I just run into the same problem (running 3.1.2). Allthought the problem has solved itself for me …
What did i do:
Created an app pool with an custom user. I entered a #{Local-UserId} and didn’t touch the “set password”.
After deploying I ran into the 503 error as stated above
After that I thought lets try the “set password”. Entered my #{Local-password}. After saving and reopening the step the “set password” was unchecked again.
But … deploy now works … does that make sense??? And what is the function of the set pasword.
I allready created a user in an earlier step, because I also need to set database permissions.
The set password function is to set / update passwords.
That the field is empty after you set it and reopen it is by design as the field is a sensitive value, even though the field is empty, the value is stored in the database and will be available when deploying.
Would be helpful if there would be an indication that the field has been entered or not. Like with some *** which are used in the variable list when a field is marked sensitive.
I was having the same issue as Bjørn (regular password, no spaces) on v3.1.5, but the pre-deployment script suggestion from Paul Stovell is a good temporary workaround.
I am experiencing the same issue; using v3.1.1, I am using the standard IIS AppPool - Create step, and binding the service account name and password to variables. The app pool is then used by an IIS Application - Create step to create a virtual application.
When the process is followed, the app pool is created with the correct name, but when I try to use the virtual application, the app pool crashes with a 503. If I go into IIS Manager and type in the username/password, then everything works OK.
I have tried using a prompt to input the values, but that doesn’t work either. I tried using the service account and password of a different app pool, but that didn’t work either.
In a fit of desperation, I deleted the IIS AppPool - Create step and recreated it from scratch. Now the original username/password does work, and the release goes smoothly.
So maybe there is something wrong in the IIS AppPool - Create or IIS Application - Create step templates? There must be a better way of diagnosing this what’s going wrong?
