azurew website continuous deployment - Web Deploy cannot modify the file 'XXX' on the destination because it is locked by an external process

Question

I\'m running into the following error when trying to deploy an azure website via TFS continuous deployment.

I\'m using the TfvcContinousDeploymentTemplate.12.xaml bu

Answer 1

If you want to automate stopping and starting the Azure App Service before and after the deployment, then if you are using VSTS, this task is now available out of the box (if you are using TFS, please find the tip with a market place task in one of the comments)

To leverage these tasks:

1. In Release section of VSTS, add a Task to your Release Definition of type "Azure App Service Manage (PREVIEW) - Start, Stop, Restart or Slot swap for an Azure App Service"
2. In the created task, select the action (for the first task, select "Stop App Service")
3. Drag and drop this task before the deployment task and add a "Start App Service" task behind the deployment task
4. In the task settings, you can also check, that this is applied only to a specific slot of the Azure App Service (e.g. "Stage")

After configuring those two additional tasks, it was working fine for me.

(... by the way, VSTS Build and CI now also supports ASP.NET CORE builds made with VS2017 by selecting Agent "HOST VS 2017")