Preserve Profiler files when Web Deploy updates a Windows App Service application

Source facts

Microsoft warns that Web Deploy can delete Application Insights Profiler files while deploying a web application. Its documented prevention is to exclude App_Data from deployment deletion. On Windows App Service, Profiler runs as a continuous WebJob and requires Always On. The individual instance’s job is named ApplicationInsightsProfiler3. Microsoft Learn.

Applicability

This review applies to the Windows App Service ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core workflow documented by the source. It is a release-preservation check, not an assumption that every missing profile was caused by deployment.

DSE recommendation

Include the documented App_Data deletion exclusion in the deployment review before releasing changes over an enabled Profiler. Ask the application owner to inspect the actual Web Deploy deletion settings used by the pipeline, including overrides outside the project file. Preserve the intended profiler state alongside the application release configuration. Avoid manually restoring unexplained files as a substitute for correcting the repeatable deployment behavior.

Verification

Use a representative nonproduction application to compare the profiler job and relevant deployment configuration before and after a normal release. Confirm Always On remains enabled and inspect whether the expected profiler files survive. Collect a profile through the approved diagnostic test before declaring the release-preservation check successful. If it still fails, retain the deployment evidence and investigate other documented prerequisites. Report the observed result separately from the configuration change; an exclusion being present does not itself prove that profiling resumed.

Official references

Microsoft Learn: Windows App Service Profiler. Source reviewed September 9, 2026.