Deploying to Application Hosting Service Providers

Iron Speed Designer creates standard Microsoft .NET applications and these can be hosted at many third-party hosting sites.  Some hosting companies also advertise Microsoft .NET application hosting as “ASP.NET Hosting” or “ASPX Hosting”.  Deploying to third-party application hosting service providers presents special challenges because you do not have full control over their production environment.

The following checklist allows you to determine if a hosting provider meets the requirements for Iron Speed Designer hosted applications.  At least one of the options in each category must be available.

Requirement

Description

Operating System

Any of the operating systems listed in the “System Requirements” section of the online help or the Iron Speed website.

.NET Framework

Any of the .NET Framework versions listed in the “System Requirements” section of the online help or the Iron Speed website.

Web Server

Any of the web servers listed in the “System Requirements” section of the online help or the Iron Speed website.

Setup

The web application must be installed in the web root or a Virtual Directory must be created for the application.  Some hosting providers do not create a Virtual Directory for each application.  If a Virtual Directory cannot be created, the hosting service will not be able to host an Iron Speed Designer created application.

When a Virtual Directory is created, it is either set to run under a specific user (Anonymous mode) or using Windows authentication.  Since it is unlikely that hosting providers give you access to their domain, please request that the virtual directory is created in the Anonymous mode under the IUSR_<MachineName> or the ASPNET user.

Data Access

Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), Version 2.6 or higher, as listed in the “System Requirements” section of the online help or the Iron Speed website.

Database

Any of the databases listed in the “System Requirements” section of the online help or the Iron Speed website.

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access databases must be installed on the same system as the web application.  The folder containing the database and the database file(s) must be read and write enabled.  The folder must also be accessible by the user configured for the Virtual Directory.

Your application’s Web.config file may have to be modified to specify a relative path for the location of the Microsoft Access database.

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server databases can be set up to run under Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication.  The database can be located on the same system as the web application or another system.  Request this information and change your application’s Web.config file to specify the server name, the authentication mode (Windows or SQL Server) and the user name and password (for SQL Server authentication).

Oracle

The database can be located on the same system as the web application or another system.  Request this information and change your application’s Web.config file to specify the server name and the user name and password.

Hardware

The minimum hardware requirements are listed in the “System Requirements” section of the online help or the Iron Speed website.

File Transfer / FTP

You will need an ability to transfer files back and forth between your development system and the hosting provider.  Any file transfer capability provided by the hosting provider such as FTP is sufficient.  If you are using FTP, ensure that the files are transferred in binary mode.

Role-Based Security

Most applications hosted on third-party hosting sites use the built-in role-based security provided by Iron Speed Designer since Windows Authentication is not an option provided by many hosting providers.

Email

If your application sends email, you may need the hosting provider to provide an SMTP email host that can relay the messages.

Event Viewer Logging

Most hosting provides do not allow an application to log events to the Event Viewer.  You can turn off error logging by setting the LogEvents to “false” in your application’s Web.config file of the application.

See Disabling Event Viewer Logging for details.

Session State Service

By default, applications built with Iron Speed Designer use the “InProc” session state requiring no changes.  If you changed your setting for session state to “StateServer”, you may need to change it back to “InProc” based on the requirements of the hosting provider.

See Changing Database Connection Settings for details.

Trust Level

Your hosting provider must be able to set an appropriate .NET ‘trust level’ for your application in order for it to run.

For background trust levels, see:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/transcripts/20050317ASPNETSSTranscript.aspx

Other

Backup: Ensure that the hosting provider provides backup services to for your application files and database.  You may require mirroring of your database for a highly transactional database.

Security: Ensure that your application and data is secure from hackers.

Reporting & Traffic Logs: You may want your hosting provider to give you detailed reports of visitors to your site and any error logging.

See Also

Deploying Applications with the Deployment Wizard

Manually Deploying an Application to a Production Server

Deploying to Application Hosting Service Providers

Example: Deploying to 1&1

Example: Deploying to CrystalTech

Example: Deploying to DiscountASP.NET

Example: Deploying to GoDaddy.com

Disabling Event Viewer Logging

Individual Hosting Provider Notes

Setting the .NET Trust Level for your Application