Microsoft Azure Development Cookbook Second Edition

Using startup tasks in a Microsoft Azure role

Microsoft Azure provides a locked-down environment for websites hosted in IIS (web roles) and application services (worker roles). While this hardening significantly eases administration, it also limits the ability to perform certain tasks such as installing software or writing to the registry. Another problem is that any changes to an instance are lost whenever the instance is reimaged or moved to a different server.

The service definition provides the solution to this problem by allowing the creation of startup tasks, which are script files or executable programs that are invoked each time an instance is started. Startup tasks allow a temporary escape from the restrictions of the locked-down web role ...