Packaging Azure Cloud Services

Note: This documentation is for FAKE before version 5 (or the non-netcore version). The new documentation can be found here

FAKE can be used to create a Azure Cloud Service package (.cspkg) for use with e.g. Worker Roles.

Currently it does not support publishing, and has several restrictions: -

1. The service definition file must be called ServiceDefinition.csdef.
2. It only works for single-role workers.
3. It does not perform a build of the worker role project - this should be done beforehand.
4. Always packages from the Release outputs.

Assume a solution with the following structure: -

• MyCloudService.ccproj
  • Contains a single role, "MyRole".
  • Contains a ServiceDefinition.cscfg file.
• MyWorkerRole.fsproj
  • Referenced by MyCloudService as a Role.
  • Contains a typical RoleEntryPoint class.

You can package this cloud service thus: -

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Target "PackageCloudService" (fun _ ->
    PackageRole
        { CloudService = "MyCloudService"
          WorkerRole = "MyWorkerRole"
          SdkVersion = None
          OutputPath = None })

This will build MyCloudService.cspkg in the current directory (override using OutputPath).

When packaging occurs, the task will scan the local machine for installed Azure SDK versions; if none is specified, it will pick the highest version installed. You can override this with the SdkVersion property e.g. Some 2.4. You can plug this into a regular FAKE pipeline as follows: -

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"Clean"
  ==> "BuildApp"
  ==> "PackageCloudService"