C1 CMS Versions supported

This package requires CMS version 2.0 or newer (Build: 2.0.3919.5834).

Installing Azure Publisher

1. Log into the CMS Console as an administrator.
2. Go to the "System" perspective.
3. Open the folders "Packages" | "Available Packages" | " Composite.Azure".
4. Select " Composite.Azure.Publisher" and click "Install".
5. Complete the wizard.

Getting blob connection information

To configure Azure Publisher, you need to:

1. set up a blob storage on Microsoft Azure and
2. get the connection information for this storage:
   • the storage account's name
   • and access key.

To create a storage on Microsoft Azure:

1. Log in to your Microsoft Azure Portal.
2. Select New / Data + Storage / Storage account.
3. Select Classic for the Deployment model.
4. Enter a name for your storage account and select other options where necessary: Subscription, Resource Group, Location.
5. Click Create.

Once the storage has been created:

• Copy, or make a note of, the storage account's name and primary access key (All Resources / [your storage account] / Access Keys)
  

For example:

• name: cmsblob
  
• access key: f4uLInNSRj9HiP9zP7FeN8dLRusthmdQggufw+yLvmaMLZzyslJzPOG65YfrIPuoKmu7rKEJmszzqHzQpKZx1A=
  

For more information about getting the blob storage connection information, please see "Prepare on Azure".

Configuring Azure Publisher

When the CMS Console reloads after the installation, in the "Content" perspective, a new element will appear: "Azure Publisher".

1. Right-click it and select "Configure".
2. Within the "Configuration" group box, fill the following fields:
   
   1. Account Name: The Azure blob storage account's name, for example, cmsblob.
   2. Account Key: Your Azure storage account's primary access key, for example, f4uLInNSRj9HiP9zP7FeN8dLRusthmdQggufw+yLvmaMLZzyslJzPOG65YfrIPuoKmu7rKEJmszzqHzQpKZx1A=.
3. Click "Save".

Configuring publish profiles

Publish profiles define how and what website files are published to the blob storage. Each publish profile must have a unique name and a unique blob container specified.

There two types of publish profiles:

• Primary: A public deployment website will read from the blob container associated with this profile
• Backup: Additional publish profiles, each with its won blob containers for various uses.

To create a primary publish profile:

1. From the "Content" perspective, right-click "Azure Publisher" and select "Configure".
2. On the "Publish Profiles" tab, below <PublishProfiles>:
   1. add a <Primary></Primary> element
   2. set its name attribute to the name of the profile you like, for example, "CD (Live)".
   3. set its blobContainerName attribute to the name of a blob container where the website files are published to.
3. Within the  Primary element:
   1. add a <SourceFiles></SourceFiles> element
   2. within the <SourceFiles> element, add one or more <Folder/> elements
   3. set their path attribute to the website folder path to include in publishing, for example, "~/".
4. Click "Save".

You can also have none, one or more backup publish profiles. The steps for creating a backup publish profile are almost the same as those for the primary profile, except that you should use the <Backup></Backup> element instead of <Primary></Primary> in Step 2.1 above.

When the user clicks the "Publish" or "Republish" button, Azure Publisher runs through all the defined profiles and publish the website data accordingly to respective blob containers in the storage.

Azure Publisher comes with predefined publish profiles: "CD (Live)" for the primary one and "All (Backup)" and  "Content (Backup)" for the backup ones.

<PublishProfiles>
  <Primary name="CD (Live)" blobContainerName="data" downloadable="false">
    <SourceFiles>
      <Folder path="~/" />
    </SourceFiles>
    <FileTransforms>
      <File skip="~/App_Data/Composite/Configuration/Composite.Azure.Publisher.config" />
    </FileTransforms>
  </Primary>
  <Backup name="All (Backup)" blobContainerName="all-backup">
    <SourceFiles>
      <Folder path="~/" />
    </SourceFiles>
  </Backup>
  <Backup name="Content (Backup)" blobContainerName="content-backup">
    <SourceFiles>
      <Folder path="~/App_Data/Composite/DataStores" />
      <Folder path="~/App_Data/Media" />
      <Folder path="~/App_Data/Composite/ApplicationState/SerializedWorkflows" />
    </SourceFiles>
  </Backup>
</PublishProfiles>

(Please see below for information about <FileTransforms> and downloadable used in the example above.)

Transforming files when publishing

Instead of copying all files ‘as is’ to the blob storage, you can configure Azure Publisher to:

• exclude specific files from being copied to the storage (skip) and / or
  
• replace a file when copying with the one on the target environment (skip + use)
  

You should define file transformation rules for each publish profile individually.

1. From the "Content" perspective, right-click "Azure Publisher" and select "Configure".
2. On the "Publish profile" tab, locate a profile you want to set file transformation rules for.
3. Below the <Primary> or <Backup> element, add a <FileTransforms></FileTransforms> element.
4. Within the <FileTransforms> element, add one or more <File/> elements.
5. Set their skip attribute to the path to the file to skip.
6. If you want to replace a file with the one on the target environment, in addition to skip, set the  use attribute to the path to the file on the target environment to use instead.
7. Click "Save".

<FileTransforms>
	<File skip="~/file-to-skip.txt" />
    <File skip="~/example.config" use="~/example.LIVE.config" />
</FileTransforms>

By default, the primary publish profile Azure Publisher comes with is set to skip the Composite.Azure.Publisher.config file.

<FileTransforms>
  <File skip="~/App_Data/Composite/Configuration/Composite.Azure.Publisher.config" />
</FileTransforms>

Setting up downloadable profiles

The user can have Azure Publisher download the website files from the blob container associated with a specific profile and replace the corresponding files on the staging website.

To make a profile downloadable or non-downloadable:

1. From the "Content" perspective, right-click "Azure Publisher" and select "Configure".
2. On the "Publish profile" tab, locate a profile you want to make downloadable or non-downloadable.
3. Add a downloadable attribute to the <Primary> or <Backup> element.
4. Set its value to "true" or "false" accordingly.
5. Click "Save".

<PublishProfiles>
  <Primary name="CD (Live)" blobContainerName="data" downloadable="false">
    <!-- the profile's settings -->
  </Primary>
  <Backup name="All (Backup)" blobContainerName="all-backup" downloadable="true">
    <!-- the profile's settings -->
  </Backup>
</PublishProfiles>

The profile will appear on the drop-down "Download" button. If no profile is set as downloadable, the "Download" button will be hidden.

Version info

Current version

1.0.0

Package ID

02514531-05ff-41c6-b189-aa180f9ad541