IronPython Worker Roles for Windows Azure

Curiosity has finally got the better of me and I've started looking into Windows Azure again. It's matured quite a bit since I looked at it last year and now looks like a pretty solid platform to work with.

Aside from using NWSGI to write a web role (which I'll show later), I wanted to see if it was possible to write a worker role in Python. Happily, it is, and it's not that complicated. In fact, it's pretty similar to how NWSGI works – load up a Python file and run some functions.

Worker Role Requirements

A standard C# worker roles requires three functions: OnStart, OnStop, and Run:

public class PyWorkerRole : RoleEntryPoint
{
    public override bool OnStart() { /* ... */ }
    public override void OnStop() { /* ... */ }
    public override void Run() { /* ... */ }
}

This can be mapped to a Python module in a fairly straightforward fashion:

def start():
    return True

def run():
    pass

def stop():
    pass

This has some advantages and disadvantages compared to using a class, but I like it for its simplicity.

The Implementation

Azure requires an actual .NET class to implement a worker role, so we create one that hosts the IronPython engine. This is a good example of how to embed IronPython to run very simple scripts. The core IronPython hosting function is shown here; for the rest, see the files linked below.

private void InitScripting(string scriptName)
{
    this.engine = Python.CreateEngine();
    this.engine.Runtime.LoadAssembly(typeof(string).Assembly);
    this.engine.Runtime.LoadAssembly(typeof(DiagnosticMonitor).Assembly);
    this.engine.Runtime.LoadAssembly(typeof(RoleEnvironment).Assembly);
    this.engine.Runtime.LoadAssembly(typeof(Microsoft.WindowsAzure.CloudStorageAccount).Assembly);                 
    
    this.scope = this.engine.CreateScope();
    engine.CreateScriptSourceFromFile(scriptName).Execute(scope);             
    
    if(scope.ContainsVariable("start"))
        this.start = scope.GetVariable<Func<bool>>("start");
    
    this.run = scope.GetVariable<Action>("run");
    
    if(scope.ContainsVariable("stop"))
        this.stop = scope.GetVariable<Action>("stop");
}

First, we create a ScriptEngine and add some useful assemblies;  then we create a Scope to execute in; then we actually execute the script. Finally, we try to pull out the functions and convert them to C# delegates; run is required but start and stop are optional. Those delegates are called from the C# wrapper (from Run, OnStart, and OnStop, as appropriate).

The rest of the file is pretty much taken from the worker role template, so I'll leave it out.

Doing Actual Work

Now, a worker role needs some actual work to do – usually, reading items from a queue and processing them. Happily, the Azure StorageClient library is perfectly usable from IronPython.

from Microsoft.WindowsAzure import CloudStorageAccount
from Microsoft.WindowsAzure.StorageClient import CloudQueueMessage, CloudStorageAccountStorageClientExtensions

def run():
    account = CloudStorageAccount.FromConfigurationSetting("DataConnectionString")
    queueClient = CloudStorageAccountStorageClientExtensions.CreateCloudQueueClient(account)
    queue = queueClient.GetQueueReference("messagequeue")

    while True:
        Thread.Sleep(10000)

        if queue.Exists():
            msg = queue.GetMessage()
            if msg:
                Trace.TraceInformation("Message '%s' processed." % msg.AsString)
                queue.DeleteMessage(msg)

The only catch is that CreateCloudQueueClient is an extension method, so it must be called as a static method on the CloudStorageAccountStorageClientExtensions class.

Using the Code

To actually use the code, create a C# worker role as per usual, but replace the generated class file with PythonWorkerRole.cs (see below). Next, add the IronPython assemblies as references to the project. Then, create a string setting for the role (under the Cloud project's Roles folder) called ScriptName and set it to the name of the script file. Finally, add a .py file to the worker role and ensure that (under 'Properties') its 'Build Action' is 'Content' and 'Copy to Output' is 'Copy if Newer'.

The code can be downloaded from my PyAzureExamples repository, including zip archives of it. It includes the PyWorkerRole project and the Cloud Service project.