Some doubts on setting an C#/Asp.Net 3.5 application automatic builder server

Question

I want to set my server to automatically build my application upon commit on SVN repo, then deploy on a test/homologation server.

What I planning to do:

• install a build tool (Nant? use MSBuild?);
• create a simple script and set a hook to SVN that starts the process of building and deploy.

To do that, what I need to install on my server desides the .NET 3.5 framework? Is Nant capable of build our application based only on our solution file (.sln)?

I researched a little bit, and the Nant last release, v0.86 beta 1, does not include the solution target.

Is there other alternative to do that?

Note that currently I only use the VS2008 build system, and do not call the MSBuild directly. Is that feasible and simple to setup on server environment?

Answer 1

Just use CruiseControl.NET or TeamCity. They're both fully-fledged continuous integration servers with lots of features and easy to configure.

Answer 2

You could use Hudson or Cruise Control for it.

They are Continuous Integration Servers, and can also run your unit tests before deploying it.

Answer 3

I think you are looking at installing Cruise Control.Net. It will handle automatically checking your SCM repository, and kicking off anything build related you want.

http://confluence.public.thoughtworks.org/display/CCNET/Welcome+to+CruiseControl.NET

As for NAnt or MSBuild - it's a personal choice. I went with MSBuild as NAnt hasn't been updated in a while. That being said - they are both capable of doing whatever it is you are looking to do.

One note - if you compile in Visual Studio - you are using MSBuild. You can target the SLN or PROJ files with MSBuild through Cruise Control.net.

Answer 4

I use Teamcity and it was very easy to set up. Before that I used plain Nant. The Teamcity server realy changed things, because now everybody in the team understands what is going on on the buildserver.

It is free for up to 20 project configurations.

For Asp.Net you will also need Web Deployment Project on any type of buildserver you choose.

Are you realy shure you need to build sln? For a typical ASP.NET project this is not the best way. You usually build a WebDeploymentProject. Anyway Teamcity (and other buildservers I guess too) understands sln-files.

Answer 5

We use Hudson to do that. Like mentioned before. It supports MsBuild (and Nant). We use msbuild with as paramters the solution file and the build configuration like debug/release (we created a deploy and watin configuration with different web.config's). No extra tasks or different scripts than the solution file we us in visual studio. (which I think is the setup you're after)

Additionally before deployment we setup a webserver (cassini) with the results of the build execute nunit (watin) tests. All through Hudson, which shows a nice diagram of the nunit test results.

TeamCity and CruiseControl.Net should be capable of doing the same thing,but I found hudson to be a snap to setup, and configure. (It has everything included in a package just start it)

What's also nice is that it supports SourceCop and FxCop results which you can view in a diagram and look at the location a certain warning applies to in the sourcefile, all using the web interface.