Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Special Edition

Chapter 34. Packaging and Deploying ASP.NET Applications

Packaging and deploying ASP.NET applications are topics that usually receive little attention. This chapter is going to take a more in-depth look at how you can package and deploy your ASP.NET applications after they are built. It is rare (at least, it should be) that you build your ASP.NET applications on a production server. Usually, after you have built your ASP.NET application on a development computer, you deploy the finished product to a production server.

An important reason to consider the proper packaging and deploying of your ASP.NET applications is that many applications are built as saleable products, starter kits, or solutions. You allow complete strangers to download and install these products in their own environments—environments that you have absolutely no control over. If this is the case, it is ideal to give the consumer a single installer file that ensures proper installation of the application in any environment.

Before you start, you should understand the basics of packaging and deploying ASP.NET applications. In the process of packaging your ASP.NET applications, you are putting your applications into a package and utilizing a process of deployment that is initiated through a deployment procedure, such as using a Windows installer.

The nice thing about the packaging and deployment process in ASP.NET 2.0 is that it is even easier than in previous versions of ASP.NET.

Deployment Pieces

So what are you actually ...