I have a .net program using Ektron APIs to get folder list and its details. It was working before on my development machine. Now it doesn't work any more. I notice, we have upgraded to Ektron 8.xx from 7.xx.
When I ran the same codes but it gave me this error:
Failed to map the path '/WorkArea/'.
I had no idea why. I'm running this test program on visual studio 2010.
Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.
I had the exact same problem (Ektron version 8.6.1) trying to run a 3-Tier minsite on my local machine (for dev), talking to a (staging) Application Tier.
First I followed the instructions for setting up a Presentation Tier
One thing that is not mentioned in these instructions is the requirement that your Presentation Tier site's virtual path match that of the appSettings > ek_sitePath value in the Application Tier's web.config. By default, this value is /.
By default, when you open/create a Web Site Project and use the built-in VS server for development, the site's path looks like http://localhost:wxyz/SiteName.
So you have 2 options:
Change the web.config on Application Tier so appSettings > ek_sitePath is the same as /SiteName (probably not the best option, since any new site development will require changing this again, and it could break production sites)
Change the virtual path of your Presentation Tier site to /, which is easy to do as outlined in this ScottGu blog post (talks about VS 2005, I use 2010 and it was the same process)
I took the latter approach, and everything is working smoothly now!
Related
We have some ASP.NET web application which used in 2 ways:
enterprise solution (msi-like installer)
cloud solution (use same installer)
Currently we use home-grown installer, but consider if we can replace it with something more convenient and suitable for CI/CD development cycle.
What technologies/products can be used? Currently I think about webdeploy, but not sure how it can be applied for enterprise setup...
This is quite a broad question, but I think it deserves an answer.
1. (partially) Open source solution
One way to configure CI cycle is to use Jenkins along with MS deployment functionality. This article shows how to quickly set up a job to integrate Jenkins with msdeploy tool.
Basically it configures a job to perform the deployment using Powershell:
msdeploy.exe -allowUntrusted=true -verb:sync -source:contentpath='D:\WS\ExampleProject' -dest:contentpath=F:\webfolder,computerName=exampleproject.example.com,Username='yourdomain\username',Password='password' -skip:objectName=dirPath,absolutePath="config" -skip:objectName=filePath,absolutePath="web.config"
It also tells that the executing user should be an administrator on target server, but this can be circumvented through proper configuration of Web Deployment Handler as indicated in this article.
One intermediary step that can be done before Jenkins integration (which I recommend) is to configure Web deployment. This allows to quickly check that deployment can be performed onto target server IIS using Visual Studio and any configured user that is allowed to deploy. It also allows to quickly see the difference between current code base (web pages, JS files, binaries) and target server deployed package.
2. Visual Studio 2017 DevOps solution
Microsoft recently released VS 2017 which contains a great support for DevOps which handles most the issues related to CI/CD. I cannot find a reference, but I remember that this feature is available for Enterprise version only. Also, the good news is that it is not tightened to Microsoft technologies.
A presentation related to the subject can be found here.
I think WebDeploy can be used without significant problems. From my experience with it:
backup limitation: can be done only at Web Site level, not Web application level
deployment time: is quite small - actual files copy + Web site backup (if configured) + application pool recycle.
Recently I saw a vendor offering customers who wanted on-premises deployments the same Docker image that they use for cloud deployments. Seemed like a good, clean, solution.
Another option is nuget packages - host your own repository. Then deploy with a tool like Octopus Deploy. I'm not terribly familiar with it, but both solutions look to be easy after an initial hump in setup.
weird issue with visual studio 2010, right now i'm debugging a web application (which uses sitecore btw) and when entering in certain pages i get this error
Server cannot access application directory c:\svn\foo\trunk The directory does not exist or is not accessible because of security settings.
now the real fun part. c:\svn\foo\trunk is another asp.net project i worked on months ago on this same machine, with the same visual studio 2010, and they happen to both use sitecore too
besides those facts, the projects are absolutely not correlated. i deleted all the project files for foo eons ago
any idea what part of asp.net could be producing this error? what part does even know that i've used to work on this project?!
You may want to verify that your hosts file doesn't contain any strangeness, and likewise that your IIS instance doesn't contain any Applications that refer to your old codebase/directories.
Also, try running VS as administrator, and/or setting your user's permissions to admin rights.
If you are using a symbolic or junction link, make sure the folder that the symlink points to is still there.
I'm basically wondering what the best way to deploy an Asp.Net Web Site is, mostly from the point of view of security. Right now, I'm trying to publish the website using Visual Studio 2010. Could someone direct me to a good tutorial on how to do this securely? For example, can it be done over an encrypted connection via Visual Studio? Is it necessary to install any software on the server to do this? Should I use a different program to open up an SSL (TLS) connection first, and if so, which program (does it come standard with windows)?
The server is running Windows Server 2008. Development is on Vista.
Many thanks in advance for any direction in this matter!
Andrew
I would publish the site to your local machine and file copy the files across to your test/production environment. As a rule we don't publish sites straight from VS to test or production.
For example you don't want to accidentally push things straight from dev into a live environment do you?
As far as the file transfer security goes you could use SFTP.
Note: First thing is to check with the owner of the server, as they often will provide you an FTP connection and will take care of configuring IIS.
If you want to add security, make a keyfile and sign your assemblies and consider running Dotfuscator on your dlls, the community edition is included in Visual Studio. Here is an earlier question where I've put more info on Dotfuscator.
If you have to do the deployment yourself, here's a few things to consider.
XCopy (easy)
MSI (have to create a setup program, you can do this easily in Visual Studio)
There is no security advantage in deploying using Visual Studio, but you can use Visual Studio to create a small setup program. One thing you want to make sure for security is DO NOT deploy any .cs files. Prepare your files, you should compile in Release mode, make sure debug is not enabled in your config file, keep your bin and it's dll, also the aspx, asmx, ascx, svc, css, js, and config files.
XCopy: Install a small FTP server, or use one your company alreayd has, this will allow you to get your files once you are logged into the target machine. You should be able to get an administrator account for the target machine, just ask the sysadmin of the domain, then log on using remote desktop, got to your ftp site, and download your files. Open IIS on the target machine, create a virtual directory and a pool. Copy your files to the location, configure your connection string to your DB if you use one, then test your website.
MSI: same process as above, except the setup will create the virtual directory and pool for you.
Here is extra info on best practices from the official ASP.Net website.
If you have some control on the server (e.g. to configure IIS7), you might want to look into Microsoft Web Deploy (new product just been released):
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/13/automating-deployment-with-microsoft-web-deploy.aspx
Haven't tried it myself, but looks quite slick and it apparently encrypts the data being copied up, so might suit you.
I'm trying to run a test version of a web using the File System (i.e. the "Cassini" web server built-in to Visual Studio 2005) rather than (IIS 5.1 on my Win XP dev PC). This web is a hodge-podge of classic ASP files written years ago and some new development in ASP.NET (VB.NET).
How can I get past this error message as it tries to go to /TestWeb/default.asp? -
Server Error in '/TestWeb' Application.
This type of page is not served.
Description: The type of page you have requested is not served because it has been explicitly forbidden. The extension '.asp' may be incorrect. Please review the URL below and make sure that it is spelled correctly.
Requested URL: /TestWeb/default.asp
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3603; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3082
Things I have checked and previously encountered trying to get this mess working:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\web.config
(has nothing for *.asp nor
HttpForbiddenHandler so nothing to
comment out).
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\machine.config
(has nothing for *.asp)
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\CONFIG\machine.config
(had a HTTPForbiddenHandler for
*.asp but I commented it out as per other postings advice; seemed to
have no effect for me though).
To get past an earlier error
("Request for the permission of type
'System.Web.AspNetHostingPermission'
failed"), I had to go to
"Administrative Tools > MS .Net
Framework 2.0 Configuration > My
Computer> Runtime Security Policy >
change Local Intranet to Full Trust.
To get past an earlier error ("the
network bios command limit has been
reached") I had to "enable a hot
fix" by adding the following DWORD
value at the following registry key:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ASP.NET\FCNMode
and set the value to 1 (per MS KB
Article 911272).
This whole web has been placed on a file server in our LAN and from my desktop VStudio2005 views it via the mapped drive letter (e.g. V:\SVNwork\myFolder\TestWeb)
Visual Studio 2005 models this as a "web site" (not a "web application project").
The remainder of this post describes some background about why I am trying this:
We tend to recreate the web site on our dev PC's which run IIS 5.1 on Win XP. Movement of new stuff into production can be awkward using WinDiff and copying files as needed.
I'm trying to implement source control over this work. I've had a heck of a time trying to configure Visual SourceSafe 2005 and local IIS to work together smoothly (interestingly, I had pretty good luck putting "web application projects" under VSS2005 so I think it's related to the awkwardness of the ASP.NET 2.0 "site" model and VSS).
Anyway, I've moved a development version of this classic ASP and ASP.NET to a common file server in our LAN. Before placing this under Subversion control as a working copy of it's equivalent imported into a repository, I just want to make sure it can work with the Cassini web server. That's where I am stuck. The ultimate goal is have this under SVN and view differences with TortoiseSVN.
Thanks for reading this far...hopefully someone can get me past this error and then I can move forward with the SVN and TortoiseSVN work.
Cassini doesn't, as far as I can tell, support classic ASP. An alternative would be to run a local install of Apache (since you can't/won't use IIS) which will host ASP, but is probably asking for trouble.
See also: http://blogs.msdn.com/mikhailarkhipov/archive/2005/06/24/432308.aspx
You could also run local IIS, which will, of course, host both ASP.NET and classic ASP. Visual Studio can easily be configured to debug with a local IIS install.
Points for moving to subversion: we use the Microsoft stack (Visual Studio, ASP.NET, SQL Server) with subversion and it works very well.
Subversion comment
GRRR.. bosses are fun. The svn model is known as copy/modify/merge. The repository lives in a central location - probably your file server. Using the svn client - or a Visual Studio plugin like the excellent AnkhSVN - each developer gets a LOCAL working copy,makes their changes and performs a "commit" when they're done working on a file.
SVN takes care of making sure that developers don't overwrite each others changes, provides a facility for merging changes when someone has modified a file between when you got your last copy and when you commit your changes, etc.
The whole point of a working copy is that it isolates developers from each other. The merge/commit step takes care of intergrating everyones changes. Having a central working copy that everyone works from defeats the purpose.
This is a very different approach than that used by Visual SourceSafe, which is basically a file locking mechanism. The fact that SVN is a real client-server application (where VSS is simply a disk-based "database" with no server app to administer it) provides all sorts of capabilities. We check out, modify, commit, then publish from svn to a dev server.
Also, if I remember correctly, Cassini won't server apps from a mapped drive.
I'm a total newbie to SVN and haven't been able to find an answer for the following situation.
I have an ASP .NET 2.0 web app that I am developing. I am using my local IIS as the development web server (i.e. not the Visual Studio web development server). My development environment is VS2005, Vista, IIS7, TortoiseSVN / AnkhSVN. VisualSVN is installed on the server.
My .sln files and class libraries, etc. are located in the **C:\Localsource\Projects\ProjectName** folder, and my .aspx files are in my **C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ProjectName** folder.
I can set up the repository for **C:\Localsource\Projects\ProjectName** fine, but can't think of a way to set it up for the IIS folder as well in the same repository.
What's the best way for dealing with this development environment in SVN?
Many thanks,
Ant
In a solution in Visual Studio you can have a class library project which is usually in a directory underneath the .sln file.
In this case he also has a web project within the solution but NOT underneath the .sln file in the file directory structure.
He will be attaching to this project via HTTP not via local file path.
IIS will manage this as http://localhost/webapp and by default will place it in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\webapp. The files in webapp folder will not be in the repo as they arent in the hierachy of the solution and the class library. This is his question how to sort it out.
My answer is to move http://localhost/webapp to point to a folder that is underneath the .sln file and adjacent to the class library directory then it can all go in the repo.
Seperating the class library and the the webapp is best practice to aide code re-use and decoupling the logic from the web site.
Can you not just point IIS to C:\Localsource\Projects\ProjectName and set the permissions?
Hmmm - Good point. It was set up like this when I got here, and Visual Studio always creates websites in the wwwroot folder, so I assumed wwwroot was just where they had to go.
Maybe I'll have to think about doing a little rearranging...
Thanks!
The IIS folder is not the output of the code base it is part of the application. It's not CGI output or anything but actually the scripts to run the app!
This is the .aspx pages that will have user controls and HTML to actually run the application. Its part of the applciation but split away from VS Studio solution.
The easiest way is to have a solution and then C:\Localsource\Projects\ProjectName\WEBSITE.
Point IIS at that folder as well.
OK, I may be being stupid here but.. Why do you need to add the IIS folder (i.e. the output of the code base) to your repository?
Update
I think I should clarify this a bit more.. What I mean to say is I am not sure why the ASPX is seperate from the project anyway? What is wrong with an Web Project and n Class Library Projects in a Solution, added to your repository.. You then publish on each new release..
If it is simply a case of "it might be easier to roll back the published output" then so be it, I was just curious as I have not seen many people actually work that way.
Deployment of solutions in this structure would be a lot easier as well..
I think you might want to separate this into two problems, following this recommendation from Dillorscroft.
First, with regard to the material on your development server that is published to the production site, I think you need version control for that. First so you can roll back any page, and you can also decide when you have a stable level of the development site that you want to extract to production. (I would get that from the source control system into a site image and then synchronize that image with the production site.)
So, for the first part, we are talking about versioning the web pages and all of the custom server-side material that supports the web site.
Secondly, With regard to the development of components that are used on the site, they need their own development projects, since it is the result that goes to the development site, not all of the source, libraries, etc. that the component is built with. So these will have their own project development tree (think of it as if you were building a library that is to be used by other development projects, although in this case the other projects are web pages). So the only thing that should show up in IIS is the "deployed" component to the development site.
There seem to be three critical questions for you:
How development of tests that need to go against the web site is handled and where that is version controlled (assuming they do not belong on the web site itself)
How easily you can arrange to make sure that all content on the development web site is kept under version control and checked-in and -out appropriately. (This has to do with the tools you use to edit web pages and other server-side gunk other than components developed off to the side.)
Easily taking developed components from the projects that produce them to the development site and have them be checked-in there.
My solution to (2) and to version control of the development web site is to use Visual Source Safe integration with IIS and FrontPage extensions that places the site under version control. Components produced from other development projects are mapped to the server project by VSS sharing.
For SVN, I speculate that (1) you want to see if there is an SVN adapter that IIS will recognize as an external source-control system and, either way, (2) have a discipline that takes delivery of components from their construction projects into the overall web site project.
Rob,
Why do you consider an .aspx file an output of the code base?
It is part of the code base. It's not an output after compilation for instance.
Just wondered?