CODEWITHSUNDEEP
azureazure-worker-roles
CleverPatrick
CleverPatrick

Reputation: 9483

Azure Worker Role Calling 3rd Party Command Line Component

For my system, I have a back-end process that uses a 3rd party command line tool to do some occasional processing. This tool writes to and reads from the file system (I point it at some files, it works its magic, and then it writes out the results to another file).

This is obviously easy to do with an Azure Virtual Machine. Just write a Windows Service to manage this command line tool and have it read from a Queue to get the processing jobs.

To this point, however, I've been able to do everything in Azure without having to resort to a full blown VM. I like that. I like not having to worry about applying patches and other maintenance, downtime and the like.

So, my question is, is there something in Azure that would let me have this service without resorting to a VM? Would a "Worker Role" be able to accomplish this? Can it read and write to/from the file system? Can it handle 3rd party tools with a bunch of arbitrary dependencies? Can I launch another process from C# code within the worker role?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 170

Answers (1)

Gaurav Mantri
Gaurav Mantri

Reputation: 136226

Would a "Worker Role" be able to accomplish this?

Absolutely! Remember that a Worker Role is a full blown VM also (with same OS powering Azure Virtual Machine).

Can it read and write to/from the file system?

Yes. However there's a catch. You can can't read/write to any arbitrary location on the VM. You would have full access to a special folder on that VM called Local Storage. You can read more about it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/ee758708.aspx

Can it handle 3rd party tools with a bunch of arbitrary dependencies?

Yes, again! Again, there's a catch. Since these VMs are stateless VMs, anything you install after the VM is stood up for you by Microsoft is not guaranteed to be there in case Microsoft decides to tear down that VM for whatever reasons. If you need to install any additional software, you would have to install them via a process called Startup Tasks. You can read about them here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/hh180155.aspx.

Can I launch another process from C# code within the worker role?

Though I have not tried it personally but I think it is possible because you get a VM running latest version of Windows server.

Upvotes: 3

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