Summary

In many scenarios, another team member, or possibly the client, performs deployment. Solutions must deploy correctly and have no obscurities in the deployment process. Visual Studio .NET provides a wealth of deployment projects for all types of interfaces and objects that run under the built-in Windows Installer.

Applications must be maintained and monitored to recognize issues before they arise. WMI is an excellent tool for monitoring applications and system performance.

Migrating data is essential if the data source is to be replaced. SQL Server offers data migration via BCP and DTS. You can increase overall performance by partitioning infrequently used data, indexing columns, and denormalizing data when applicable.

This chapter marks the end of your physical specifications for the solution, deployment, maintenance, and data models. The next chapter walks you through creating standards for coding, testing, and UI design and provides a benchmark for an already deployed solution. Stay tuned for more, but first answer the practice questions.