On my Windows XP desktop, I have a fairly simple ASP.NET targetting .net 4 in Visual Studio 2010. I can run it on my local host by ctrl + F5, it works all fine.
I have a Windows Server 2003, that I can access via mstsc, but also via Explorer. When I go to the publish section of my build properties, i see 4 publish methods :
Web Deploy, FTP, File System, FPSE
I have already installed IIS 6 successfully on the Windows Server, and given all authorizations for everything I could so far (to get things to work in the first place, will check on that later).
How should I proceed to publish to that remote machine ? Should I target a specific folder ? Do I need to setup things in IIS 6 for that site first ? Or will it all get settled from te properties I have in Visual Studio ?
Thank you guys,
J.
Personally I've always plumped for a manual deployment; that is I create the Web Site in IIS creating an appropriate AppPool and targeting the correct .NET version to utilise. From there simply copy (xcopy if you will) the appropriate files over, e.g. DLL and all supporting pages such as ASPX, CSS and associated images. In most situations where I have direct / RDP access this is what I run with.
That said, this can be automated from Visual Studio and this can be useful for those situations where you're maintaining an awful lot of sites on a regular basis. With IIS 6 and Visual Studio, this was achieved by installing FrontPage Extensions on the server then utilising the Publish option.
For VS2010 it seems this has been streamlined using the IIS Web Deploy module and configuring the Studio to publish in this manner that looks mildly quick...
HTH
I've never used the Web Deploy feature in 2010, so I can't really tell you about its merits or drawbacks. I've read that it works much better with IIS7 than IIS6. If you have direct access to the IIS root folder on the server (typically c:\inetpub\wwwroot) through a network share I would recommend doing the file system deployment. FPSE works as well if you have to publish to the server through a remote URL, but there are some security issues with FPSE that make enabling it on your web server a less than ideal choice.
Once the files have been deployed, all that should be left is to configure the website as an application inside of IIS.
Remote in to the web server and open IIS
Right-click Default Web Site and choose properties (if you've deployed to a subfolder in the root, then locate that folder and choose those properties instead
Switch to the Home Directory tab (Just 'Directory' for a subfolder)
Look for the Application Settings section and click the button that says Create
Optional: Select an app pool if you have created a custom one from the default
That should enable IIS to execute your .aspx files inside of your application. Once you've successfully configured the app for the first time, you can just keep publishing your app to the same location over and over without having to reconfigure it.
Related
It seems like the View in Browser option doesn't really require IIS and it seems to process ASP pages fine. So how does it really work without a web server?
They used to have a developer web server (Cassini) which is dead long time back so is there some kind of built in capability in visual studio? Who processes the requests by asp pages if it doesn't require IIS?
I already have IIS installed so I am not sure if is servicing the pages but seems like it will work without IIS because I don't configure anything in IIS and new ASP.NET projects work out of the box as well View in Browser option for an asp page option which just directly executes that page.
Actually this is what occurs:
Your web web.config is copied.
Then VS spools up a WHOLE running copy of IIS (it is the express version - but it is the same for the most part as the full edition of II).
Once VS spools up and starts and configures that running copy of IIS?
Then your web page and web application can run. If you look at your system try, you see this:
So in above that 2nd from the left in the tray shows that blue thing icon. I have right clicked on it to show the options you see.
So now you have a running copy of IIS on your computer. So you ARE running a full web server here. (well, ok IIS express - but the base parts and what that means is much the same as the full edition).
Around about VS version 2010, they USED to have a smaller built in web server as part of VS. The problem of course was for Microsoft to maintain 100% compatibility was VERY hard. So while for a considerable time frame and history of VS? Yes, they had a built in web server as part of VS. But they dropped it a number of versions ago in VS, and as noted now use IIS express.
So Now? Well, when you install VS, they also install a working copy of IIS. (the express version). The express version is quite much the same as the full pop edition of IIS. What is removed is "most" if not "all" of the IIS management screens and setup. (and sometimes I wish they would just install that part too!).
Your experience thus that a copy of IIS is launched. Once launched IIS does keep running during your development process (depends on your VS config and setup). But, if you go file->close solution, then you find that IIS express then also shuts down.
So, to view that web page? Yes, VS does config, and then does spool up and start internet services and that web server. So this running of IIS on your computer is what allows those web pages to work and run correctly. As noted, while this is a copy of IIS, it is for the most part the same as the full edition - just with most of the management tools removed. As noted, you SHOULD see that new icon appear in the system tray.
And as noted, I believe around VS 2010, they made that switch from the VS built in IIS to that of now using IIS express edition. As noted, this change was made to ensure a greater probability that when coding and debugging your web site in VS, that the end result will be much the same when running a full edition.
I do find that over time, the production (web hosted site) does get so many config and tweaks and changes, that I now can't include my web.config file in the publish (can't risk overwriting the server production web.config). So, over time, we added things like https security certificates and installed them, and set them up for the production web site. I don't have those same security certificates setup on my local machine. And of course there are some virtual folders and few more things that exist on the production web site as opposed to the dev copy I use. So, it somewhat my fault to let the production web.config over time to become "different" then what I run local when coding and debugging the web site. So now, when I publish - I remove the web.config file before I actually copy the new updated web application to the final production server (which of course is running the full edition of IIS).
But to make a long story short?
Yes, a whole copy of IIS web server is configured for you, and that whole copy of IIS is spooled up, launched, and once that occurs, then your web page option "view in browser" can run. But make no mistake here - IIS services is setup, is started, and is running for that web page preview to occur.
I've been trying to fix this for quite some time now, but I simply can't make any ASP.NET projects in Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web. I get this error when I start a new project:
Web application projects are currently configured to use IIS Express. To switch back to using the Visual Studio Development Server, change the development server option under the Projects and Solutions/Web Projects Category of the Options menu. Configured IIS Express failed with the following error:
Filename: redirect.config
Error: Cannot read Configuration file.
So I went on the internet to try and find others with the same error but I can't find a concrete solution to my problem. I find something similar for older versions, but it doesn't fix my problem. I do have the IIS Manager up under my Services (When you want to Manage Windows). I even made a virtual folder, but to no avail. Still doesn't work.
I want to use IIS
How do I fix this?
In Solution Explorer, right-click the name of the Web application project for which you want to specify a Web server, and then click Properties
In the Properties window, click the Web tab.
To choose the Visual Studio Development Server, under Servers, click Use Visual Studio Development Server.
To use a specific port number with the Visual Studio Development Server, select Specific port and enter the port number. By default, the Auto-assign Port option is selected, and the port number that has been assigned to your application appears
To choose IIS, under Servers, select Local IIS Web server. This option is not available if IIS is not enabled on your computer. A URL that combines localhost with the name of your Web application will automatically be created for you and appear in the Project URL box (for example, l ocalhost/WebApplication1).
To choose IIS, under Servers, select Local IIS Web server. This option is not available if IIS is not enabled on your computer. A URL that combines localhost with the name of your Web application will automatically be created for you and appear in the Project URL box (for example, loca lhost/WebApplication1).
To choose a custom Web server, select Use Custom Web Server. In the Server URL box, type the URL that Visual Studio should start when it runs the current project.
You may for example open you project file in notepad search for the string <useiisexpress>true</useiisexpress> replace it with the string <UseIIS>True</UseIIS> save and reload the project.
Make a copy of the project file first though.
I've looked all over this site and I cannot find the answer to this question.
Basically I'm trying to set up a new site for use with another project I'm working on. This site will run locally on my personal computer and will also be accessible via internet. So I installed IIS 7.5 Express and IIS Manager 7 to host this site. When I went into VS 2012 elevated to create a new site and map it to 'localhost', it pulled up the following error:
Invalid URI: The hostname could not be parsed.
2nd attempt was by creating the site in a new directory by itself inside inetpub, just for the project itself and leaving wwwroot alone. When I do this, I get the following errors:
Filename:
\?\C:\Users\Joel\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationHost.config
Error: Cannot read configuration file
File system Web sties are currently configured to use IIS Express. To switch back to using the Visual Studio Development server, change the development server option under the Projects and Solutions\Web Projects category of the Tools\Options menu.
When I browse the above location, applicationHost.config does not exist, but when I go to
C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config
I find it just fine. IIS Express 7.5 works fine and IIS Manager can find the default site just fine and will even let me browse it using my web browser. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix this so that VS 2012 can create web sites and access the necessary files.
I run Windows 7 Professional x64 and I just finished installing IIS Express and IIS manager. I configured VS 2012 for Web Development. I ran VS as Administrator (elevated) for all of this.
Okay, I found the solution. I needed to manually set Visual Studio NOT to use IIS. Not sure what the issue is there.
But the solution is here for everyone else having this issue.
It was right there, I'm sure, when I was setting it up initially and I just missed it. After doing that, I could set up the new website to use the file system, which would bypass IIS anyway, but the setting to use IIS was conflicting with the bypass, which caused the error.
Hope this is superhelpful!
How can I troubleshoot url rewrite rules that are not working in my Visual Studio 2010 Development environment?
I am enhancing an existing ASP.NET application.
My issue is the URL rewrite rules written in web.config do not work in my Visual Studio 2010 development environment. It only works after deploying the project to IIS.
I need to debug the project as I am not familiar with how it is designed and developed. It is too big a project.
If rewrite won't work in the Visual Studio Development Server, is there a workaround? I really need to work on the project in debug mode. Every time it takes me to a custom error page.
You can always debug into your local IIS. There are 3 approaches:
You should be able to do this seamlessly if your project is configured to deploy to the local IIS web server - just hit F5. It should deploy then attach.
After you deploy, browse to the local site, then attach to the running site by using "Debug, Attach to Process, w3wp.exe".
Add System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break() to the line on which you want to break your code, deploy to IIS, then run. A "start debugging" dialog should appear when the line is hit.
URL Rewrite does not work on the built in web server used by Visual Studio. The good news is that you can absolutely debug the site easily using a local install of IIS. See the following blog entry for details on how to do this:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/28/introducing-iis-express.aspx
I would strongly suggest going the route of IIS Express (a quick web search will get you to the download page) that Scott recommends. I tried setting VS up to use my local IIS 7 and struggled with it. When I tried the IIS Express route, I was up and running in minutes with URL Rewrite working nicely in my dev environment - no need to manually attach to anything. After installing IIS Express, I just had to go into the site properties->"Web" tab->"Servers" heading->select "Use Local IIS Web server" and check "Use IIS Express".
If you create an IIS website on your local machine then rewrite should work.
If you don't have IIS installed I think you can download it using the MS Web Platform Installer.
I'm not sure if the debugger will work in this situation, but at least you don't have to deploy to a remote machine to test your changes.
I have an ASP.Net website that I built in a computer science class. I built it in Visual Studio and the solution is on my local drive. How would I deploy this to a real website?
You will need to do a few things.
You will need to get a hosting account that supports ASP.NET
From there you can use the "Publish" option from within Visual Studio under the "Build" menu option to push out a copy of the site.
When publishing you should publish in release mode.
Get hosting that supports the version of .NET and ASP.NET you have used and copy the files over.
Assuming that already you have an IIS application and web folder set up on a web server somewhere, the simplest method goes like this:
In Visual Studio, right-click on the web application project, and click Publish.
Select File System as the publish method.
Select a target location. This is where the publishable files will be placed. Use c:\pub or something similar.
Hit Publish
Once the publish operation is done, copy everything in c:\pub (or whatever target folder you used in step 3) to your web folder on the web server. Depending on your server accessibility, you may need to do this via FTP.
You might also investigate ClickOnce Deployment if your server supports it.
If you don't already have server space, you'll need to find a good hosting provider that supports ASP.NET. Google has many suggestions.