Configuring a Deployment Target

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In the Microsoft development environment, you can set up one or more deployment targets that describe your application configuration in its deployed state on the Web server. The development environment helps you to:

  • Set up a deployment target.

  • Find services for a deployment target.

  • Add files to the two service nodes.

Setting Up a Deployment Target

If you have configured a Web server computer for deployment, you can identify the Web server's HTTP address in the Microsoft development environment. A deployment target displays the URL of the Web server and also describes the services available on that Web server.

There are two services available to a deployment target: Web Content, Controls & Applets and Server-Side Components. As a service, Web Content, Controls & Applets handles components that run in the Web browser. The Server-Side Components service handles components that run on the Web server itself.

The server-side components can be deployed to Web servers that have either the Internet Information Server (IIS) or the Personal Web Server (PWS) installed, along with Posting Acceptor 2.0.

You can create one or more deployment targets in your solution. Each deployment target can correspond to a different deployment configuration or a different deployment URL. You can browse, maintain, or remove deployment targets using the Microsoft development environment's Deployment Explorer window.

Each deployment target is associated with a single URL, which is the destination to which all files and projects in the deployment target are deployed. This URL is the root node to which files and projects will be deployed. If your project contains any folders, these folders will be deployed below the target root node.

For example, if your Visual J++ project contains a folder called "MyPackage" and you deploy the project to http://TestServer/Projects, the items in the MyPackage folder will be deployed to http://TestServer/Projects/MyPackage. The default name of a deployment target reflects the target's URL. In the example, the deployment target's name would be "Deploy to http://TestServer/Projects."

Finding Services for the Deployment Target

Deployment targets can contain two services.

  • Web Content, Controls & Applets that handle HTML pages, ActiveX controls, WFC classes, and Java applets. These components run in the customer's browser.

  • Server-Side Components that handle ASP pages, COM components, and Java classes. These components are designed to run on the Web server.

To accept deployment of server-side components, the Web server must have either the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) or Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS) installed, as well as Posting Acceptor 2.0.

The Microsoft development environment will check the deployment target when you supply the URL to see if that deployment target can support server-side components. If the deployment target is a Web server with the appropriate software installed, the Server-Side Components node will appear in the deployment target's node in the Deployment Explorer window.

How to Add Files to the Two Service Nodes

Deployment targets contain references to the projects and files that you want to be deployed. In the Deployment Explorer you can see the projects and files that will be deployed listed under each deployment target.

To add files to a service node of a deployment target so that the files can be deployed, select the service node, either Web Content, Controls & Applets, or Server-Side Components, and select Add Project Outputs or Add Item from the Project menu.

Once the files are listed in the appropriate service node, you can choose Deploy from the Project menu to deploy that deployment target.