Using the Rasterizer in Microsoft Azure

I created a prototype around the 64-bit, .Net 4 version of the DynamicPDF Rasterizer using c#. It runs great in the Development simulation of the Azure Dev fabric but when I push it to the actual cloud, I get an Assembly or one of its dependencies could not load error and it indicates the Rasterizer assembly as the unloadable module.

I've used the dependency tracer locally and uploaded now over a dozen dll files to the Azure server with no luck.

Has anyone had success running this in Azure? If so, what dependency dlls or assemblies did you have to upload? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Hello,

Yes, you can run Rasterizer v1.0 on Azure. For the platform and .Net framework you are targeting, make sure you are referencing ceTe.DynamicPDF.Rasterizer.40.x64.dll in your project. Once you build the project in your bin folder among other files you should see ceTe.DynamicPDF.Rasterizer.40.x64.dll & DPDFRast.x64.dll. These two dlls should be deployed to the cloud with the rest of your application files for the Rasterizer to work properly. It is not necessary to explicitly reference DPDFRast.x64.dll in the project as it will be automatically added to your bin folder upon successful compilation.  Please refer to the documentation link here.
Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.

I did not see the reference to the other assembly when I was first experimenting with this library.

I may not have installed everything correctly so I am downloading the installer again. This is version 2.0.

Should I be attempting to use Version 1.0 and if so, how can I get the evaluation of that?

I have attempted to use two open source libraries, the Adobe PDF SDK and 4 paid pdf libraries including this one. My customer is starting to get annoyed at how much time I have spent experimenting with this and I am desperate to find a solution that works in Azure.

Hello,
 
If you already have a license for Rasterizer v1.0 you can login to the customer area (https://www.dynamicpdf.com/CustomerArea) to download the installer for v1.0. If you do not have a license for Rasterizer and would like to evaluate and eventually purchase the product we advise you to download and try version 2.0 as it is the current version we sell. Rasteriver v2.0 can also be run on Azure and the deployment instructions are slightly different than v1.0. Refer to the below links for v2.0 documentation.

Referencing the assembly for v2.0
Deployment for v2.0

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.

Well, we got through all the corporate red tape and purchased a license. I generated a key for my dev machine and it worked perfectly. The resolution of the rasterized bitmaps was much better than with the trial.

Then I uploaded it to our QA subscription in Azure. Problem!!!

Each time I deploy a new version of the site, the cloud framework ramps up another virtual server and sunsets the previous server. Now we are running our code on a computer with a different computer name.

I don't know what the computer name is going to be until after the new site is fully operational. Then I have to get the computer name and log into your site, generate a new license key and enter the license key in the database (hard coding and web config do not work in this case as an Azure cloud deployment does not allow you to just update one file. (You can if you use remote desktop to connect to your instance server but if Microsoft needs to move your instance around, you lose your changes because it defaults back to the original upload package. I know, I've tried this before).

And that brings us to the other problem. The Azure framework randomly (at least from my point of view) moves your server instances around so things like ip addresses and computer names change without notice.

There was no indication during the evaluation phase or purchase process that we would run into these kinds of problems. It was only after we purchased the license and found out that you need a static server environment. This very thread led me to believe we could safely use your product in a cloud environment.

Please tell me what I'm missing here? We can't go into production with things the way they are. We don't want to come in on Monday morning to hate mail from our end users because the cloud fabric changed the computer name and invalidated our license over the week end.

Please help!

Hello,

There are two types of licenses available for purchase for Rasterizer – Server and Developer. If you have purchased a Server license for Rasterizer then it is not the right kind of license to deploy to Azure instance due to the fact that the server license depends on the server name and like you said the Azure instance might change the computer name often. In order to deploy to Azure you would need a Developer license.

You can upgrade your current Server license to a Developer license and the license key provided with the developer license will work on Azure and will remove the evaluation message. Upgrades can be done from the customer area: customer area by logging in with your server license serial number.

We are in the process of building in support for cloud licensing and since you have already purchased a server license and would like a temporary license to deploy to cloud please email us at support@cete.com with your current serial number requesting a temporary license key.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.