Deploying Applications

The New Deployment Wizard is a tool that enables you to easily deploy applications from a source server to a specified target. This wizard, like the others you've seen so far, provides a step-by-step method for deploying new content, either within a cluster or to another cluster. The New Deployment Wizard is designed to address the concerns of system administrators who want to maintain a secure, yet usable, buffer between their testing and production environments. (Chapter 8, "Creating Clusters and Deploying Applications," presents a detailed staging and deployment scenario that uses the New Deployment Wizard.)

In terms of processing, content deployment is virtually identical to synchronizing content across a cluster. The New Deployment Wizard uses the synchronization service's replication engine and drivers to move applications from one member to another. The notable difference is that you have to provide administrative-level credentials on the target to launch a deployment.

Let's step through the New Deployment Wizard dialog and examine its processing in detail.

Welcome to the New Deployment Wizard

The first page of the wizard tells you what the wizard does and provides the following warnings:

  • Content and configuration data on the target is overwritten if it's contained in the resource inventory for this deployment.
  • If the target is a controller, any data that's copied over will be synchronized across that controller's cluster.

Deployment Target Options

This lets you assign a label to the deployment and specify the target destination. By default, the deployment is labeled with the current time and date stamp; however, you can enter a custom label to make tracking easier. Two target options are offered:

  • A target within the current cluster.
  • One or more targets on an external cluster.

Your selection determines whether additional credentials are required—a destination target outside the cluster requires credentials with administrative privileges. If you're deploying within the current cluster, this isn't necessary because you must be connected to, or logged on to, the source as an administrator to deploy content.

Target Authentication

On this page, you must provide credentials for the target. Because you can only provide one set of credentials, they have to be valid for all of the targets that you identify in the next wizard page.

Targets or Controllers

You can build the target list one server at a time, by entering the server name or by browsing the network, and then clicking the Add button. Each time you add a server the wizard contacts the target and verifies that the credentials you previously provided are suitable. If not, the wizard rejects the server as a deployment target.

NOTE


If your deployment target is a cluster member, you will see the Target servers within the cluster page. It is functionally identical to the Target Servers or Controllers page, except that available targets are displayed on screen.

Deployment Content

This wizard provides this page to allow you to specify which applications to deploy. The first option is to deploy the entire server image, which consists of all the content and configuration settings on the source. This choice provides a simple method for creating a backup copy of the controller, if it happens to be the deployment source.

The second option is deploying one or more of the applications that are listed. The wizard builds this list from the master inventory. At a minimum, the list consists of the Administration Web site, AllSites, the Application Center 2000 Administrative site, and the Default Web Site. If any user-defined applications exist on the source, they are displayed as well.

Deployment Options

This page of the wizard offers the following deployment choices:

  • Replicate File and Directory Permissions—You can either leave existing file and directory permissions intact on the target or copy over the file and directory permissions that are in place on the source.
  • Deploy COM+ Applications—If you're deploying a COM+ application, this flag is necessary because some services on the target will be reset. If this is the case, it may be necessary to restart the target. If you've identified a COM+ application as your source, you have to plan your deployment and the consequences.

    NOTE


    COM+ application deployment is a multi-step process. First, the application is deployed to the target cluster controller. Second, the new application on the target cluster controller is synchronized to the cluster members. The subject of COM+ application deployment is addressed in detail in Chapter 8, "Creating Clusters and Deploying Applications."

  • Deploy Global ISAPI Filers—This situation is similar to deploying COM+ applications, except that only IIS will be reset, which can potentially affect the entire cluster if the target is the controller.

    WARNING


    If you're deploying either a COM+ application or global ISAPI filters, some planning is essential, and you need to be fully aware of the potential consequences of such a deployment.

For a more in-depth look at COM+ and ISAPI filter replication, see "Special Cases" later in this chapter.

Completing the New Deployment Wizard

The final page lets you initiate a deployment by clicking the Finish button. This page provides a pause that gives you a chance to scroll back through the wizard and double-check your selections—just in case you missed something or failed to take into account what will happen.

After you click the Finish button, the deployment is launched and all of the pertinent information is passed to the Application Center Synchronization Service, which does the actual configuration and content copying from the source server to the target server.

Deploying content over a Wide Area Network (WAN)


A frequent question is whether or not Application Center can deploy content over a WAN—it can—however, we do not recommend using Application Center for WAN deployments.

This position is based on the design criteria that were used for the initial release of the product. During the product design stage, the product team determined that the highest priority was the efficient replication of content and configuration settings within a demilitarized zone (also known as a DMZ perimeter network), which typically involves moving content from a stager to a cluster over a LAN. Accordingly, the Application Center Replication Service, which is the core technology for deployment, is designed to move large amounts of data quickly and securely over a network that is both stable and capable of consistent throughput. In other words, LAN-based replication is predictable.

WAN-based replication on the other hand, involves moving data over a diverse range of WAN links whose stability and throughput capabilities are unpredictable. In the real world, these links can range anywhere from a 56-KB modem connection to an OC-12 line. In this world, a replication system needs to provide transfer restart capability to handle dropped connections and allow the sender to prioritize WAN traffic, and implement bandwidth throttling to accommodate throughput issues. The Site Server Content Deployment System (SSCD) provides many of these capabilities; however, you should be aware that SSCD is designed to handle files and has limited support for configuration replication. (It will replicate a subset of the IIS metabase.)

For the present time at least, we recommend using the Content Deployment System, which is included on the Application Center product CD, as a viable alternative for deploying files over a WAN.

Future releases of Application Center will include the features that are currently found in SSCD.



Microsoft Application Center 2000 Resource Kit 2001
Microsoft Application Center 2000 Resource Kit 2001
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 183

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