ASP.NET Proper Deployment Procedure - asp.net

The web application that a company I'm doing consulting for has all the web files (.aspx, .vb, .ascx, web.config, etc.) but no .sln files or anything of that sort to open in Visual Studio and deploy the site and whatnot.
What's the best way to go about using Visual Studio to redeploy changes I make to this type of system?

As the comments have stated, it's likely a web site project (likely I say) and you can use the Open Website option within Visual Studio.
Either that, or you could just use the command line and publish it locally before deploying it somewhere...from the msdn documentation, it might be something like this:
Aspnet_compiler -p "C:\Projects\SomeWebProject\" "C:\Temp\LocalPublishFolder" -errorstack

Related

How to run asp.net webpage on the localhost

I am just learning asp.net and have created a simple webform on visual studio. How I can run this on the localhost(xampp). Like HTML you simply put files to the server folder and it works. But when I copy all asp files it simply shows me source code?
It is stupid question but I really need answer...
ASP (ActiveX Server Pages) is a deprecated technology (superseded by ASP.NET). Thus support is not included as standard in IIS. But it can be added by using Server Manager under Roles | Web Server (IIS) and scrolling down to Role Services.
If you however mean ASP.NET then, initially, look at the Web tab of the project properties and start in VS for debug and test. Once that is working you'll need to read up on deploying ASP.NET on MSDN.
To host a ASP.Net page you usually use IIS. You are supposed to run IIS on your server and host the ASP.NET website on the IIS Management
This Article on MSDN should help you with that.
Also, you usually use visual studio to 'Publish' to the server folder, rather then copy and paste the files. In case you didn't do this: this is done by right-clicking the project in visual studio and selecting 'Publish'. Then there are a few options, you can publish to a folder (File System) and then move the published project to your server, or publish it straight to your server.

Deploying a Visual Studio website vs web application

So I'm using visual studio 2010 to build a website that was formerly running on PHP, so I'm pretty new to the environment.
In starting the project I built a website project, not a web application project. I know that will probably generate a lot of "never use a website project, use a web application project instead" comments, but bear with me.
I'm attempting to provide our server team with the necessary files to compile on our server for the first time. However they're used to working with web application files, not website files.
Normally they are given the source code and a batch file that compiles the code into deployment directories and then they just move the files to the server from there. I'm pretty sure that the other teams use deployment packages to do this, which obviously isn't an option for a website.
My question is, what would be the equivalent steps for getting the source for a website ready to deploy vs a web application? I have published the website to a separate folder and this has rendered what I think is the equivalent in many ways, but I wanted to make sure.
Also, is it possible to publish certain parts of a website without others?
Please with-hold all the comments about how I should be using a web application instead, google seems to assume that's all that's used out there too.
Thanks!
There isn't much to deploying a web site other than copying the source files to a directory in IIS. It will compile the site automatically on the first page request.
I agree with Britton. I personally prefer web application but with the web site project you have 2 options.
Either a) Upload all the files (including the .vb or .cs files) and the web server will compile on the fly. OR, you can publish to a separate folder locally on your machine, and then upload that folder. I would do the publish if you don't want anyone seeing your source code.

Types of deployment in asp.net

What are the types of deployment we have in asp.net?
Till now what I am doing?
I use to publish my website in any folder than copy paste the compiled file to the inetpub folder [where my website is configured with the IIS]. I am not sure what kind of deployment this is, is it XCOPY? But I am not using any command line tool.
So you have the following options
xcopy deployment
Compile your asp.net application and copy all the files to your server. You can do this by using FTP or shared directories. (Or anything else to transfer files.)
WebDeploy
You have the possibility to deploy your asp.net webpage directly form your Visual Studio. If you go to "Build" and you choose "Publish Web". To be able to to do this you have to configure your server before. But this works automatically after you have set up everything. It's very handy since your deployment becomes easy to rebuild.
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/13/automating-deployment-with-microsoft-web-deploy.aspx
Web Setup - Installer
Visual Studio provide also the option to build an installer. This works like installing usual software on your windows computer with the installer wizard. (See the link)
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/06/15/tip-trick-creating-packaged-asp-net-setup-programs-with-vs-2005.aspx
Manage multiple server
There is also a way of managing the deployment of multiple servers. It seems to be a bit more complicated but could be interesting for professionals. (Check out on Google Microsoft Web Farm Framework 2.0
To answer your question: yes, what you are using is called xcopy deployment. Even though you do not type xcopy . ... it is still a 'plain copy' and therefore called xcopy deployment.

How to deploy an ASP.NET web site

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.

how do i connect my asp.net

Another beginner question for ASP.NET:
I'm starting an ASP.NET project in Visual Studio 2008, and would like to link it to a folder on a remote server (as in it builds/publishes to this folder). It may be my phrasing, but I cannot seem to figure out how to do this (even with Google at my side!).
I naively tried to just upload the code files to the server, but running my code produces errors related to the fact that the pages are not set up as an application.
Any help would be appreciated (or a link to a resource where i could learn more about this basic asp.net/vs08 stuff I keep running into).
On your web server the folder you copied your files into needs to be set up as an application or a virtual directory. This is done through the Internet Information Service panel found in the "Administrative Tools" off the Control Panel.
Depending what flavor of IIS you are using the procedure may differ.
Visual Studio 2008 has a publish feature. If you right-click on the web project there is a "Publish" option. You can then select where you want to Publish your files.
2 fast answers:
You can use the Publish option in Visual Studio and create a folder inside wwwroot to publish
Alternatively, you can create a simple setup program. Just add a new "web setup project" to the solution and add the results of the web site to the setup project.
And of course, have you tried googling asp.net deployment to get some help?
Good luck! :)
You will love Visual Studio 2010, which should be out in early 2010, if it follows previous versions. This would also mean an MSDN release a few months earlier. Why? Better deploy story.
As for where we are today, you can publish and have a directory created. You will have to publish to IIS instead of a directory to accomplish this. This means you have to have permissions to add a web app and publish to it.
For a directory, you will have to create the app in the IIS Manager. If you do not have access, try the IIS admin. If you cannot get them to do it, you are back to publish.

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