Deploying first Windows Azure site

Question

I'm just starting a Windows Azure trial, and my first deployment has been pretty rocky. I'm using VS2010 Ultimate to deploy (after downloading the Azure/SP1 pack for it).

I started by setting up a website through Azure web management. I assumed I'd be able to publish my MVC site to it using "Publish to Windows Azure" in VS2010, however the wizard wouldn't accept the publishsettings file for my website. I did eventually find an obscure way to get a publishsettings file for the whole subscription, but when I deployed using these settings it created a new website under Storage.

So I have 3 questions:

1. Is there a way to publish to my Website that I set up earlier?
2. How is that that a website can even run under Storage? I thought it was just for large file storage.
3. Should I just leave it under Storage and be glad it works at all, or are there horrible downsides to using Storage this way?

TIA,

Dave

Answer 1

Q: Is there a way to publish to my Website that I set up earlier?
A: Yes, just download the publish file from azure and use it as publish config of Visual Studio

Q: How is that that a website can even run under Storage? I thought it was just for large file storage.
A: That question is not clear. There are 2 major types of storage in azure: Persistent (blob storage, queue, table) and Non-Persistent (VM disk). When you for example deploy a cloud service, your package is uploaded to a blob storage, then copied and installed on a VM.

Q: Should I just leave it under Storage and be glad it works at all, or are there horrible downsides to using Storage this way?
A: Just let the web deploy do it's thing...

Answer 2

Deploying Windows Azure Website using Visual Studio Web Publish wizard

The following links may be helpful to you,

1)Deploying Windows Azure Website

2)Deploying an ASP.NET Web Application to a Windows Azure Web Site