Why would deploying my azure web role through visual studio take a long time?

Question

When I deploy a web role to azure using the management portal, the process takes about 20 minutes. But, when I deploy using visual studio, it can take hours, and it's stuck in "Initializing"/"Waiting for host". Eventually, it does deploy and run normally.

Any thoughts on what's wrong?

Notes:

• I'm deploying through visual studio in order to be able to use Intellitrace and the web deploy.
• No errors appear at any time during the deployment

Answer 1

Installing web deploy, RDP, any plugins, etc. will lengthen the deployment time. I am pretty sure that Web Deploy in particular will cause the machine to reboot which adds a few mins. This is probably what you notice most (VM's reboot and it takes awhile to get back).

Answer 2

I believe that deploying from Visual Studio releases the host(s) and acquires a new one. This is evident by the fact that the IP addresses associated with the roles typically change when you deploy from Visual Studio.

But upgrading via the Portal re-images the existing host(s).

That presumably accounts for a significant proportion of the time difference, especially if there isn't a host available in the relevant upgrade or fault domain.