Dev Machine Setup

Follow this instruction to create basic application: http://blog.stevensanderson.com/2016/10/04/angular2-template-for-visual-studio/

Deployment Server Setup

1. Install .NET Core 1.0.1 Runtime: go to https://www.microsoft.com/net/download and download Windows (Server Hosting) - .NET Core Installer.
2. Install Node.JS and restart the server. https://github.com/aspnet/Hosting/issues/861
3. Set up the website and app pool. The app pool is better be set to “No Managed Code”.

Packaging and Deployment

VS 2015 ASP.NET Core project uses .xproj, not .csproj. This works fine with MSBuild /t:clean and /t:build.

Compiling the solution with .xproj:

$solutionPath = "$source_dir\$projectName.sln"
& "$base_dir\tools\nuget.exe" restore $solutionPath
msbuild /t:clean /v:q /nologo /p:Configuration=$projectConfig $solutionPath
msbuild /t:build /v:q /nologo /p:Configuration=$projectConfig $solutionPath

But it raises error on /t:package, complaining that it cannot find (your project name).csproj. The solution is to use dotnet.exe, which is used by Visual Studio when it publishes.

Main link to follow: https://weblog.west-wind.com/posts/2016/Jun/06/Publishing-and-Running-ASPNET-Core-Applications-with-IIS

Packaging command should change like this: (using PowerShell)

BEFORE:

$projectConfig = "Release"
$webProjectPath = "$source_dir\$projectName\$projectName.csproj"
& msbuild /t:package /v:q /nologo /p:"Configuration=$projectConfig;PackageLocation=$package_dir\msdeploy\$projectName.zip" $webProjectPath

AFTER:

$projectConfig = "Release"
$webProjectDir = "$source_dir\$projectName"
& "C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe" publish "$webProjectDir" --framework netcoreapp1.0 --output "$package_dir\web" --configuration $projectConfig

Now deployment is to stop the website, copy over the content of $package_dir\web, and then start the website.

One thing I couldn’t figure out

When nuget.exe restore runs interactively, it restores ASP.NET Core files on Nuget cache (C:\Users\username\.nuget\packages), such as microsoft.aspnetcore.angularservices, along with other dependencies. But when Jenkins runs the same command, it restores other dependencies on C:\windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.nuget\packages but not ASP.NET Core files. As a result, $package_dir\web does not contain any dotnet core related files and web app fails to run.

Similar question was asked here but it says that bug was resolved.

A workaround is to copy all the missing dependencies from C:\Users\username\.nuget\packages to C:\windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.nuget\packages manually. Once I did that, everything worked fine.