My Azure DevOps pipeline builds stopped working a few days ago.

Question

I have some pipelines that automatically fire off a build job when I commit changes to code. They stopped working a few days ago. The job fails on the Azure App Service Deploy step. Here is the log:

Starting: AzureRmWebAppDeployment
==============================================================================
Task         : Azure App Service deploy
Description  : Deploy to Azure App Service a web, mobile, or API app using Docker, Java, .NET, .NET Core, Node.js, PHP, Python, or Ruby
Version      : 4.217.2
Author       : Microsoft Corporation
Help         : https://aka.ms/azureappservicetroubleshooting
==============================================================================
Got service connection details for Azure App Service:'cubcloud'
Trying to update App Service Application settings. Data: null
App Service Application settings are already present.
"C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe" -verb:sync -source:package='D:\a\1\a\CUBCloud.zip' -dest:auto,ComputerName='https://cubcloud-staging.scm.azurewebsites.net:443/msdeploy.axd?site=cubcloud',UserName='$cubcloud__staging',Password='***',AuthType='Basic' -setParam:name='IIS Web Application Name',value='cubcloud' -enableRule:AppOffline -retryAttempts:6 -retryInterval:10000 -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule -userAgent:VSTS_a6683fcd-68e3-4bb2-877d-fb683ffbf3fa_build_12_0
Info: Using ID '9f10bed3-e068-4aa9-8951-ecadb1712cf0' for connections to the remote server.
"C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe" -verb:sync -source:package='D:\a\1\a\CUBCloud.zip' -dest:auto,ComputerName='https://cubcloud-staging.scm.azurewebsites.net:443/msdeploy.axd?site=cubcloud',UserName='$cubcloud__staging',Password='***',AuthType='Basic' -setParam:name='IIS Web Application Name',value='cubcloud' -enableRule:AppOffline -retryAttempts:6 -retryInterval:10000 -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule -userAgent:VSTS_a6683fcd-68e3-4bb2-877d-fb683ffbf3fa_build_12_0
Info: Using ID '53873c62-e326-4f42-8a87-f103efeb5241' for connections to the remote server.
"C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe" -verb:sync -source:package='D:\a\1\a\CUBCloud.zip' -dest:auto,ComputerName='https://cubcloud-staging.scm.azurewebsites.net:443/msdeploy.axd?site=cubcloud',UserName='$cubcloud__staging',Password='***',AuthType='Basic' -setParam:name='IIS Web Application Name',value='cubcloud' -enableRule:AppOffline -retryAttempts:6 -retryInterval:10000 -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule -userAgent:VSTS_a6683fcd-68e3-4bb2-877d-fb683ffbf3fa_build_12_0
Info: Using ID 'd36dc60d-86d3-4df4-bd6e-4f86388234af' for connections to the remote server.
##[error]Error: Error: (3/27/2023 3:53:55 PM) An error occurred when the request was processed on the remote computer.
Error: Unable to access the IIS configuration system. Please make sure you have IIS 7 (or later) installed.
Error: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {2B72133B-3F5B-4602-8952-803546CE3344} failed due to the following error: 800703fa Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800703FA).
   at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.SafeAppHostAdminManager..ctor()
   at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.AdminManagerWrapper..ctor(DeploymentWebServerConfigurationSystemInfo webServerConfigurationSystemInfo)
Error count: 1.

Successfully added release annotation to the Application Insight : CUBAuthApp
Successfully updated deployment History at https://cubcloud-staging.scm.azurewebsites.net/api/deployments/34651679932436785
App Service Application URL: http://cubcloud-staging.azurewebsites.net
Finishing: AzureRmWebAppDeployment

Answer 1

For an Azure Web App, you can check if IIS is installed by navigating to the Configuration blade of your Web App in the Azure portal. If IIS is not installed, you can enable it by navigating to the Application Settings blade of your Web App in the Azure portal and setting the WEBSITE_WEBDEPLOY_USE_SCM app setting to false. This will allow you to use Web Deploy to deploy your application and will also install IIS on your Web App.

Can you please check these settings to see if this helps to provide relief to your web app?

Answer 2

Thank you. I went the route of using our paid support plan and got this issue resolved.

Answer 3

Hello all,

I'd like to post a single answer to this problem, but as with all things, the devil is in the details. I was able to initially resolve this issue by removing the "MSDEPLOY_RENAME_LOCKED_FILES = 1" from my YML file for the pipelines. This solved the problem for a couple of weeks, but then it started failing again.

Long story short, I found CHATGPT-4 to be extremely helpful in solving problems with my pipelines. I was able to paste the entire YML file into the prompt along with the error messages I was receiving. The LLM gave me very specific instruction on how to change my YML and it worked perfectly! Just make sure that you aren't pasting any private security info into the prompt.

As a tool, CHATGPT-4 isn't a panacea for all tech problems, but in this case it was very helpful.

Thanks!

--Cary