The product I’m trying to create a package out of is a Web Application and a Database Project. This Package needs to be deployed to multiple IIS Web Sites which individually has their own application pool and bindings. In the end I would want the package to be built by a TFS Build Server into a .zip file which via msdeploy.exe somehow can be deployed to these web sites by settings the web site, application pool, binding and destination database in deploy time. It should create if items does not exists and update if they do.
I’ve been researching quite a lot on Web Deploy 3.0. Most of the stuff I find on the internet via google is about defining the package and publishing from within Visual Studio which is not exactly what I want because I want to be able to have control over the settings at deploy time.
So far I can create a package relatively simple via the Publish dialog in Visual Studio 2013. I can even add my SSDT project dacpac file to the package using the “Update Database” checkbox in the Publish window. But I think a lot of things happen behind the covers which doesn’t seem logic how to do manually.
Ultimately the questions I have right now which I hope someone can help me with is:
How do I define dbdacfx settings in deploy time when deploying a
package? (Ie. Target sql server, database, username and password.) Or
can I parametrize these settings somehow into a parameter.xml file?
Can I use the publish profile xml file from my SSDT project?
How do I make my package create a new web site if it does not exists?
I can only find information about creating applications under already
existing sites.
When and if I create a web site via the package, how do I define the
associated application pool? Like creating it if it doesn’t exist or
update it if the target framework is incorrect?
I’ve read about providers. For instance appPoolConfig provider but
how to utilize this at deploy time isn’t very clear to me – can
anyone elaborate or perhaps point to a source explaining it?
Is there any good books covering this area or perhaps even a better
alternative?
Related
I'm trying to create an installer for an ASP.NET MVC Application. The installer will deploy the site to a user's local IIS and set up connection to database and create database and tables if it doesn't exist.
I'm using the Web Setup Project for this. So far I was able to create the installer that will deploy the site to the IIS. Now I'm looking for a way to set the connections and create database. Are there any sources or recommendations on how to do this?
I also looked at the WiX Toolset for this and couldn't really figure out how to do it. Sources for either one would help
In my organization the main product is a web application and an associated database. Both the web application and database is source controlled in TFS. We are running this product in various versions across hundres of IIS web site instances. When having that many web site instances on IIS deployment is atm. a problem.
What I want to do is to package my web application together with the output from my database project. I've been looking into creating a Web Deploy Package which makes it easy to deploy a web application remotely, locally or programitically to IIS if i want to.
What I want to achieve is to have one package but I want to know if it's possible to embed a Database project into a Web Deploy Package taking advantages of dacpac incremental database deployment?
If this is not possible is there any good alternatives to Web Deploy Package that suit my needs?
Another method is to create an MSI package to deploy both the Web Deploy Package and also update the DBs. For example, with Advanced Installer you can use the built-in support for Web Deploy Packages.
To perform dacpac incremental database deployment you can call SqlPackage.exe from the same MSI, as a custom action. The linked example shows a simple EXE running, but you can change that to run any desired EXE, passing your required command line parameters.
If you perform frequent upgrades of the websites, or the settings are usually changed after the installation/deployment, then you should take a look at the next thread too, it talks about persisting website installations during upgrades.
I have an asp.net website that I'm looking to migrate over to Azure. I have been doing some analysis of the website and code to understand issues with the migration. I am confident that 95% of the code will be fine as most of it is pretty standard web forms and dot net programming.
However, I have just run across an ActiveX component that is installed into the \windows directory on the webserver.
I am wondering if this will be an issue for the migration? There could easily be a number of follow-on questions as well depending on the answer. How do Azure web roles handle instantiation of activeX server components? Can I include the DSINTX.OCX file into the solution or do I wrap it in a dotnet assembly?
private DSINTXLib.Dsintx m_dsintx;
...
m_dsintx = new DSINTXLib.DsintxClass();
Installation of the ActiveX component should not be difficult. You can use a startup task running elevated to install it, assuming that there's an unattended installation mode for it. I blogged about this process for a Windows Service a while back.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/golive/archive/2011/02/11/installing-a-windows-service-in-a-worker-role.aspx
If you don't have an installation file, then create a script that installs and registers the control and then use RDP to your role instance to debug. The blog post goes over some of these techniques as well. (Use notepad to create the command file, not VS.) You can add the OCX to your project, but be sure to set the Copy Local property to True so it becomes part of the package that is sent to Azure.
I am working on an ASP.NET web application, we are a small team (4 students) and we do not have access to a dedicated server to host the database instance. So for this web application we decided just to put the database file in the App_Data folder.
The problem is that our project is source controled on TFS, so every time you open the solution and try to launch the web application, we get an expcetion saying that database is read-only. That is logical because the databse file is not automatically checked-out.
Is there a workaround to avoid a manual check-out of the database file everytime we open the solution ?
Thanks.
Never check in MDF files. You should develop your project with a deployment script that creates the tables and other database objects you need. Never modify the MDF directly from VS Server Explorer. Use a version based approach to database schema.
I know you'll say 'but is hard', but trust me, the alternative which VS wizards guide you is far worse. Not only from a team development point of view, but from deployment point of view too. After you deploy v1 of you site, you'll make changes and want to deploy v1.1 or v2. Each time, you'll face the same dilemma: you have 4 MDF files, one on each team member enlistment, and 1 on the deployed site, and there is simply no way to align the schemas. You'll end up asking for SQL diff tools like SQL Compare, but they cost a tonne of moneys and they're far from perfect when it comes to maintaining a SQL schema.
Besides, having scripts as your database source will also align well with all the other source control goodies, like tracking down who changed what and when.
If you are able to install "Visual Studio Team System Database Edition" add-on for Visual Studio (previously called "Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals", previously called "DBPro") you can import your current database into a Visual Studio Database project, which can be part of your overall VS Solution.
This then allows you to manage schema objects (tables, stored procs, permissions etc.) in Visual Studio and integrates your database schema nicely with TFS.
It also allows you to deploy the schema in your VS Project to the database server, automatically handling modifications without causing data loss (or failing if data would be lost).
The add-on for VS 2008 is located at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bb3ad767-5f69-4db9-b1c9-8f55759846ed&displaylang=en
I need a little help on this subject.
I have a Web application written in ASP.NET plus I have the .bak file of the SQL Express database, my question is: How can I install this in a simple click and go way in the client?
how can I write a script that will create a new database, restore the bak file into that database, set up IIS and ... well, that's it :)
I do this all manually, and I do this a lot, so I was just asking if there is a way to prevent do all this steps manually.
Thanks.
You could use WiX to create a .msi that you can use to install your application at your clients. WiX takes a bit to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, you'll meet your needs above, and be able to extend them as your application grows or increases in complexity from the installation point of view.
I read your question to mean you have several clients where you install your application, if that is not the case, and your app exists in one place, there are better solutions, and better people to give them to you!
While WIX is certainly very flexible if you aren't comfortable with the learning curve (and there is a bit of a learning curve IMO) then perhaps you should check out the Web Deployment Projects.
From the blog post:
Web Deployment projects can be used with either the "ASP.NET Web Site" or "ASP.NET Web Application Project" options built-into VS 2008, and provide a few additional build, packaging and deployment options for you to use.
Regarding the database, I'd suggest that you utilise the App_Data directory and just deploy the ".mdf" file. This would be easier than trying to create a new database and restoring a backup.