Deployment

Your Salvation from DLL Hell

Objectives

Overview

Assemblies

„XCopy“ Deployment

Configuration

Administration

Contents

Section 1: Looking Back

Section 2: Basic Deployment

Section 3: Advanced Tasks

Section 4: Putting it all together

Summary

Section 1: Looking Back

DLL Hell

Version Conflicts

Installation Directories

Uninstall

Section 2: Basic Deployment

Assemblies

"Xcopy" Deployment

Packaging

Configuration

Locating Assemblies

Assemblies 1/3

Assemblies are the building blocks of an application

‘Logical DLLs’

Self-describing via Metadata

Versioning

Security

Private Assemblies

Shared Assemblies

More detailed Information: see Module “Assembly”

Assemblies 2/3

Private Assemblies Only visible for the application Stored in application folder or subdirectory Isolated from changes to the system No naming requirements

(except uniqueness to application)

Application

App.exe

Assembly1.dll

Assembly2.dll

Assemblies 3/3

Shared Assemblies Stored in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) Strong Names required

Versioning

Signing

Install with Installer for deployment tasks

Gacutil.exe for development

Gacutil –i mydll.dll Admin rights required

“XCopy” Deployment

Just copy assemblies to application path

Local or network path allowed

.NET Runtime required on executing machine

Uninstall means just deleting assemblies

Avoiding DLL Hell

No registration of components

No copying to %windir%\System32 needed

Side-By-Side Versioning for shared components

No risk of overwriting components

Packaging

Packaging a .NET Application

Configuration Files

Locating Assemblies

Packaging The Application

Packaging a .NET Application …as .MSI or .MSM files for Windows Installer …as .CAB files for ‘traditional’ installation

Only one assembly per CAB file

Same name as file in assembly that contains manifest Example: MyDll.DLL MyDll.CAB

…as .CAB files for download with IE >= 5.5 Specify location to search for referenced assemblies

in configuration file

Configuration Files 1/4

<application>.cfg Used for application-specific configuration Must be in same location as application’s main .EXE

Admin.cfg Global for each computer Overrides any other configuration file Resides in %windir% (I.e. C:\WINNT )

XML-Files Human readable and editable

Configuration Files 2/4

Specify behavior of Common Language Runtime:

AppDomain Tells runtime where to look for assemblies

RootDir

Subdir1

Subdir2

app.cfg

Assembly1

Configuration Files 3/4

BindingMode Normal: Use version policy (major.minor / QFE) Safe: Bind to exact version

BindingRedir Tells runtime to use specific version

CodeBaseHint Explicitly causes runtime to look for assemblies in

specified location

Configuration Files 4/4

Application.cfg sample:

<?xml version ="1.0"?> <Configuration><AppDomain PrivatePath="bin;mycode"

ShadowCopy="True"/><BindingMode>

<AppBindingMode Mode="normal"/></BindingMode><BindingPolicy>

<BindingRedir Name="MyCode.dll" Originator="3e59bf1a5ed0ec84" Version="*" VersionNew="3.3.3.3"

UseLatestBuildRevision="no"/> </BindingPolicy><Assemblies>

<CodeBaseHint Name="MyCode.dll" Originator="3e59bf1a5ed0ec84" Version="3.3.3.3"

CodeBase="http://codebasehint/Mydll.dll"/></Assemblies></Configuration>

Locating Assemblies

Searching for Files with extensions .mcl, .dll, .exe Shared Assemblies

Steps Apply <Application>.cfg policy Search in

Application directory

Subdirectories specified in PrivatePath Subdirectory named like assembly

Global Assembly Cache

Apply admin.cfg policy

Section 3: Advanced Tasks

Installation Components

COM Components

Serviced Components

ASP.NET

Using Installation Services

Maintenance

Administration

Installation Components 1/2

Installation Components Created in InstallerClass of your application Install associated Resources:

MessageQueues

EventLog

PerformanceCounter

Services

Installation Components 2/2

Installation Components Save state in text files Transactional Installation

Commit, if succeeded

Rollback, if at least one failed

Support for uninstall Not transactional

COM Components Components that will be called via COM must be

registered Using RegAsm /tlb[:filename] Assembly must be in path of calling application

Runtime creates a COM Callable Wrapper (CCW) Reference counted like COM Object Transparent to assembly Handles marshalling

App

CLR

CCW AssemblyCOM .NET

Serviced Components

Typically hosted in COM+

Derived from ServicedComponent

Dynamic Registration Xcopy to destination path Registers automatically on first use

Manual Registration using RegSvcs.exe “.NET Services Installation Tool” Loads and registers an assembly Generates, registers and installs the type library into

an existing COM+ application Compulsory for unmanaged clients

ASP.NET Deployment

Deploy by simply ‘xcopy’ to server WebPages WebServices Compiled Components Configuration (Meta)Data

Advantages: No registration needed No local server access needed No web server restarts needed

Using Installation Services

Windows Installer 1.5+ supports assemblies Use assemblies as components All Windows Installer Features available:

Local & Remote installation

Resiliency (Recover from broken installations)

Installation-On-Demand

Maintenance Installation

Supported by SMS IntelliMirror

Maintenance Installing new version of private assembly

Replace original file Developer is responsible for function

Installing QuickFix of assembly Install in GAC Applications automatically use QuickFix version

Except version policy denies this

Install new version of shared assembly Install in GAC Depending on version policy (app.cfg or admin.cfg)

application uses new or previous version

Administration 1/2

Deleting Shared Assemblies Use Gacutil.exe

Gacutil -u myDll,Ver=1.1.0.0,Loc=en,PK=874e… Use Windows Explorer Shell Extension

Right Click in Global Assembly Cache

Admin rights required

Administration 2/2

Clearing Download Cache Cleared automatically based on LRU Policy No manual action necessary

Moving Applications Just move complete local file structure

Managing Applications After Deployment Use DynamicProperties Change properties via XML files No need to recompile Changes will be applied after next start

Section 4: Putting it all together

Demo Creating a simple Application Package Creating a complex SetupProject

Demo: Simple Application

Demo: SetupProject

Summary

.NET simplifies Deployment Local Remote Web based

.NET avoids DLL Hell

No more need for third party Installers? There’s enough left to be done…

Questions?