How to get environment variable and information in startup task

Question

I am trying the new  startup task feature from azure 1.3

But I don't know how to get the enviroment variables in the startup task, such as role approot, and local resource path. As I want to do some processing in startup task.

<WebRole name="WebRole1">
  <Startup>
     <Task commandLine="Startup.cmd" executionContext="limited" taskType="simple">
     </Task>
  </Startup>
</WebRole>

Answer 1

Hi,
If I understood it correctly..you want to set and access environment variable from cmd / code file.

You can define the environment variable in CSDEF file http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg432991.aspx and you should be able to access it in your code using something like this System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable .

In .cmd/batch file you should be able to access it using "%VARIABLE%" (Variable is the name of environment variable here)

Hope this helps.

-Sachin Sancheti

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-Life was much simpler when apple and blackberries were just fruits.

Answer 2

Maybe late but still - you can use %ROLEROOT% which points to your Role's root folder. Your role's approot folder is %ROLEROOT%\Approot.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 3

to add to this

can I have parameters for my start up tasks ?

eg I have to unzip a file lying somewhere on c drive but it can be any xyz file .. so can i specify name as argu to my start up task !

 

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S Arora

Answer 4

No, but your startup task can just be a batch file that calls something else with a parameter. So if you want to call "foo.exe xyz" just make a batch file called foo.cmd with "foo.exe xyz" in it, and then call foo.cmd as a startup task.

Answer 5

Thanks Steve

however how do I make that parameter reach till that nested foo.exe through my startup task.

PS : your blog and cloud cover videos are simply great Steve.

 

 

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S Arora

Answer 6

I am now calling my process from worker role with Process.start and passing argument with process start info

 

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S Arora

Answer 7

Hello Steve, but i think there is another problem, in staging i can see more units, c: d: e: and in my code i must to autodetect in witch of those units is installed IIS, then i configure my ISAPI for perl in the Web.config and i must to put the full path (and i don´t know witch the correct path). How can i ask in the method onstart where is installed IIS or which is the correct unit or the full path incluyin unit? in producction i see less unit only see c: and d: and i don´t know why.

Thank you for you help

Answer 8

I'm not sure how your question relates to this thread. Perhaps you should start a new thread and clarify what you're trying to do?

Answer 9

Ups, sorry, ok i will open a new thread.

Answer 10

Hi..

I want to add Environment variable in my csdef file. When I <Environment> element in my ServiceDefinition.csdef file, it's giving me error.

Warning    1    The element 'VirtualMachineRole' in namespace 'http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition' has invalid child element 'Startup' in namespace 'http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition'. List of possible elements expected: 'Certificates, LocalResources, Endpoints, ConfigurationSettings' in namespace 'http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition'.    c:\users\administrator\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\WindowsAzure6_Env\WindowsAzure6_Env\ServiceDefinition.csdef    7    6    WindowsAzure6_Env

My File look like below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzure6_Env" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition" schemaVersion="2012-05.1.7">
  <VirtualMachineRole name="VMRole1" vmsize="Small">
    <Imports>
      <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" />
    </Imports>
    <Startup>
           <Environment>
          <Variable name="MY_ENV" value="my_value" />
        </Environment>
     </Startup>
    <Runtime>
      <Environment>
        <Variable name="MY_SECOND_ENV" value="my_value2" />
      </Environment>
    </Runtime>
  </VirtualMachineRole>
</ServiceDefinition>

Please let me know if you have any solution.Thanks