ModuleLoadException on ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.IsAvailable due to LogicalCallContext

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC web application in which I am getting an error on startup. The global asax.cs calls into ApplicationSettings.cs which has a check to ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.IsAvailable to load settings from one of cloud settings or app settings (but that is not important). This is the exception thrown:

Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime Critical: 102 : Unexpcted Exception During Runtime Startup:
System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for '<Module>' threw an exception. ---> <CrtImplementationDetails>.ModuleLoadException: The C++ module failed to load while attempting to initialize the default appdomain.
 ---> System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException: Type is not resolved for member 'Test.Common.Logging.Tracing.TracingContext,Test.Common, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.
   at System.AppDomain.get_Id()
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.DoCallBackInDefaultDomain(IntPtr function, Void* cookie)
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport.InitializeDefaultAppDomain(LanguageSupport* )
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport._Initialize(LanguageSupport* )
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport.Initialize(LanguageSupport* )
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.ThrowModuleLoadException(String errorMessage, Exception innerException)
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport.Initialize(LanguageSupport* )
   at .cctor()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.InitializeEnvironment()
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment..cctor()
[2022-06-25 22:29:43] DiagnosticLogs: 
     Message [The type initializer for 'Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment' threw an exception.]
     LogSeverityLevel [Error]
     InnerException [System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for '<Module>' threw an exception. ---> <CrtImplementationDetails>.ModuleLoadException: The C++ module failed to load while attempting to initialize the default appdomain.
 ---> System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException: Type is not resolved for member 'Test.Common.Logging.Tracing.TracingContext,Test.Common, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.
   at System.AppDomain.get_Id()
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.DoCallBackInDefaultDomain(IntPtr function, Void* cookie)
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport.InitializeDefaultAppDomain(LanguageSupport* )
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport._Initialize(LanguageSupport* )
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport.Initialize(LanguageSupport* )
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.ThrowModuleLoadException(String errorMessage, Exception innerException)
   at <CrtImplementationDetails>.LanguageSupport.Initialize(LanguageSupport* )
   at .cctor()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.InitializeEnvironment()
   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment..cctor()]
     StackTrace [   at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.get_IsAvailable()
   at Test.Business.Utility.ApplicationSettings.GetCloudOrAppSetting(String propertyName, String defaultPropertyValue, Boolean useCache) in C:\test\Applications\Test\Test.Business\Utility\ApplicationSettings.cs:line 58
   at Test.Business.Utility.ApplicationSettings.LoadDySettings() in C:\test\Applications\Test\Test.Business\Utility\ApplicationSettings.cs:line 109
   at TestUserProfile.Global.Application_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\test\Applications\Test\TestUserProfile\Global.asax.cs:line 70]
     TraceActivityId [bbd73ca7-f3dd-4eef-90bc-006732c617c6]
     CorrelationId [051f3a29-62f4-4cc9-9854-8bd6fc02c08d]
     BuildNumber [1.0.0.1]
     SourceFilePath [C:\test\Applications\Test\TestUserProfile\Global.asax.cs]
     SourceMethodName [Application_Start]
     MachineName [SAURAV-SURFACEB]
[2022-06-25 22:29:43] Metric: Total Exception - 1, Dimensions: 
     Method Name [Application_Start]

This error has been happening since I added some special log tracing code which does: CallContext.LogicalSetData in Test.Common.Logging.Tracing.TracingContext.cs to track some properties of a current request on the thread. But if I remove the CallContext.LogicalSetData line, the error goes away, and the app starts up fine.

I think this has something to do with AppDomain and its initialization and the fact that CallContext.LogicalSetData sends information to a LogicalCallContext which can be in a different AppDomain. But I am not able to make sense out of it. Any help please?

Answer 1

Turns out that the class being serialized needed to extend MarshalByRefObject.

"MarshalByRefObject enables access to objects across application domain boundaries in applications that support remoting".

Since RoleEnvironment initializes a new AppDomain, any objects from LogicalContext need to be MarshalByRefObject types.

Thanks to this link where I got the hint: https://www.codeproject.com/Questions/696736/XML-Serialization-issue-when-Logical-Call-Context