How to Sync Web Servers

Windows Web Deployment Tool is a powerful tool for web server duplication.

Microsoft's Web Deployment Tool (Web Deploy) enables IIS to synchronize websites or web server content. Synchronization can be carried out between two IIS 6.0 websites or web servers. You can also synchronize two IIS 7 websites or web servers or a IIS 6.0 source to an IIS 7 destination.



The synchronize (sync) operation makes one source and one destination object identical.

Things You'll Need

• Windows XP or later
• IIS 6.0
• Web Deployment Tool

Instructions

1. Click "Start" and click "Run," or press your "Windows" and "R" keys at the same time. A Run box opens.

2. Type "Cmd" and press the "Enter" key.

3. Type the following at the Windows command prompt:

   msdeploy -verb:sync -source:webServer,computerName=ServerA -dest:webServer,computerName=ServerB

   This synchronizes web server A to web server B.

Tips & Warnings

• The FAT file system cannot preserve NTFS file system ACLs. Therefore, you should not synchronize files from an NTFS file system to a FAT file system.

• If you attempt to synchronize an entire web server configuration from a 64-bit computer to a 32-bit computer, you must use the WoW (Windows on Windows) version of Msdeploy.exe that is located in the Program Files (x86)\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy directory.

• If your sync operation includes a remote web server, make sure that the Web Deploy remote service has been installed and is running on the remote computer before you start.

• If you do not specify a valid value when a password is required, the sync operation will fail.

• For the sync operation to function correctly, the Msdeploy.exe.configsettings file must be the same on the source and destination computers.

References

• Microsoft TechNet: Web Deploy sync Operation
• Microsoft TechNet: Synchronizing by using Archives
• Microsoft TechNet: Web Deployment Tool Overview