Cloud Deployment Through Azure

Arc supports cloud deployment through cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, and Oracle. This article details the steps required to deploy Arc to Azure, ensure your configuration persists via an Azure SQL database, and optionally deploy additional ADO.NET providers for the CData connector.

• Deploying Arc as an Azure Web App
• Persisting Arc Configuration via an Azure SQL Database
• Deploying Additional CData ADO.NET Providers
• Troubleshooting

1. In the Azure management console, create a new Web App resource by clicking Create a resource -> Web -> Web App. In the next menu, choose a name/URL for the Web App and optionally define other Web App settings (default settings are often sufficient).
2. In the Azure Web App's deployment credentials, create a password for an FTP login that will be used in the next step
3. Deploy Arc by copying the relevant files to the Web App via an FTP connection:
   
   • Connect to Azure via an FTP client of choice (e.g. FileZilla, WinSCP, etc), using the User/Password defined in the deployment credentials
   • Copy the contents of the www folder of a local Arc installation (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData Arc\www) into the /site/wwwroot/ directory for the Azure Web App

In order for Arc flow configuration to be saved to a durable database, an Azure SQL database must be configured as the AppDb for Arc.

1. Navigate to to dashboard for the Azure database you wish to use and click Show Connection Strings, then copy the ADO.NET connection string for later use
2. Edit the Web.Config file for your Azure Web App
3. Define a connectionString under configuration in the Web.Config like the following:
   

   <configuration>
         <connectionStrings>
           <add name="AppDb" connectionString="Server=tcp:abcdef123.database.windows.net,1433;Database=mydb;User ID=MyUser@abcdef123;Password=MyPassword;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;Connection Timeout=30;" providerName="System.Data.SQLClient" />
         </connectionStrings>

4. Ensure that this connection string matches the connection string copied from step 1

Most Arc deployments will not require deploying additional providers to Azure. For deployments using the CData Connector, however, the ADO.NET provider referenced by the connector must be deployed to Azure via the following steps:

1. Download the CData ADO.NET provider (e.g. NetSuite) to a local machine
2. Connect to Azure via an FTP client using the FTP login information for the Web App (as discussed in the deployment section)
3. Copy the .NET framework 4.0 DLL (e.g. System.Data.CData.NetSuite.dll) from the local installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData ADO.NET Provider for NetSuite 2022\lib\4.0\) to the remote directory for the Azure Web App: /site/wwwroot/bin/
4. Edit the Web.Config file for the Azure Web App to add the following line within the >dbProviderFactory< section:
   

   <add name="CData ADO.NET Provider for NetSuite" invariant="System.Data.CData.NetSuite" description="CData ADO.NET Provider for NetSuite" type="System.Data.CData.NetSuite.NetSuiteProviderFactory, System.Data.CData.NetSuite" />

If you get an error during deployment, details about the error may not be visible due to ASP.NET security policy. The first troubleshooting step is often to add the following property to your Web.config and redeploy:

<system.web>
    <customErrors mode="Off" />
    ...
  </system.web>

You can then access the full stack trace, containing the error message.

• Server Error in '/' Application: To resolve this error, comment out the following property in your Web.config and then redeploy:

  <compilation tempDirectory=''/>