Hosting TCP based WCF service on the same ports as IIS (via Windows Activation Service) in Azure WebRole

How should one configure an Azure Webrole when using a TCP-based WCF on the same ports as IIS?

An on-premise solution would typically use WAS activation, however this usually involved setting permissions on the HTTP ports etc. In Windows Azure this interface isn't readily available.

The best way to host a WCF service in an Azure WebRole is using Windows Activation Service (WAS). Typically this is needed when you want to provide web content (HTTP) and some TCP-based WCF service on the same ports (80 or 443).

Here is a PowerShell script that will enable the TCPPortSharing service, and configure IIS appropriately. Although this works for Azure, with slight modification you can use this for an on-premise Windows 2008 R2 server as well.

#adding this to be sure that IISConfigurator has a chance complete

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Starting...$([Datetime]::Now.ToString())" 

Start-Sleep -s 300

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Adding Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime..."
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime
while (!$?)
{
    Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Failed to add Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime, retrying after five seconds..."
    sleep 5

    Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime
}

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "...done adding Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#Start the Net.TCP Port Sharing and Net.Tcp Listener Adaptor services.. (TODO:Not sure if we need to set this to auto)

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Setting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator service startup to auto... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic
Set-Service NetTcpActivator -StartupType Automatic

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "...done Setting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator service startup to auto ... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Starting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator services ... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

Start-Service -name NetTcpPortSharing
Start-Service -name NetTcpActivator

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "... done Starting NetTcpPortSharing & NetTcpActivator services $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#Get the Role Instance Id

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Getting the RoleInstance ID... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

$roleInstance = Get-RoleInstance -current
$roleInstanceId = $roleInstance.Id

$siteName = '_Web'  #This is the site name from the <Site> tag in ServiceDefinition.csdef

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Instance ID : $roleInstanceId"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "... done Getting the RoleInstance ID $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#Create the bindingCmd

#Add-Content -path .\trace.txt "Building commands ..."

#$addBindingCmd =  "set site `"" + $roleInstanceId + "_" + $siteName + "`" -+bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',bindingInformation='808:*']"
#$enableNetTcpCmd =  "set app `"" + $roleInstanceId + "_" + $siteName + "`" /enabledProtocols:http,net.tcp"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value $addBindingCmd
Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value $enableNetTcpCmd
Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "...done Building commands"

set-alias appCmd $env:windir\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "Adding Net.Tcp binding... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"

#add the binding..
#appCmd $addBindingCmd 

appCmd set site `"$roleInstanceId$siteName`" /debug -+"bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',bindingInformation='808:*']" >>trace.txt

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "done Adding Net.Tcp binding"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "Enable Net.Tcp... $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"
#appCmd $enableNetTcpCmd
appCmd set app "$roleInstanceId$siteName/" /debug /enabledProtocols:"http,net.tcp" >> trace.txt
Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "done Enable Net.Tcp"

Add-Content -path .\trace.txt -value "End $([Datetime]::Now.ToString())"