Migrate and optimize a .NET nopCommerce application on Microsoft Azure
Introduction
Set up an Arm-based environment
Create a nopCommerce endpoint benchmark baseline on Arm
Generate an SBOM and run .NET dependency discovery before migration
Choose a containerization path for the nopCommerce application
Tune the performance of the .NET application on Azure
Use the Arm MCP Server to optimize .NET performance
Next Steps

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Optimize with the Arm MCP Server

Use the Arm MCP Server after the manual baseline is complete. The agent accelerates analysis and execution, but your benchmark artifacts remain the source of truth for what actually improved.

If you’re new to this toolchain, see the Arm MCP Server Learning Path for setup and core usage patterns.

Identify endpoints likely to benefit most

Ask the agent to analyze your application routes and classify optimization candidates by CPU intensity, serialization cost, synchronization, and cache behavior.

Prompt template:

    

        
        
Analyze this .NET application for Arm optimization opportunities.
Identify endpoints most likely to benefit from Arm tuning.
Rank them by expected impact and explain why.

The output should include a ranked endpoint list, bottleneck hypotheses per endpoint, and an instrumentation plan to validate the hypotheses.

Generate and run a targeted endpoint test suite

Ask the agent to extend the manual endpoint tester or build a repeatable suite that exercises the ranked endpoints and emits machine-readable output. Keep the same command-line controls used earlier: base URL, concurrency, iterations, and JSON output path.

Prompt template:

    

        
        
Create a reproducible endpoint benchmark suite for these routes.
Use concurrency, iterations, and JSON output.
Include pass/fail checks for HTTP behavior and error rate.

The suite should produce per-endpoint latency percentiles, a throughput summary, and error counts. It should also produce before and after comparison artifacts, and the exact route list and request method for each endpoint.

Plan and implement Arm optimizations on Azure Cobalt

Ask the agent to create an execution plan, apply changes, run tests, and report deltas.

Prompt template:

    

        
        
On this Ubuntu Neoverse (Azure Cobalt) instance:
1) establish baseline,
2) apply Arm-focused .NET runtime and deployment optimizations,
3) rerun tests,
4) report statistically meaningful deltas and risks.

Typical optimization actions include:

  • Runtime settings (DOTNET_TieredPGO, DOTNET_ReadyToRun, thread pool tuning, and spin-wait experiments)
  • Container/runtime configuration cleanup
  • Architecture-conditional deployment settings
  • Repeated measurement loops with fixed workload parameters and fixed endpoint order

Practical guardrails

Implement the following guardrails when using the Arm MCP Server for optimization:

  • Keep manual baseline artifacts as source of truth.
  • Require raw output files for every claim.
  • Ask the agent to separate observed facts from inferred explanations.
  • Re-run on production-like traffic before release.

What you’ve learned

You’ve learned how to use the Arm MCP Server to optimize a .NET nopCommerce application migrated to Arm.

You can use the workflows in this Learning Path as a template for your own applications, then validate with your production-like traffic profile before rollout.

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