Azure Diagnostics: Access to the path '(GUID)-mswapd-lock' is denied? - connection-string

Question

Code and configuration:
I've enabled Diagnostics per the official tutorial at https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/common-tasks/diagnostics/. My diagnostic initializer is invoked from Global.asax (no WebRole.cs for this WCF ported to Azure WebRole) and its quite simple like:
public bool Initialize()
{
DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration config = DiagnosticMonitor.GetDefaultInitialConfiguration();
config.WindowsEventLog.DataSources.Add("Application!*");
config.WindowsEventLog.ScheduledTransferPeriod = System.TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1.0);
DiagnosticMonitor.Start("Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString", config);
return true;
}
Cloud and Local strings same:
I'm using the SAME cloud based diagnostic connection string for local and cloud configurations.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ServiceConfiguration serviceName="MyApp.API.Azure1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*" schemaVersion="2012-05.1.7">
<Role name="MyApp.API">
<Instances count="1" />
<ConfigurationSettings>
...
<Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Caching.ConfigStoreConnectionString" value="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=myapi;AccountKey=MyVeryLongStringHereWhichIsActuallyAKeyForAPlaceInTheCloudWhereUnicornsDanceUnderDoubleRainbows" />
</ConfigurationSettings>
<Certificates>
<Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="ThumbPrintStringsAreBiggerThanPinkiePrintString" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" />
</Certificates>
</Role>
</ServiceConfiguration>
Error:
When I run the above within Azure Emulator (local compute) I do not get the error (despite the cloud connection string for diagnostics). When I run the webrole on Azure (with same diagnostic sting and of course, code), I get the following error:
[UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path '05d5e525-e1bc-4a37-8bfb-010bb2941301-mswapd-lock' is denied.]
System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath) [phone]
System.Threading.MutexTryCodeHelper.MutexTryCode(Object userData) +229
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode code, CleanupCode backoutCode, Object userData) +0
System.Threading.Mutex..ctor(Boolean initiallyOwned, String name, Boolean& createdNew, MutexSecurity mutexSecurity) +629
System.Threading.Mutex..ctor(Boolean initiallyOwned, String name, Boolean& createdNew) +18
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitor.StartDiagnosticsMonitorProcess(DiagnosticMonitorStartupInfo info) +171
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitor.ReconfigureMonitoringProcess(ConfigRequest req) +209
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitor.UpdateState(DiagnosticMonitorStartupInfo startupInfo) +207
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitor.StartWithExplicitConfiguration(DiagnosticMonitorStartupInfo startupInfo, DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration initialConfiguration) +643
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitor.Start(CloudStorageAccount storageAccount, DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration initialConfiguration) +47
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitor.Start(String diagnosticsStorageAccountConfigurationSettingName, DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration initialConfiguration) +108
myApp.api.Diag.Diagnostics.Initialize() in c:\Work\MyApp.API\source\Diag\Diagnostics.cs:42
Global.Application_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e) in c:\Work\MyApp.API\source\Global.asax.cs:30
Attempts: None worked
Disabled all Azure monitoring and logging (from portal) for this storage account in case Azure's own monitoring/logging mechanisms were locking it down
Replaced UseDevelopmentStorage=true with real cloud connection string for diagnostics even for local configuration (local compute/Azure emulator).
Simplified diagnostic initializer to bare minimum (seen above). However, DiagnosticMonitor.Start(...) always fails.
Created another diagnostic connection string in .cscfg file (with reference in .csdef too) so that if the original Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString is also used by Azure infrastructure, I have another string for it. No help, same error.
I've burnt many hours trying to debug this but I always get this error on Azure.
Question:
Can someone help me get rid of this error? I can try a few ideas you may have. I'm disappointed by the MS tutorial but disappointment doesn't help.

Answer 1

Exactly the same symptoms here (but in an ASP.NET MVC application).
Basically you shouldn't be using the DiagnosticMonitor.Start() any more.
The below worked for me (Azure SDK 1.8, October 2012)
I simplified the init code from this article:
http://convective.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/configuration-changes-to-windows-azure-diagnostics-in-azure-sdk-v1-3/
private void ConfigureDiagnostics()
{
var wadConnectionString ="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString";
var cloudStorageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(wadConnectionString));
var roleInstanceDiagnosticManager =
cloudStorageAccount.CreateRoleInstanceDiagnosticManager(
RoleEnvironment.DeploymentId,
RoleEnvironment.CurrentRoleInstance.Role.Name,
RoleEnvironment.CurrentRoleInstance.Id);
var diagnosticMonitorConfiguration = roleInstanceDiagnosticManager.GetCurrentConfiguration();
diagnosticMonitorConfiguration.Directories.ScheduledTransferPeriod = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1d);
diagnosticMonitorConfiguration.Logs.ScheduledTransferPeriod = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1d);
diagnosticMonitorConfiguration.Logs.ScheduledTransferLogLevelFilter = LogLevel.Verbose;
roleInstanceDiagnosticManager.SetCurrentConfiguration(diagnosticMonitorConfiguration);
}
I'm calling it from the Application_Start() in Global.asax.cs and it works fine now. Both locally and in the cloud.
You also need this in your web.config:
<system.diagnostics>
<trace>
<listeners>
<add type="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitorTraceListener, Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics, Version=1.8.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
name="AzureDiagnostics">
<filter type="" />
</add>
</listeners>
</trace>
</system.diagnostics>
and this in your ServiceDefinition.csdef 's WebRole section:
<Imports>
<Import moduleName="Diagnostics" />
</Imports>
These are added by the wizard by default, but still worth checking when migrating existing code to Azure.
A note to log4net users:
Specialized appenders are not really necessary, you can use the standard log4net.Appender.TraceAppender which comes with log4net - just configure it in your web.config and init log4net as usual it in your Application_Start() or prior to the 1st use.

Answer 2

Removing from trace listeners element this line fixed the problem for me.
<add type="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitorTraceListener, Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics, Version=1.7.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" name="AzureDiagnostics" />
Know I'm thinking how to update already existing application configuration and not create one during the application start.