7.5 Site Deployment Manager

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The Site Deployment Manager uses an import/export feature to update your Microsoft Content Management Server installation selectively. This allows the creation of a separate deployment and production server configuration.

Microsoft Content Management Server allows a number of objects to be transferred between servers:

• Channels and postings

• Folders

• Pages

• Resources and resource galleries

• Templates and template galleries

• User groups and group members

In addition to using the Site Deployment Manager, Microsoft Application Center Server also provides the means to transfer content between servers. For further information on Application Center Server, see Chapter 8.

Microsoft Content Management Server only supports the export of an object and its dependents. In other words, if you have a page with images on it, the pages and image file will always be transferred together, but only if they are in the Microsoft Content Management Server database. Dependent objects outside of the database (e.g., in a file directory) will not be moved automatically and must be copied manually.

The Site Deployment Manager has no ability to share objects that it is transferring, so it is possible to lock out users from the system when using it; therefore, it makes sense to use the tool at low-use times.

The Microsoft Content Management Server Site Deployment Manager is only used for transferring small numbers of objects from one server to another. If you wish to copy an entire site, SQL Server replication needs to be used.

Replication is the process of copying and distributing data between databases. This can happen between SQL Servers, handheld devices, and a SQL Server-via the Internet, network, or with local dial-up access. This flexibility has enabled organizations to build fairly complex replication models and is the basis of transferring large amounts of data between Content Management Server databases.

SQL Server uses a publisher and subscriber model for replication. A publisher will make data (i.e., site content) available in the form of articles for replication. An article can be as small as one row from one column or as large as complete tables or indexed views. The underlying data can be partitioned horizontally or vertically to produce an article. The publisher publishes the articles, which are read by subscribers to those articles. In complex or high-volume replication topologies, a publisher can be used to send articles to a separate distribution server, which will then carry the workload of sending out the articles.

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