Trouble getting Caching working inside Azure Web Sites

Question

I'm trying to get Caching working on my Windows Azure Website. The caching is configured on one of my Worker Roles.

I used this article to get started: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/cache/

Initially I've had trouble to get the Azure Cache Client dll working because of missing assembly errors.

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime, Version=1.7.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
Could not load file or assembly 'msshrtmi, Version=1.7.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Though I've been helped by this article to resolve this: http://www.thedailyparker.com/PermaLink,guid,0be6425e-b509-4122-af01-7086ce2f811e.aspx

But next I'm getting a SEHException which sounds like a configuration problem. Though I've no idea what I'm missing. Exception Details:

[SEHException (0x80004005): External component has thrown an exception.]
   RdGetApplicationConfigurationSetting(UInt16* , UInt16** ) +0
   RoleEnvironmentGetConfigurationSettingValueW(UInt16* pszName, UInt16* pszDest, UInt32 cchDest, UInt32* pcchRequiredDestSize) +47
   Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.Internal.InteropRoleManager.GetConfigurationSetting(String name, String& ret) +91
   Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(String configurationSettingName) +54
   Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.AzureCommon.TopologyHelper.TryGetServiceConfigurationSetting(String value, String& result) +40
   Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.AzureCommon.DiagnosticsUtility.GetDiagnosticLevel(String propertyName) +47
   Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.AzureCommon.DiagnosticsUtility.GetClientLogLevel() +20
   Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.AzureClientHelper.RoleUtility.ReadClientLogLevel() +5
[TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.]
   System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor) +0
   System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments) +192
   System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture) +108
   Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheFactoryConfiguration.Initialize(String clientName) +205
   Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DataCacheFactoryWrapper.CreateDataCacheFactoryConfiguration(String dataCacheClientName) +77
   Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheOutputCacheProvider.CreateInternalProvider(IHttpRuntime httpRuntime, OutputCacheInitializationData initData, IDataCacheFactory dataCacheFactory, EventHandler`1 cacheFetching, EventHandler`1 cacheFetched) +28
   Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheOutputCacheProvider.GetInternalProvider() +148
   Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheOutputCacheProvider.Get(String key) +11
   System.Web.Caching.OutputCache.Get(String key) +56
   System.Web.Caching.OutputCacheModule.OnEnter(Object source, EventArgs eventArgs) +9717054
   System.Web.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +136
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +69

I hope someone can help me in the right direction.

Enid

Answer 1

You cannot access Windows Azure Caching from a Web Site. You can only access it from a Web Role or Worker Role.

Have you tried Windows Azure Shared Caching in your Web Site? This should work (haven't tried this myself in a Web Site).

Veritable

Thanks Sandrino, I tried to use Windows Azure Shared Caching and got it working. However I did not use the OutputCacheAttributes but used the DataCache object directly. – Enid

There is a new distributed cache service, accessible from all Azure services (Web Sites, Worker Role, Web role, VM, etc..) - currently in preview. See this by Scott Guthrie. – Mizzle