Azure API The server failed to authenticate the request

Question

I have a task ( I tried with worker role and to upload a console app and run the .exe) that should run once a day and gather Azure Metrics of some of my VMs. This works flawlessly locally but on a cloud service I get this Error:

Unhandled Exception: Microsoft.WindowsAzure.CloudException: ForbiddenError: The server failed to authenticate the request. Verify that the certificate is valid and associated with this subscription. at Microsoft.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSucces ... etc.

The line where this happens is:

MetricDefinitionListResponse metricListResponse = metricsClient.MetricDefinitions.List(resourceId, null,
            nspace);

This is part of my code:

 string subscriptionId = "fc4xxxx5-835c-xxxx-xxx-xxxxxxx";

        // The thumbprint of the certificate.
        string thumbprint = "‎f5 b4 xxxxxxxx f7 c2";

        // Get the certificate from the local store.
        //X509Certificate2 cert = GetCertificate(StoreName.My, StoreLocation.LocalMachine, thumbprint);
        //cert = GetCertificate(StoreName.My, StoreLocation.CurrentUser, thumbprint) ?? new X509Certificate2(("manageAzure.cer"));
        var cert = new X509Certificate2(("manageAzure.cer"));

        Console.WriteLine("Certificate is : " + cert);

        // Create the metrics client.
        var metricsClient = new MetricsClient(new CertificateCloudCredentials(subscriptionId, cert));

        Console.WriteLine("metricsClient is : " + metricsClient);

        // The cloud service name and deployment name, found in the dashboard of the management portal.
        string cloudServiceName = "abms2-carlsberg";
        string deploymentName = "abms2-carlsberg";

        // Build the resource ID string.
        string resourceId = ResourceIdBuilder.BuildVirtualMachineResourceId(cloudServiceName, deploymentName);

        string nspace = "WindowsAzure.Availability";

        // Get the metric definitions.
        MetricDefinitionListResponse metricListResponse = metricsClient.MetricDefinitions.List(resourceId, null,
            nspace);

I have placed the management certificate in my solution, and I load it from there (it is set to always copy) and is the same (and the same way) I use when I run it locally.

So what "certificate" is it complaining about "to authenticate"? I can't seem to see what the problem is. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have used the whole afternoon on this!

PS: I am already running this in elevated mode!

Answer 1

For someone else that may have this issue, I have solved it as explained here in the bottom : (http://www.dinohy.com/post/2013/11/12/403-Forbidden-when-Use-Azure-Management-REST-API-on-Role-instance.aspx)

1. Download the publishsettings file from:https://manage.windowsazure.com/publishsettings/index?client=vs&schemaversion=2.0 (This is a XML file, you can open it with notepad)

2. Find ManagementCertificate property, copy the value to a string. That a Base64 encoded string, you can use this string create a certificate: string base64Cer="The value of ManagementCertificate "

3. Use this string create a certificate. var certificate = new X509Certificate2(base64Cer);

although this last step is not exactly like passing the string directly (as the string is too long and will cause an exception) but rather is as follows: var cert = new X509Certificate2(Convert.FromBase64String(base64cer));

Hope this will help someone else in my position too.