MsDeploy - Can't update Application Pool

Question

I've been browsing dozens of sites to help me deploy a web service to an IIS using MsDeploy. I need to create the application, modify application pool and enable protocols, and update a appSetting (that contains a connection string, don't ask me why).

I can do all of these, except applying the good Application pool.

Here's the parameters.xml file I added to the project :

<parameters>
  <parameter tags="IisApp" defaultValue="Default Web Site/MyWebService" name="IIS Web Application Name">
    <parameterEntry match="@defaultValue" scope="IisApp" kind="ProviderPath"/>
    <parameterEntry match="@defaultValue" scope="setAcl" kind="ProviderPath"/>
  </parameter>
  <parameter name="Configuration Connection String" defaultValue="Some real Connection String in there" tags="">
    <parameterEntry kind="XmlFile" scope="\\web.config$" match="/configuration/appSettings/add[@key='ConfigurationSQLConnectionString']/@value" />
  </parameter>
  <parameter name="Application Pool" defaultValue="MyOwnAppPool" description="Application pool for this site">
    <parameterEntry kind="DeploymentObjectAttribute" scope="application" match="/application/@applicationPool" />
  </parameter>
</parameters>

Here's the way I generate the package :

MsBuild MyWebService.csproj /T:Package /P:PackageLocation="c:\somewhere\package.zip" /P:IncludeAppPool=true /P:IncludeIisSettings=true

Here's the generated archive.xml file :

<sitemanifest MSDeploy.ObjectResolver.dirPath="Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DirPathObjectResolver" MSDeploy.ObjectResolver.filePath="Microsoft.Web.Deployment.FilePathObjectResolver">
  <appHostConfig path="Default Web Site/MyWebService" MSDeploy.path="2" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="Child1" MSDeploy.MSDeployKeyAttributeName="path" MSDeploy.MSDeployProviderOptions="some stuff">
    <application path="/MyWebService" MSDeploy.path="2" applicationPool="DefaultAppPool" MSDeploy.applicationPool="1" enabledProtocols="http" MSDeploy.enabledProtocols="1" serviceAutoStartEnabled="false" MSDeploy.serviceAutoStartEnabled="1" serviceAutoStartProvider="" MSDeploy.serviceAutoStartProvider="1" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="PathElement" MSDeploy.MSDeployKeyAttributeName="path">
      <virtualDirectoryDefaults path="" MSDeploy.path="1" physicalPath="" MSDeploy.physicalPath="9" userName="" MSDeploy.userName="1" password="" MSDeploy.password="1" logonMethod="ClearText" MSDeploy.logonMethod="1" allowSubDirConfig="true" MSDeploy.allowSubDirConfig="1" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="virtualDirectoryDefaults" />
      <virtualDirectory path="/" MSDeploy.path="2" physicalPath="C:\somewhere\MyWebService" MSDeploy.physicalPath="8" userName="" MSDeploy.userName="1" password="" MSDeploy.password="1" logonMethod="ClearText" MSDeploy.logonMethod="1" allowSubDirConfig="true" MSDeploy.allowSubDirConfig="1" MSDeploy.MSDeployKeyAttributeName="path" />
    </application>
  </appHostConfig>
  <contentPath path="C:\somewhere\MyWebService\obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp" MSDeploy.path="2" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="Child2" MSDeploy.MSDeployKeyAttributeName="path" MSDeploy.MSDeployProviderOptions="some other stuff">
    <MSDeploy.dirPath path="C:\somewhere\MyWebSerivce\obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="contentPath" />
  </contentPath>
  <setAcl path="C:\somewhere\MyWebService\obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp" MSDeploy.path="2" isDest="AA==" MSDeploy.isDest.Type="Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentObjectBooleanAttributeValue" setAclUser="" MSDeploy.setAclUser="1" setAclAccess="Read" MSDeploy.setAclAccess="1" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="Child3" MSDeploy.MSDeployKeyAttributeName="path" MSDeploy.MSDeployProviderOptions="still some stuff" />
  <setAcl path="C:\somewhere\MyWebService\obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp" MSDeploy.path="2" isDest="AA==" MSDeploy.isDest.Type="Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentObjectBooleanAttributeValue" setAclUser="anonymousAuthenticationUser" MSDeploy.setAclUser="1" setAclAccess="Read" MSDeploy.setAclAccess="1" MSDeploy.MSDeployLinkName="Child4" MSDeploy.MSDeployKeyAttributeName="path" MSDeploy.MSDeployProviderOptions="final stuff I guess" />
</sitemanifest>

Here's the generated parameters.xml :

<parameters>
  <parameter name="IIS Web Application Name" defaultValue="Default Web Site/MyWebService" tags="IisApp">
    <parameterEntry kind="ProviderPath" scope="AppHostConfig" match="^Default\ Web\ Site/MyWebService$" />
    <parameterEntry kind="ProviderPath" scope="contentPath" match="^C:\\somewhere\\MyWebService\\obj\\Debug\\Package\\PackageTmp$" />
    <parameterEntry kind="ProviderPath" scope="setAcl" match="^C:\\somewhere\\MyWebService\\obj\\Debug\\Package\\PackageTmp$" />
    <parameterEntry kind="ProviderPath" scope="IisApp" match="@defaultValue" />
    <parameterEntry kind="ProviderPath" scope="setAcl" match="@defaultValue" />
  </parameter>
  <parameter name="IIS Web Application Pool Name" defaultValue="DefaultAppPool">
    <parameterEntry kind="DeploymentObjectAttribute" scope="application" match="application[@applicationPool='DefaultAppPool']/@applicationPool" />
  </parameter>
  <parameter name="IisVirtualDirectoryPhysicalPath" defaultValue="C:\somewhere\MyWebService" tags="PhysicalPath">
    <parameterEntry kind="DestinationVirtualDirectory" scope=".*" match="^C:\\somewhere\\MyWebService$" />
  </parameter>
  <parameter name="Configuration Connection String" defaultValue="Some real Connection String in there">
    <parameterEntry kind="XmlFile" scope="\\web.config$" match="/configuration/appSettings/add[@key='ConfigurationSQLConnectionString']/@value" />
  </parameter>
  <parameter name="Application Pool" description="Application pool for this site" defaultValue="MyOwnAppPool">
    <parameterEntry kind="DeploymentObjectAttribute" scope="application" match="/application/@applicationPool" />
  </parameter>
</parameters>

And finally, here's the command I launch to deploy the package :

msdeploy.exe -verb:sync -allowUntrusted -enableLink:AppPoolExtension -source:package="c:\somewhere\Package.zip" -dest:auto,computerName="https://destinationserver:8172/MsDeploy.axd?site=WebSite_Deployment",userName="destinationserver\deploymentUser",password="shouldKeepItSecret",authType="basic" -setParam:name="IIS Web Application Name",value="WebSite_Deployment/MyWebService" -setParam:name="Configuration Connection String",value="The Real Connection String" -setParam:name="Application Pool",value="FinalAppPool" -setParam:name="IIS Web Application Pool Name",value="FinalAppPool" -verbose

I get the following log :

Verbose: Parameter entry 'IIS Web Application Pool Name/1' is applicable to 'sitemanifest/appHostConfig[@path='Default Web Site/MyWebService']/application[@path='/MyWebService']' because of its scope.
Verbose: Parameter entry 'Application Pool/1' is applicable to 'sitemanifest/appHostConfig[@path='Default Web Site/MyWebService']/application[@path='/MyWebService']' because of its scope.

But finally, the application pool that is set DefaultAppPool (and not FinalAppPool as expected). I first thought that msdeploy took the default application pool value for the parameter "IIS Web Application Pool Name". but it always take DefaultAppPool. I just don't understand why.

As you can see, I'm using basic authentication with a non administrator account. I've activated Management Delegation Service on destinationServer to delegate contentPath, iisApp and setAcl to current user, and createApp and appHostConfig to WDeployConfigWriter.

The fact that I added the parameter "Application Pool" is because I found this here . But even if I keep only one of those two parameters (Application Pool and IIS Web Application Pool Name"), the 2nd one is always in the archive.xml because of the msbuild package parameter IncludeIisSettings=true. And the result is the same.

It doesn't seem to be a right issue, as long as the application pool is really set by msdeploy. It's just that it doesn't take the provided application pool.

We also have a similar problem for Enable Protocols.

Sorry for the length, but I wanted to be exhaustive.

Answer 1

Don't know how you're deploying, but maybe you can use a script (with postSync argument) as mentionned there:

.net WebDeploy is there any way to run command/script on the target machine after deploy

In this script you can do everything you want with appcmd:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/get-started/getting-started-with-iis/getting-started-with-appcmdexe