How to Publish a Web Site in Asp.Net

Publishing a website developed in ASP.NET has similarities to publishing web pages developed through web development software like Adobe Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expression. However, there are two main differences. Many web hosting companies focus solely on non-Microsoft products such as PHP (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor, originally named Personal Home Page). ASP.NET pages cannot run on these servers. The second difference is in a step to establish and test the correct code that will allow users to access a remote database server, which can be a bit complicated.

Things You'll Need

• Web hosting company that supports ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, and FTP access.

Instructions

1. Obtain from your web hosting company the necessary information to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to upload your files as well as the correct connection string(s) to access a database that is part of your website.

2. Upload your website files to your web host using FTP. Include the web pages, any image files or other web content files related to the new site.

3. Replicate any database schema and tables that are part of your website to the web host's database server. Do this either by developing the database on the web hosting company's database server if allowed or with the Database Publishing Wizard that is part of Visual Web Developer (installed with ASP.NET).

4. Update the web.config file that was uploaded as part of Step 1 so that the database connection string will point to the web host's database server rather than the location on your own PC. This may involve several connection strings if the website includes complications such as additional systems, membership pages, and roles (Admin, Full User or Limited Use, for example).

5. Test all connections and features of the hosted website for functionality. Correct any bugs or non-working parts on the local computer and then upload the corrected web pages.

Tips & Warnings

• The online connection string from the web host should look something like this for SQL Server 2005: "Data Source=databaseServer;Initial Catalog=databaseName;User ID=username;Password=password;"

• While it may be possible to host a public website on your own computer if your broadband supplier allows this, it is not easy to do and opens the potential for numerous security threats.

References

• Sam's Teach Yourself ASP.NET 3.5 in 24 Hours; Scott Mitchell; 2008

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• ASP.NET Developer Center