Swap VIP, DNS name and SSL cert

Question

Hi,

I would like some clarification regarding Swap VIP feature in Azure platform.

Here's my situation:

I have a production site, with 2 instances and the site uses SSL cert.

When users access our site, they will browse to myAzureSite.MyCompany.com instead of the DNS name myAzureSite.Cloudnet.app because we use CNAME record.

The SSL cert has the myAzureSite.MyCompany.com domain, instead of myAzureSite.Cloudnet.app

 

As of now, in my Windows Azure platform Hosted Services, I only have the Production Deployment running with 2 instances but I require to apply some patches to the current system.

I don't want to stop and delete my Production Deployment just to re-deploy a newer system with the latest patch.

I've done some readings on Swap VIP from the links below

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee517253.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee460814.aspx

http://f5debug.net/2011/07/14/windows-azure-swap-vip-of-azure-application-from-staging-to-production-and-viceversa/

 

However, I have some doubts as follow:

say if, I deploy the same system package (with updated codes only) to Staging Deployment, no changes in endpoints and number of instances.

Then, I select the Staging Deployment application and then click on Swap VIP.

During the progress of swapping, as I read in the articles, the system/application website is still running.

 

However, my concern is this, will the process of Swap VIP render the SSL cert not working? If any users browse to my application website, will they still access to the domain myAzureSite.MyCompany.com ?

 

I have no started on this, hence I require some advice on the concerns I have.

Please advice.

Answer 1

However, my concern is this, will the process of Swap VIP render the SSL cert not working? If any users browse to my application website, will they still access to the domain myAzureSite.MyCompany.com ?

While doing a VIP Swap, your application will still be accessible via your custom domain (i.e. myAzuresite.MyCompany.com).

The only inconvenience would be the wrong certificates message when opening the staging slot, as it does not have a domain name, but just a GUID (i.e. http://[some-guid].cloudapp.net/ . There will be an error message stating that the certificate server provided is issued to http://myAzuresite.myCompany.com/ and not http://[some-guid].cloudapp.net/ . There won't be any other issues during that process.

Answer 2

However, my concern is this, will the process of Swap VIP render the SSL cert not working? If any users browse to my application website, will they still access to the domain myAzureSite.MyCompany.com ?

While doing a VIP Swap, your application will still be accessible via your custom domain (i.e. myAzuresite.MyCompany.com).

The only inconvenience would be the wrong certificates message when opening the staging slot, as it does not have a domain name, but just a GUID (i.e. http://[some-guid].cloudapp.net/ . There will be an error message stating that the certificate server provided is issued to http://myAzuresite.myCompany.com/ and not http://[some-guid].cloudapp.net/ . There won't be any other issues during that process.

Does that mean that while doing the VIP swap, when user is accessing my myAzuresite.MyCompany.com domain, it will still access the previous Production Deployment application right?

 

Also, I would like to some clarification on the following:

I'm guessing that during VIP swap, a copy of the Production Deployment is set to act as the temporary domain (which still points to myAzuresite.MyCompany.com domain) to make the site running while the staging and production deployments are in the middle of the swapping process. So during this swapping period, users are accessing the "temporary" domain.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Thank you.

Answer 3

Does that mean that while doing the VIP swap, when user is accessing my myAzuresite.MyCompany.com domain, it will still access the previous Production Deployment application right?

 

Also, I would like to some clarification on the following:

I'm guessing that during VIP swap, a copy of the Production Deployment is set to act as the temporary domain (which still points to myAzuresite.MyCompany.com domain) to make the site running while the staging and production deployments are in the middle of the swapping process. So during this swapping period, users are accessing the "temporary" domain.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Thank you.

Hi,

I have just test VIP swap update as your description, if you start Swap VIP, your hosted service could be accessed normally, and it will still the previous production application.

The new production applicaiton will available after update complete.

Because all Prodution application and Staging application runs on the Windows Azure Environment, so if you use VIP Swap method to update, it will be very fast, two services will swap their Visual IP and won't need to update code package or configurations, address swap is the last step, so customers can access the previous application during the application update.

Here is a blog article may help you:

http://blog.toddysm.com/2010/06/update-upgrade-and-vip-swap-for-windows-azure-servicewhat-are-the-differences.html

Hope it can help you.

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