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The Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles makes it quick and easy for you to deploy one or more websites across multiple Web Role instances using Web Deploy. The accelerator includes a Visual Studio project template that creates a Windows Azure web role to host one or more websites. Once you have deployed this Web Role you can deploy your websites to Windows Azure using Web Deploy. Deployments to Windows Azure using Web Deploy take only about 30 seconds. Additionally, this tool will work with roles that have a single or many instances so you can scale up to handle as much traffic as you need.

The Web Host project template included with this project also has a user interface for managing your IIS applications, certificates, and site bindings. You can create new sites using only the web interface and then deploy directly to your site using Web Deploy. Additionally, the web interface has some basic UI to display logging information. The web interface can be used as is or extended to fit your exact needs.

Notice

With the release of Windows Azure Web Sites we have no plans to continue updating this project. The vast majority of use cases for this project have been solved by Windows Azure Web Sites and as such we recommend migrating yours sites. If you have any questions please open an issue - we are happy to help in any way we can.

You can read more about this here.

When Should I Use This?

Before you download and use this accelerator it is important to understand what it is and how it should be used. First, remember that the accelerator is sample code. It is not part of the Windows Azure Platform and is not a supported project. It is a tool that you can use if it fits your needs. The project is open source so you can modify it, fix bugs, or rip it apart and use pieces in any way that meets your needs. Second, the accelerator was designed to simplify certain types of deployments on Windows Azure. The accelerator was built to help developers deploy and host multiple websites on a single set of instances. The accelerator works best with sites that are small in size and simple in scope. For these scenarios the accelerator has been working well for many people. Now, if you are building a high performance, high scale site that has lots of complexity, lots of static content, or other similar scenarios this accelerator probably isn't for you.

Documentation

• Setup and Configuration
• Deploying
• Changing Portal Credentials
• Modifying Service Endpoints
• Known Issues

Related Content

• Video - Getting Started with the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles
• Blog Post - Introducing the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles
• Blog Post - Extending the Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles with PHP and MVC3
• Blog Post - Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles
• Blog Post - Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles (Year of Azure Week 2)

Requirement

You must have the following items to run the project template and the sample solution included in this accelerator:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional (or higher) or Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 Express
• Microsoft ASP.NET MVC3
• Internet Information Services 7 (IIS7)
• Windows Azure SDK for .Net Version 1.6
• Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Version 1.6