Hosting TCP based WCF service on the same ports as IIS (via Windows Activation Service) in Azure WebRole

Question

How should one configure an Azure Webrole when using a TCP-based WCF on the same ports as IIS?

An on-premise solution would typically use WAS activation, however this usually involved setting permissions on the HTTP ports etc. In Windows Azure this interface isn't readily available.

Answer 1

The best way to host a WCF service in an Azure WebRole is using Windows Activation Service (WAS). Typically this is needed when you want to provide web content (HTTP) and some TCP-based WCF service on the same ports (80 or 443).

Here is a PowerShell script that will enable the TCPPortSharing service, and configure IIS appropriately. Although this works for Azure, with slight modification you can use this for an on-premise Windows 2008 R2 server as well.

#adding this to be sure that IISConfigurator has a chance complete

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Starting...$([Datetime]::Now.ToString())" 

Start-Sleep -s 300

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Adding Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime..."
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime
while (!$?)
{
    Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Failed to add Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime, retrying after five seconds..."
    sleep 5

    Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime
}

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "...done adding Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#Start the Net.TCP Port Sharing and Net.Tcp Listener Adaptor services.. (TODO:Not sure if we need to set this to auto)

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Setting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator service startup to auto... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic
Set-Service NetTcpActivator -StartupType Automatic

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "...done Setting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator service startup to auto ... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Starting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator services ... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

Start-Service -name NetTcpPortSharing
Start-Service -name NetTcpActivator

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "... done Starting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator services $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#Get the Role Instance Id

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Getting the RoleInstance ID... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

$roleInstance = Get-RoleInstance -current
$roleInstanceId = $roleInstance.Id

$siteName = '_Web'  #This is the site name from the <Site> tag in ServiceDefinition.csdef

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Instance ID : $roleInstanceId"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "... done Getting the RoleInstance ID $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#Create the bindingCmd

#Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Building commands ..."

#$addBindingCmd =  "set site `"" + $roleInstanceId + "_" + $siteName + "`" -+bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',bindingInformation='808:*']"
#$enableNetTcpCmd =  "set app `"" + $roleInstanceId + "_" + $siteName + "`" /enabledProtocols:http,net.tcp"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value $addBindingCmd
Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value $enableNetTcpCmd
Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "...done Building commands"

set-alias appCmd $env:windir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "Adding Net.Tcp binding... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#add the binding..
#appCmd $addBindingCmd 

appCmd set site `"$roleInstanceId$siteName`" /debug -+"bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',bindingInformation='808:*']" >>trace.txt

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "done Adding Net.Tcp binding"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "Enable Net.Tcp... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"
#appCmd $enableNetTcpCmd
appCmd set app "$roleInstanceId$siteName/" /debug /enabledProtocols:"http,net.tcp" >> trace.txt
Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "done Enable Net.Tcp"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "End $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"