I'm using VS 2003 and I heard that you can make changes to your web
application without disrupting any users using the application. Is this true?
An article from MSDN seems to say that...or am I not understanding it? What I
am trying to figure out is, what is the best way to get my application from
development to production with minimal disruption to user. Any and all
thoughts are appreciated. Thank you.
excerpt from: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa478983.aspx
Redeployment with Xcopy
Because of the way ASP.NET works, once you have deployed your application
the first time, a re-deployment is as simple as copying the files over to the
server. You do not need to run the MSI again or shut down your existing
server. ASP.NET will recognize that files have changed and will automatically
create a new "workspace" for the revised application. Any new user sessions
will automatically be directed to the new workspace, while any existing
sessions will continue against the old workspace. In this fashion, you have a
smooth transition from old code to new code without disrupting your service.
In other words, once you've deployed the first time (to establish the
directory and settings), you can re-deploy simply by copying your application
files over to the server and replacing the existing files. You do not need to
recreate a deployment package or restart the server, or work through any GUI
wizard, just simply copy over the files.
