Why are my environment settings not being detected when I deploy my ASP.NET Core web application to Azure?

Question

I'm trying to define some environment variables in my web application. I host my site on Azure which has a staging deployment slot that the site goes to first, then, if the changes are signed off it's released to production.

The URLs for these two places are:

Production

"BaseUrl": "https://mycompany.azurewebsites.net"

Staging

"BaseUrl": "https://mycompany-staging2n1h.azurewebsites.net"

I want my appsettings.Staging.json file to be used when the site hits the staging area and then once it's released to production I want it to use appsettings.json.

It's my understanding that, if you don't define a production appsettings.Production.json file in your applicataion it defaults to appsettings.json.

So, I created a appsettings.Staging.json file within my application which contains a different connection string from the production environment.

appsettings.json

{
  "AzureAd": {
    "CallbackPath": "/signin-oidc",    
    "BaseUrl": "https://mycompany.azurewebsites.net"       
  },      
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "MyCompanyConnection": "production connection string"        
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*"
}

appsettings.Staging.json

{
  "AzureAd": {
    "CallbackPath": "/signin-oidc",
    "BaseUrl": "https://mycompany-staging2n1h.azurewebsites.net"
  },     
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "MyCompanyConnection": "staging connection string"
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*"
}

I then went into the launchSettings.json file to set this up as follows:

{
  "iisSettings": {
    "windowsAuthentication": false,
    "anonymousAuthentication": true,
    "iisExpress": {
      "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:xxxx",
      "sslPort": xxxx
    }
  },
  "profiles": {
    "IIS Express": {
      "commandName": "IISExpress",
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      }
    },
    "MyCompany": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "environmentVariables": { 
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      },
      "applicationUrl": "https://localhost:5001;http://localhost:5000"
    },
    "MyCompany Staging": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Staging"
      }
    }
  }
}

When I deploy my application to Azure and it hits the staging area, it's looking at the wrong connection string which means it's not using the correct appsettings file. Have I missed a step or set something up incorrectly?

Its up to you of course, but I find it easier to use the app service configuration. Those are pulled in as environment variables and will override anything in a json file. — Crowcoder
– Crowcoder, Commented Apr 16, 2021 at 11:59

stuartd · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-16 15:56:19Z

5

You need to set the the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENTon Azure - for an app service, it's in the Configuration section:

(Changes to launchSettings.json have no effect when an app is deployed, it's only used by Visual Studio)

As the documentation says:

To determine the runtime environment, ASP.NET Core reads from the following environment variables:

DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT
ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT when ConfigureWebHostDefaults is called. The default ASP.NET Core web app templates call ConfigureWebHostDefaults. The ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT value overrides DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT

The following values are provided by the framework:

Development : The launchSettings.json file sets ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT to Development on the local machine.
Staging
Production : The default if DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT and ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT have not been set.

edited Apr 16, 2021 at 15:56

answered Apr 16, 2021 at 12:00

stuartd

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