ASP.NET in a Nutshell

Chapter 11. ASP.NET Deployment

To end Part 1 of the book, we’ve saved the best for last. Why do we call it the best? Because compared to classic ASP, deploying an ASP.NET application is extremely simple. In fact, in many cases, you can deploy an application by copying the entire application structure to a new IIS application folder on the target server.

This chapter discusses both simple deployment scenarios, for which the DOS XCOPY command or Windows Explorer are all you’ll need. It also discusses more involved scenarios, such as using the Visual Studio Web Setup project type to deploy your application.

Deploying ASP.NET Applications

For most common applications, all you need to do to deploy the application is set up an IIS virtual directory on the target machine and copy the application’s files to it. Assuming that the .NET Framework is installed on the target machine, the application should then run without further configuration or setup.

This type of scenario includes both ASP.NET applications written with their code inline in .aspx files and those that use code-behind files. Note, however, that deploying the code-behind files themselvesis not necessary, as long as you deploy the assembly or assemblies compiled from them.

To deploy an ASP.NET application:

1. Create a new IIS virtual directory (or web site) on the target machine using Internet Services Manager.

2. Use Windows Explorer, XCOPY, FTP, or another transfer mechanism to copy the files and folders contained in the application’s ...