Where to Deploy the .NET Framework

The .NET Framework needs to be deployed on all computers that will run managed code. If you have a distributed application, however, you will not necessarily need to deploy the Framework on all participating computers. Which computers require the Framework will typically depend on the role which they fill. This section will help you determine where it is appropriate to deploy the Framework.

Clients

Whether you need to deploy the Framework on your client base or not will depend in part on the type of .NET-based applications you are deploying. If you are deploying (or plan to deploy) Windows Forms applications, you need to ensure that the Framework is installed, or they will not operate properly. This is because .NET Framework classes are responsible for the GUI of the application.

For ASP.NET applications, in many cases the client will not need the Framework installed. This is because the .NET Framework is being used at the server to generate the user interface and the server supplies the client with standard HTML. However, if your ASP.NET application uses Windows Forms user controls, your clients will need the Framework installed. This is because Windows Forms user controls rely on the .NET Framework to manage their execution.

Note

Using Windows Forms user controls introduces a number of other issues, such as browser and code security, with which you need to be familiar. A full discussion is outside the scope of this guide. For more information, see "Writing Secure Managed Controls" on MSDN.

Web Servers

If you use server-side code in your .NET-based applications, then you must ensure that the target Web servers for your solution have the .NET Framework installed, or your application will not function properly. The distributed nature of modern Internet or intranet-based applications means that Web servers often perform a number of different roles in your .NET applications. You might use Web servers to provide any (or all) of the following features for your distributed Framework application:

• ASP.NET Web Forms for the GUI

• Web Services for reusable, Web-based functionality

• Transfer of XML or text-based data

• Intermediate XML or text-based processing

• Connectivity and communication across computer and network boundaries

Business Logic Servers

In some distributed Framework applications, there will be separate computers used to encapsulate business logic. The advantages of doing so include ease of manageability and scalability, among others. In a pure .NET environment, this business logic will be provided by .NET components and so the Framework will be required. However, in some cases your .NET-based application may be replacing a legacy application where all the business logic was encapsulated in COM objects. .NET-based applications can interoperate with COM objects, so in this circumstance you could leave any servers that exclusively run the Business Logic tier unchanged and not install the .NET Framework on those computers. However, in the medium term you should consider updating the components to take advantage of the .NET Framework.

.NET Framework to Database Servers

For scalability, manageability, stability, and fault-tolerance, data tiers, in distributed applications, are often physically separated from the other tiers in a typical solution.

Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 does not require the .NET Framework to be installed. Therefore, if your application architecture does include a physically separate Data tier, .NET Framework does not need to be installed on your database servers and analysis servers. However, if you need .NET assemblies to execute on your database servers, the .NET Framework does need to be installed on those computers.