure your web config transforms for each environment.
Now when you publish you can just select the configuration "Dev, Prod Debug, or Prod Release" and out it goes, no need to update them after that.
Now, the base web.config should always be configured for your local environment, so if you set up in IIS locally it will use web.config without any transforms. Your transforms should transform your local settings in the base web.config to w/e they need to be.
How to pass a parameter to a TeamCity Test Runner?
I've added a build configuration to my teamcity project which copies out a test project from TFS into a local location on the server then it runs the tests with NUnit and display the results.
The problem is that when the tests run from my local pc, they should be using some configurations, when they run from Dev Automated Build and Test Automated Build, they should be using other configurations and all should be in TFS.
For example, BaseUrl and Connection string configurations...
private static readonly string BaseUrl = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[AppSettingKey.BaseUrl];
Currently, I've added a web.config file to my project which works fine only locally.
So, how to pass these parameters to a TeamCity Build Configuration which is configured on Dev and Test environemnts?
Even if I create separate web.config files (e.g. dev.web.config and staging.web.config), I need a way to tell the Build Configuration to use which configuration file?
Hope the question is clear.
many thanks.
Enlightened, found a solution (should have thought more before submiting a question here)!
I'd just create separate dev.app.config and staging.app.config files then on the "Version Control Settings" page on teamcity I can define rules such as copy this file somewhere.
So I just Copy the file onto the root app.config; that's it!
Rule:
+: SolutionName\Tests\ConfigFiles\Dev\App.config=>SolutionName\Tests\App.config
Consider using the configuration parameter i.e. Build | Release
Use your debug build locally and release on TeamCity. You can do this with an MSBuild parameter (/p:Configuration=Release)
Then use the solution here (How to select different app.config for several build configurations) to use the correct app.config.
I prefer this solution as it keeps the definitions within the solution / projects rather than within the build.
[I'm adding this just for completeness - I had originally followed this approach but then found the other solution]
Rules in Version Control Settings works only for directories so the better approach is to use Build step - command line
Go to Build Step in Settings section
and Add Build Step with following settings
Command Line
Custom script: copy TeamCity.App.config App.config
Execute: Only if all previous steps were successful
Reorder this step and run it before compilation step