How to Fully Turn Off Sitecore PaaS Azure App Services

Fully Stop Sitecore Azure App Services

We recently worked on an interesting project for one of our clients where they wanted to optimize their XP platform and save some $$$ cash. There are ways you can approach this by either grouping up XP related resources or even better and covert the XP instance into XM, which we ended up doing. Our team did the analysis and ended up finding that the client is not fully taking advantage of the XP platform and its better that they switch to XM.

Identifying Persistent Login Failures in Sitecore XP

During our implementation phase we found that even after stripping out/stopping everything that is related to XP i.e code, app services and databases, there was still something which was trying to log into the XP related databases. We constantly received the following two errors in our application insight logs almost every 10 seconds.

1. Login failed for user processingengineuser.
2. Login failed for user xcsmmuser.

Exception 1:
MessageType: Error Picking Processing Task, Message: Login failed for user 'processingengineuser'.
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException:
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreatePooledConnection (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.CreateObject (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.UserCreateRequest (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.WaitForPendingOpen (System.Data, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Framework.TransientFaultHandling.Sql.SqlRetryHelper+<>c__DisplayClass18_0+<<OpenAsync>b__0>d.MoveNext (Sitecore.Framework.TransientFaultHandling.Sql, Version=2.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Processing.Tasks.Sql.SqlTaskDataProvider+<ExecuteReaderRoutine>d__22`1.MoveNext (Sitecore.Processing.Tasks.Sql, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Processing.Tasks.Sql.SqlTaskDataProvider+<ExecuteReadTaskRoutine>d__21.MoveNext (Sitecore.Processing.Tasks.Sql, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Processing.Tasks.Sql.SqlTaskDataProvider+<PickDistributedTaskInProgressAsync>d__10.MoveNext (Sitecore.Processing.Tasks.Sql, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Processing.Engine.Diagnostics.TaskDataProviderCountersDecorator+<PickDistributedTaskInProgressAsync>d__5.MoveNext (Sitecore.Processing.Engine, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Processing.Engine.Agents.TaskAgent+<GetTaskDataAsync>d__7.MoveNext (Sitecore.Processing.Engine, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)

Exception 2:
Login failed for user 'xcsmmuser'.. The error occurred while attempting to perform the underlying storage operation during 'Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.ShardManagement.StoreException: Error occurred while performing store operation. See the inner SqlException for details. ---> System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Login failed for user 'xcsmmuser'.
Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.ShardManagement.ShardManagementException:
at Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.ShardManagement.StoreOperationGlobal.Do (Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.Client, Version=2.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.ShardManagement.ShardMapManagerFactory.GetSqlShardMapManager (Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.Client, Version=2.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.ShardManagement.ShardMapManagerFactory.TryGetSqlShardMapManager (Microsoft.Azure.SqlDatabase.ElasticScale.Client, Version=2.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer.Configuration.ElasticScaleConnectionManager.InitializeShardMapManager (Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer.Configuration.ElasticScaleConnectionManager.get_ShardMapManager (Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer.Configuration.ElasticScaleConnectionManager.GetRangeShardMap (Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer.Configuration.ElasticScaleConnectionManager+<>c__DisplayClass36_0.<GetShards>b__0 (Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)
at System.Lazy`1.CreateValue (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at System.Lazy`1.LazyInitValue (mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089)
at Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer.Configuration.MemoryCacheManager.AddOrGetExistingFromCache (Sitecore.Xdb.Collection.Data.SqlServer, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null)

The Cause of Continuous SQL Calls in Stopped Sitecore Services

After some digging we found out that the app services (related to XP such as cortexprocessing, cortexreporting) even though they are stopped from the portal.azure.com were still making SQL calls because cortexprocessing still had WebJob for ProcessingEngine.exe running in the background. This happens because when you press Stop from the Portal it only stops the main site and not the scm site. SCM site is where Kudu and all the webjobs runs. So in order to fully stop the app services we also need to shutdown the scm site.

Stopping Sitecore Services in Azure

In order to stop both the main site and the scm site, do the following:

1. Visit https://resources.azure.com/.
2. After you in Resource Explorer, find the app service that you want to stop either by searching or from the tree (search is easier fyi)
3. You’ll notice some JSON on the right side panel. Click Read/Write and then Edit.
4. Search for state and set it to Stopped (skip this if you stopped the app service from Portal as it’ll be already in Stopped state)
5. Then search for scmSiteAlsoStopped and set it true.
6. Next, click PUT.

To verify if the scm site is stopped, try visiting Kudu for your web app and it should give you 403. As mentioned earlier scm site is where Kudu and WebJobs are running so stopping this will also stop Kudu from running.

Final Thoughts on Stopping Sitecore Services 

That’s folks! We learnt step by step on how to fully stop an app service because when going through the portal it would only stop the main site and not the scm site. Also, its recommended that you group up the stopped app services and put it under a single app service plan to save money.