Web Deploy

<< Part 4: Continuous builds with TeamCity In the first four parts of this series we got config transforms playing nice, command line builds and packaging ticking along, Web Deploy happily receiving our application and TeamCity continuously building the entire solution on every commit. The last thing to do is to harmonise everything so that we can actually automate the deployment. Breaking down the build and deploy processes First up, we’re now only focussed on the web application. If there are other projects in the solution on which the web app is not dependent, they’re not going to play a role in this post. It’s now all about building, packaging and deploying the...

<< Part 3: Publishing with Web Deploy Part 5: Web Deploy with TeamCity >> Over the last three posts in this series, we got to the point where all the Microsoft bits are working really nicely together. Config transforms, packaging and Web Deploy are great stable mates in the world of web application deployment. The bit that’s missing though is automation. Actually there are several bits missing but automation is the common solution. Deployment by developers directly from Visual Studio or command line with MSDeploy works fine most of the time but has a few flaws we’re simply not going to be able to overcome without a build and deployment server. In all likelihood,...

<< Part 2: MSBuild and deployable packages Part 4: Continuous builds with TeamCity >> In the first two parts of this series we got config transforms working and the web app successfully bundled into a nice self-contained deployable package. Next up: get the thing to publish. For the most part, the vast majority of web app deployment has historically been done by pushing the entire site out over either UNC or FTP, a practice which has a series of fundamental shortcomings that set deployment up for potential failure. To begin with, by default neither protocol is encrypted. Yes, there’s SFTP and FTPS but it’s not often you see these applied, particularly not as a...

<< Part 1: Config transforms Part 3: Publishing with Web Deploy >> In the first part of the series we looked at config transforms and how we’ve moved on from the bad old days of manual Web.config configuration at release time. Now let’s take a look at how we can incorporate this into a nice clean deployable package with the rest of the application. Many people, me included at one stage, have only ever been familiar with the concept of .NET compilation as a result of building within Visual Studio. Keep in mind though that Visual Studio is no more than an IDE. Ok, it’s a particularly good IDE but it...

Part 2: MSBuild and deployable packages >> If you publish a web application using CTRL-C and CTRL-V, you’re deploying it wrong. If you manually run an Xcopy command, you’re deploying it wrong. If you use an FTP client to move your files to a remote server, you’re deploying it wrong. If not everyone is following exactly the same release process, you’re deploying it wrong. If publishing involves any manual handling of Web.config, you’re deploying it wrong. This might seem a little sensationalist but after Scott Hanselman set a high “doing it wrong” bar in his excellent Web Deployment Made Awesome: If You're Using XCopy,...