Publish web-site vs Azure Cloud service publish

Question

There are 2 ways for publish website to Azure - via simple Publish feature vs Deploy as Cloud service. I have also one worker role in solution, so, I selected Cloud Service instead of simple Publish website feature.

But I'm very disappointed with Cloud service. First at all, deploy as cloud service takes in 10 times more time, than simple Publish website. Second problem - I have to each time, when I want to deploy, change connection strings in web.config to SQL Azure (instead of my local SQL Server). Website Publish has ability to set necessary SQL connection strings for deploy. Maybe I do something wrong and deploy can doing in 10 sec and exist ability to set different connection strings (like Website publish)?

I think about put to Cloud only worker role and website deploy as website, without Cloud service...

Answer 1

First, I would highly recommend that you go through this question comparing Azure Websites and Cloud Service: What is the difference between an Azure Web Site and an Azure Web Role

Now coming on to your questions:

First at all, deploy as cloud service takes in 10 times more time, than simple Publish website.

It is bound to happen because when you deploy a cloud service (say through Visual Studio), following things happen that will cause the delay:

• As a part of build process for cloud services, Visual Studio creates a package file and uploads it into blob storage. This package is then used to create a cloud service.
• Azure Fabric Controller which is responsible for managing life cycle of a cloud service creates a brand new Virtual Machine for you, installs necessary software (IIS for example) and then deploys your code from the package file.

Both of these things don't happen in websites.

Second problem - I have to each time, when I want to deploy, change connection strings in web.config to SQL Azure (instead of my local SQL Server). Website Publish has ability to set necessary SQL connection strings for deploy. Maybe I do something wrong and deploy can doing in 10 sec and exist ability to set different connection strings (like Website publish)?

You're not doing anything wrong per se. Your web.config file gets bundled into the package file so after any change you make to your web.config file, you would need to recreate the package and update the deployment (which will include uploading to blob storage).

One possible solution for your problem would be to use config transformation and have your web.config.release file contain the connection string for your production database. When you build your project in release mode, you will have correct connection string in your web.config file.

I think about put to Cloud only worker role and website deploy as website, without Cloud service...

This is certainly a viable option. Another alternative would be look into WebJobs . Like Worker Roles, they are meant for handling background processing workloads but have the same convenience of a website when it comes to deployment. You may also find this blog post useful as well: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IntroducingWindowsAzureWebJobs.aspx .