What are the prerequisites for installing an ASP.NET application?

Question

We have an ASP.NET 2.0 application that is available as a trial download. As such, we have no control over the environment into which it will be installed. Despite all our efforts to produce a reliable installer, we still get a lot of users reporting problems.

We generate compiled .net files using a web deploy project. We then take the output and run it through a VS 2010 Deployment Project to generate an msi installer.

Here are just a couple of the issues we encounter:

• It appears that the msi installer does not work well with IIS7. In order for it to install correctly, IIS6 compatibility needs to be installed otherwise it just fails with no error.
• Even though "RemovePreviousVersions" is set to true, the installer almost never uninstalls the provious version and just throws an error saying that the application is already installed.

We have previously tried using an InnoSetup installer. It worked to a certain extent, but we had problems with the installed application connecting to the wrong app pool and never found a way to define the app pool via the InnoSetup script.

Can somebody give me a definitive list of what you need to get an ASP.NET application up and running on a Windows XP or later machine that has an unknown configuration? e.g. check .NET 2.0 is installed, check II6 is installed, copy files to x, create virtual directory etc.

Even better, does anybody know of an installer (or InnoSetup extension) that does most of the setup for you?

Answer 1

In order to deploy the release on the development or production server, please follow the following steps.

1. Install Web Deployment MSI.
2. Right Click on the your project under the solution explorer and add the web deployment project( Here I am not using convert to web application or publishing)
3. Then compile the files. This will create a folder in your project directory which will contain the required files to be deploy on the server.
4. Take the back up of your virtual directory and remove the virtual directory as well as files from inetpub.
5. Goto Inet mgr , type inetmgr in run hit enter.
6. Under the default website, create a virtual directory, keep the deployed files in the inetpub and browser the files.
7. Allow appropriate access such as read, run script and browse. That's all

Flag it as your answer if you have find it useful else let me know ...

Answer 2

You can use Installshield to develop the installer for your requirements. It has all the fetures which support creating and removing virtual directories depending on IIS, copying data on target system, Validating the OS etc.

Answer 3

If your using external .dlls(assemblies) then you must deploy them too. For example : If an application uses Crystal reports(CR) then CR run-time package must be installed on the production machine. Also make sure that all your files are been imported to your project and your application does not look for its files in your local machine(out side your project directory).

Answer 4

After reviewing all the options I decided to keep the msi installer, but add the prerequisite checks in the inno setup script.

Here's the script

procedure DialogInfo(const Msg: String);
begin
  MsgBox(Msg , mbInformation, mb_OK); 
end;

function IISInstalled: Boolean;
begin
  Result := RegKeyExists(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InetStp');
end;

function GetIISMajorVersion: Integer;
var 
  Vers: Cardinal;
begin
  if (IISInstalled) and
     (RegQueryDWordValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InetStp', 'MajorVersion', Vers)) then
    Result := Vers
  else
    Result :=0;    
end;

function IISManagementConsoleInstalled: Boolean;
var
  IIS: Variant;
begin
  try
    IIS := CreateOleObject('IISNamespace');

    Result := TRUE;
  except
    Result := FALSE;
  end;
end;

function WindowsMinorVersion: Integer;
var
  Version: TWindowsVersion;
begin
  GetWindowsVersionEx(Version);

  Result := Version.Minor;
end;

function WindowsMajorVersion: Integer;
var
  Version: TWindowsVersion;
begin
  GetWindowsVersionEx(Version);

  Result := Version.Major;
end;

function WindowsServer: Boolean;
var
  Version: TWindowsVersion;
begin
  GetWindowsVersionEx(Version);

  Result := Version.ProductType = VER_NT_SERVER;
end;

function IsWindows7: Boolean;
begin 
  Result := (WindowsMajorVersion = 6) and (WindowsMinorVersion = 1) and (not WindowsServer);
end;

function IsWindowsVista: Boolean;
begin 
  Result := (WindowsMajorVersion = 6) and (WindowsMinorVersion = 0) and (not WindowsServer);
end;

function IsWindowsXP: Boolean;
begin 
  Result := (WindowsMajorVersion = 5) and (WindowsMinorVersion = 1) and (not WindowsServer);
end;

function IsWinServer2003: Boolean;
begin 
  Result := (WindowsMajorVersion = 5) and (WindowsMinorVersion = 2) and (WindowsServer);
end;

function IsWinServer2008: Boolean;
begin 
  Result := (WindowsMajorVersion = 6) and ((WindowsMinorVersion = 0) or (WindowsMinorVersion = 1)) and (WindowsServer);
end;

function IsHomeEdition: Boolean;
var
  Version: TWindowsVersion;
begin
  GetWindowsVersionEx(Version);

  Result := Version.SuiteMask AND VER_SUITE_PERSONAL <> 0 ;
end;

function CheckIISPrerequisites: Boolean;
var
  IISVersion: Integer;
  Msg: String;
begin
  Result := FALSE;

  case GetIISMajorVersion of
    0:
      begin
        if IsHomeEdition then
          Msg := 'The Easy-IP Web Server requires Internet Information Services (IIS). IIS cannot be installed on the Home edition of Windows.'
        else
        begin      
          Msg := 'The Easy-IP Web Server requires Internet Information Services to be enabled on this machine. To enable IIS: ' +#10 + #10;

          if IsWindowsXP then
            Msg := Msg + '1) Open Control Panel then Add or Remove Programs.' + #10 +
                         '2) Click on Add/Remove Windows Components.' + #10 +
                         '3) Find Internet Information Services (IIS) amd check it.' + #10 +
                         '4) Click Next then Finish.' else

          if IsWinServer2003 then
            Msg := Msg + '1) Open Manage Your Server' + #10 +
                         '2) Click on Add or Remove a Role.' + #10 +
                         '3) Click Next.' + #10 +
                         '4) Select Application server (IIS, ASP.NET)' + #10 +
                         '5) Click Next.' + #10 +
                         '6) Check Enable ASP.NET.' + #10 +
                         '7) Click Next, then Next again.' else

          if IsWinServer2008 then
            Msg := Msg + '1) Open Server Manager.' + #10 +
                         '2) Click on Roles.' + #10 +
                         '3) Click Add Roles.' + #10 +
                         '4) When the Wizard appears, click Next.' + #10 +
                         '5) Find Web Server(IIS) and check it.' + #10 +
                         '6) Click Next twice.' + #10 +
                         '7) Find Application Development and check it.' + #10 +
                         '8) Find IIS 6 Management Compatibility (under Management Tools) and check it along with all it''s children.' + #10 +
                         '9) Click Next, then Install.' 
          else         

            // Vista, Win7 or later
            Msg := Msg + '1) Open Control Panel then Programs and Features.' + #10 +
                         '2) Click on Turn Windows Features on or off.' + #10 +
                         '3) Check Internet Information Services.' + #10 +
                         '4) Under the Internet Information Services node, expand Web Management Tools and check IIS Management Console.' + #10 +
                         '5) Click OK.';
        end; 
      end;

    5, 6: 
      begin
        Result := IISManagementConsoleInstalled;

        if not Result then
          Msg := 'Unable to install the Easy-IP Web Server as the IIS Management Console could not be initiated. Please contact support@easy-ip.net for more information.';
      end;

    7: 
      begin
        Result := IISManagementConsoleInstalled;

        if not Result then
        begin
          Msg := 'Internet Information Services is installed, but in order to install the Easy-IP Web Server, you must also enable the IIS Management Console. To enable the IIS Management Console:' + #10 + #10;

          if WindowsServer then
            Msg := Msg + '1) Open Server Manager and click on Roles.' + #10 +
                         '2) Under Web Server (IIS), click Add Role Services.' + #10 +
                         '3) Find Application Development and make sure it''s checked.' + #10 +
                         '4) Find IIS 6 Management Compatibility (under Management Tools) and check it along with all it''s children.' + #10 +
                         '5) Click Next, then Install.' 
          else
            Msg := Msg + '1) Open Control Panel then Programs and Features.' + #10 +
                         '2) Click on Turn Windows Features on or off.' + #10 +
                         '3) Under the Internet Information Services node, expand Web Management Tools then check IIS Management Console.' + #10 +
                         '4) Click OK.'; 
        end;
      end;  
  end; // of case

  if not Result then
    DialogInfo(Msg);
end;

Answer 5

Window PI works with Windows XP SP3+ (and greater) and put on the prerequistes for a web dev server.

http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx

Hands up though - I haven't tried it myself but I'd give it a go for a dev server. Might be of interest to you