Microsoft warns: Follow new .NET installation links
Due to an unexpected change, .NET users should check immediately whether they are affected. Downtimes may occur.
(Image: Sashkin/Shutterstock.com)
At the end of December, Microsoft announced an unexpected change to the distribution of .NET installers and archives. Although most users should not be directly affected by this, it is critical that they check this and pay attention to any downtimes or other difficulties that may occur.
Unexpected CDN shutdown
As Microsoft explains further, it operates several Content Delivery Network instances to deliver .NET builds, some of which have the ending azureedge.net. These are hosted by edg.io, which is being discontinued due to bankruptcy. As a result, Microsoft has to switch to a new CDN and will use new domains from now on. The azureedge.net domains are expected to be shut down in the first few months of this year and may experience short-term downtimes before then.
The affected domains are:
- dotnetcli.azureedge.net
- dotnetbuilds.azureedge.net
Not affected are:
- dotnet.microsoft.com
- download.visualstudio.microsoft.com
As Microsoft has already made changes, users should not have to do anything themselves in many cases. However, it is critical that they check whether they are affected.
Check and act
There are various steps you can take to find out whether you are affected. Source code, installation scripts and other files can be searched for instances of azureedge.net. Microsoft also noticed that the storage account dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net is frequently used, which can also be searched for. Although this is not directly affected, a change to the new CDN is recommended due to improved performance.
Users should make the following updates:
- from dotnetcli.azureedge.net to builds.dotnet.microsoft.com
- from dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net to builds.dotnet.microsoft.com
Further recommendations for action can be found in the blog post on this topic.
The current status of the changed .NET installation domains and URLs can be tracked in a GitHub issue. Anyone experiencing a downtime that may be related to this can report it there or send an email to Microsoft.
(mai)