I'm setting up a new website to be load balanced using Azure web apps.
Previously we've done load balanced Umbraco on VMs and replicated media. The instructions/documentation say setup 2 separate web apps one for admin one for the site, but don't mention anything to do with media. I assume that won't be automatically copied between separate web apps so do I need to store them on blob storage or similar. The instructions are a little vague on this point.
I have a package (Azure CDN Toolkit) that uses the blob storage package and goes further to using CDN for serving the media which you might be interested in.
I would certainly recommend having a look at the step by step guides I created for both the Azure setup and Umbraco setup even if you are using only UmbracoFileSystemProviders.Azure and don't get into CDN.
We should really get that documentation updated, as option 2 and 3 both are just about how to sync media/files between servers while option 1 gives you the impression that isn't an issue!
Unfortunately not, you will need to use a Cloud Explorer to move existing media items. I use ClumsyLeaf CloudXplorer, it's literally a matter of drag and drop the existing files to the container.
Apologies for jumping on your thread with a related Q here – Azure can't help and I wonder if either of you can?
Do you know if it's possible to set up a mid-size / traffic site running Umbraco 6 on Web Apps? The site in question is currently hosted in a load-balanced, dedicated virtualised server environment.
Thanks in advance for any info or experiences you are able to share
@JW not easily, in 7.3 they added support for dynamic database based cache updates. This replaced the distributed call stuff.
With Web Apps you won't know what IP addresses stuff will have and that can change with scaling etc so you won't be able to get updates syncing between servers.
Media on sites running on Azure Web Apps
I'm setting up a new website to be load balanced using Azure web apps.
Previously we've done load balanced Umbraco on VMs and replicated media. The instructions/documentation say setup 2 separate web apps one for admin one for the site, but don't mention anything to do with media. I assume that won't be automatically copied between separate web apps so do I need to store them on blob storage or similar. The instructions are a little vague on this point.
Yes, you should use the UmbracoFileSystemProviders.Azure package to move your media to blob storage.
I have a package (Azure CDN Toolkit) that uses the blob storage package and goes further to using CDN for serving the media which you might be interested in.
I would certainly recommend having a look at the step by step guides I created for both the Azure setup and Umbraco setup even if you are using only UmbracoFileSystemProviders.Azure and don't get into CDN.
We should really get that documentation updated, as option 2 and 3 both are just about how to sync media/files between servers while option 1 gives you the impression that isn't an issue!
You are right, it should mention media in there for sure!
Thanks, I was thinking I could just use an Azure CDN and server the images from there with that origin pulling the originals from the admin site.
Blob storage seems a better way of doing that. Will the package move existing media to blob storage for me?
Unfortunately not, you will need to use a Cloud Explorer to move existing media items. I use ClumsyLeaf CloudXplorer, it's literally a matter of drag and drop the existing files to the container.
Hi Steve, Jeavon
Apologies for jumping on your thread with a related Q here – Azure can't help and I wonder if either of you can?
Do you know if it's possible to set up a mid-size / traffic site running Umbraco 6 on Web Apps? The site in question is currently hosted in a load-balanced, dedicated virtualised server environment.
Thanks in advance for any info or experiences you are able to share
JW
No, you would need to upgrade to Umbraco v7.3+ to properly support Web Apps.
Can run on a Azure VM perfectly fine of course.
@JW not easily, in 7.3 they added support for dynamic database based cache updates. This replaced the distributed call stuff.
With Web Apps you won't know what IP addresses stuff will have and that can change with scaling etc so you won't be able to get updates syncing between servers.
Thank you both very much for your responses - extremely helpful :)
is working on a reply...