Why does Microsoft suggest using WSPs for production deployment in SharePoint? What are the other methods for production deployment?
+2
A:
WSPs are suggested as they are deployable 'bundles' of functionality, whether that is an Event Handler, Application page or Web Part. By using WSPs you can create and test them in Dev and then roll them out to production once they have been tested. A WSP can be easily managed from the Solution store in Central Administration
It is possible to deploy features by putting the necessary files into the 12 Hive (SharePoint ambiguously named folder), but this requires manual changes to the system. If you have several Web Front Ends (WFEs) in a web farm, then you would need to manually maintain each of them. When using WSPs for deployment, the updates can be deployed to all Servers from one location.
Phill Duffy
2010-03-18 09:35:07
I know the WSP is not the only method for production deployment. So I would like to know the other methods
Hojo
2010-03-22 05:09:35
Have you seen the 'Working with Features' article on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms460318.aspx?
Phill Duffy
2010-03-22 07:52:38
A:
The wsp was specifically designed for the purpose of packaging and deploying SharePoint 2007 solutions. That's why Microsft suggests using it!
While there are a few limitations to it, it's by far the best way to deploy solutions into a prod environment.
Paul Lucas
2010-03-19 02:48:46
I know the WSP is not the only method for production deployment. So I would like to know the other methods
Hojo
2010-03-22 05:09:07
Ok here's one alternative1. Manually copy all the files to their correct locations on the server (if more than one front-end, copy to each one)2. Install and activate features manually using stsadm3. Make any necessary web.config modifications for each web application
Paul Lucas
2010-03-22 14:18:11
+1
A:
WSP files are designed for deploying functionality to SharePoint in a consistent manner. Although technically they don't do anything you can't do by just copying files to the server, relying on manual deployment is a great way to put the system into an inconsistent state. It may work at first, and even be quicker/easier in some cases, but sooner or later you will permanently break your production environment.
Tom Clarkson
2010-03-22 00:24:28
I know the WSP is not the only method for production deployment. So I would like to know the other methods
Hojo
2010-03-22 05:08:33