Deploying an ASP.net application

Question

What is the correct proceedure when deploying an ASP.net MVC application? I am using the built in forms based authentication and deploying using the publish function in VS2008 but when deploying it doesn't seem to deploy the ASPNETDB to the server and I end up with errors like

An error occurred during the execution of the SQL file 'InstallCommon.sql'. The SQL error number is 1802 and the SqlException message is: CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
CREATE FILE encountered operating system error 5(Access is denied.) while attempting to open or create the physical file 'C:\INETPUB\WWWROOT\HOURS3\APP_DATA\ASPNETDB_TMP.MDF'.

I looked this up and attempted to change the sql server to run under the local system account as per http://forums.asp.net/t/984436.aspx

but that doesn't seem to have helped.

Answer 1

When you try to publish this way, I believe you're going to overwrite your database with the one you are currently developing with. This means if you had any changes in your web environment, such as new users, you would lose them when you overwrote them in a publish. Additionally the reason you're probably getting permission denied, is because the file is already in use by the website, and Windows doesn't like it if you try deleting a file that is in use.

Typically I set my databases to publish in a different methodology than the ASP.net files. I often generate an upgrade script using a tool such as RedGate SQL Compare. This allows me to upgrade the one live on the server instead of copying a new file.