Unable to programmatically create client DataCache in Azure in cloud only

Question

I have a Azure worker role that needs to use the cache in AppFabric.

When run locally (Win7x64,VS2010) pointing at the cache in the cloud, it works fine.

When I deploy the same package to the cloud (again pointing at the same cache), it produces the following exception:

Message:         The type initializer for 'Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheClientLogManager' threw an exception. 
Exception Type:  TypeInitializationException 
StackTrace:      Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheClientLogManager.Initialize(DataCacheLogSink logSink) 
                 at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheFactoryConfiguration.Initialize(String clientName) 
                 at CommunicationRole.CacheUtil.GetCache() 

Having looked at the code, this is happening when this line of code is hit:

Dim configuration As New DataCacheFactoryConfiguration()

Nothing runs after this line is hit. As I've said, the configs between local and cloud are the same. I use the cache with the credentials as a session state provider in a web deployment so I believe the cache and access to it are good.

My build machine has the November 2011 release of the Azure SDK, and Azure AppFabric SDK 1.5 installed.

The method to get the cache is as follows:

Imports System.IO
Imports Microsoft.WindowsAzure
Imports Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime
Imports Microsoft.WindowsAzure.StorageClient
Imports Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching
Imports System.Security

Public Class CacheUtil

    Private Shared _factory As DataCacheFactory = Nothing
    Private Shared _cache As DataCache = Nothing

    Public Shared Function GetCache() As DataCache


            If _cache IsNot Nothing Then
                Return _cache
            End If

            '------------------------- 
            ' Configure Cache Client  
            '------------------------- 

            'Define Array for 1 Cache Host 
            Dim servers As New List(Of DataCacheServerEndpoint)()


            'Specify Cache Host Details  
            '  Parameter 1 = host name 
            '  Parameter 2 = cache port number 
            servers.Add(New DataCacheServerEndpoint(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("hostName"), Int32.Parse(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("cachePort"))))

            ' Setup secure key
            Dim strACSKey As String = RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("authorisationToken")
            Dim secureACSKey As New SecureString
            For Each a As Char In strACSKey
                secureACSKey.AppendChar(a)
            Next
            secureACSKey.MakeReadOnly()
            Dim factorySecurity As New DataCacheSecurity(secureACSKey)

            'Create cache configuration 
            Dim configuration As New DataCacheFactoryConfiguration()

            configuration.Servers = servers
            configuration.SecurityProperties = factorySecurity

            'Disable tracing to avoid informational/verbose messages on the web page 
            DataCacheClientLogManager.ChangeLogLevel(System.Diagnostics.TraceLevel.Off)

            'Pass configuration settings to cacheFactory constructor 
            _factory = New DataCacheFactory(configuration)

            'Get reference to named cache called "default" 
            _cache = _factory.GetCache(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("cacheName"))


        Return _cache
    End Function

    Public Shared Sub Dispose()
        If _factory IsNot Nothing Then
            _factory.Dispose()
        End If
    End Sub

End Class

Answer 1

The November 2011 release of the SDK includes the appfabric .dlls (version 1.6) so you no longer need the separate SDK install just for appfabric. I would try going through each of your projects, removing the references to the caching .dlls and add them back in pointing to the ones under ...\Windows Azure SDK\v1.6\Cache\ref

I've found that build servers can get confused about which .dlls to reference.