Visual Studio throw an error when deploy cloud service extended support to Azure

Question

I have a azure cloud service extended support. I use visual studio to deploy it to azure. It works, until it breaks recently without a obvious reason. In the visual studio 2022, Microsoft Azure Activity Log, it shows the following error:

10:49:56 AM - Uploading 'D:\Sysdyne\DispatchServer\DispatchService\bin\Release\app.publish\DispatchService.cspkg' as 'DispatchService-63f3e56b.cspkg' to storage account... 10:50:02 AM - Uploading 'D:\Sysdyne\DispatchServer\DispatchService\bin\Release\app.publish\ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg' as 'ServiceConfiguration.Cloud-63f3e56b.cscfg' to storage account... 10:50:02 AM - Checking if all the certificates exist in key vault 'https://webcrete-east-au.vault.azure.net/'... 10:50:05 AM - Object reference not set to an instance of an object. No idea what cause it. Any help, I really appreciate it. Screenshot 2024-01-24 113717.png

Answer 1

Hi Hongbo,

This exception occurs when you try to use a reference variable that hasn't been instantiated to an object instance; in simpler terms, when you try to use an object that is null.

From the information given, the error could be due to a couple of reasons:

• There's an issue with the Key Vault or the certificates within it. Perhaps the application is expecting a certificate that doesn't exist or has been moved, which causes a null object to be referenced.
• There could be a problem in the deployment script or the Visual Studio tooling that's interfacing with Azure services, leading to a situation where an object that's expected to be initialized is not.

To troubleshoot this issue, you can:

• Check the Key Vault to ensure that all necessary certificates are present and correctly configured.
• Verify that the Visual Studio publish profile or settings for the deployment are correctly set and that any recent changes haven't affected the expected deployment process.
• Review any changes in the code or dependencies that might affect how the deployment interacts with Azure resources.
• Look at the stack trace associated with the error, if available, to determine exactly where in the code the null reference is being encountered.
• Ensure that you have the correct permissions to access the Key Vault and the storage account.
• Check for any updates or issues with the Visual Studio Azure SDK and tooling.

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