How to keep deployment history of azure cloud services?

Question

I'm using Jenkins to produce cspkg files using msbuild. It stores build results in azure blob storage. Then I use management portal to deploy them.

The biggest drawbacks I see are: 1. Deployments can be accidentally deleted easily. 2. There is no straightforward* way to check which version the cloud service has.

Is there a better way to manage deployments?

Answer 1

Its definitely not the best experience is it?

The approach I tend to use is as follows:

1. Build the deployment package and add the version number to the package filename (taken from AssemblyInfo.cs) e.g. MyCloudService-1.2.0.0.cspkg - this should be trivial using msbuild.
2. Push the package to Cloud Storage.
3. Perform the deployment of the package from Storage, with the Deployment Label '[CLOUD SERVICE NAME]-[VERSION] @ [DATE & TIME]' e.g. 'MyCloudService-1.2.0.0 @ 10-09-2015 16:30'
4. Check the deployment package into a 'Packages' directory in source control.

If you need to identify the version of the package deployed to the cloud service, you can see the Deployment Label on the Azure Management Portal:

'Old' Portal (manage.windowsazure.com):

'New' Portal (portal.azure.com):