Visual Studio 2010 (VS2010) has some wonderfully integrated features for building and deploying web sites. The VS team has finally made it easy to get your web site onto someone else's Host server. But what if you want to implement a Host server and allow developers/customers easy access to your server? How do you do it?  You have questions, we have answers.

ASPHostCentral.com offers the Visual Studio 2010 hosting to all our new customers. You can always start from our Standard Plan hosting plan (from @$4.99/month) to get this start using the Visual Studio 2010 service. Should your requirement changes in the future, you can always request for an upgrade without causing any downtime. Remember, everything is just one-click away from your mouse! So, why wait longer? Please register your interest here

In Visual Studio 2010 (and in VS2008 as a separate download), the web developer can quickly deploy the website by using the Publish Web  feature. To publish a web, generally the developer would create a Configuration, add in the proper web.config transforms for his server-specific settings, right-click on the web project, and select Publish. The resulting dialog looks something like the one presented below. But what does the server need to support in order to allow web publishing from Visual Studio? 


Enter the Web Deploy Tool

To accept web publishing your server must be running IIS and have installed the Web Deploy tool 1.1 or later. The Web Deploy tool is supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit servers and is pretty simple to install.
1. If you haven't done so already, install the Microsoft Web  Platform installer. This application makes installing IIS modules (like the Web Deploy tool) a snap!
2. Install the Web Deploy tool appropriate for your server (32-bit or 64-bit).
3. More installation instructions can be found here
4. Once installed the only "gotcha" that you may hit is that the Web Deployment Agent Service is not immediately started. To start this service Please do the following:
    - On the server, click Start | Run
    - Type in services and hit enter
    - Search for Web Deployment Agent Service
    - Right-click on the service and select Properties
    - Change the Start-up Type to Automatic (or Automatic delayed start)
    - Click the Start button on the dialog to start the service immediately
    - Click OK to save your changes


Configuring a Website for Publishing

In order to allow a user to publish to a website, a couple items need configuration. This includes setting up the website and the user(s) that will be allowed to publish to the site


Setting up the website

Setting up the website in IIS7 works the exact same way as normal. Run IIS Manager and create a new website. As always, make sure the Application Pool account has access rights to the website directory


Setting up the users

The next step involves making sure the users have access to the website directory.  The user accounts are Windows accounts, and they will need read/write privileges to the actual website directory. In windows explorer, navigate to the website directory and make sure the appropriate users have permissions


Publishing to the Server

Once the website is setup and the users have been given permission, you are now ready to Publish to your website
1. To publish, run VS2010, right-click the web project in Solution Explorer, and select the Publish menu option
2. From this dialog, you will want to pick the Web Deploy publish method
3. The Service URL will be the default website URL for your server
4. The site/application value is simply the name of your website as seen in IIS manager
5. Make sure  you enter the user name/password of the user account on the host server that has permissions to publish to the site


Reasons to trust your Visual Studio 2010 website to us

 What we think makes ASPHostCentral.com so compelling is how deeply integrated all the pieces are. We integrate and centralize everything--from the systems to the control panel software to the process of buying a domain name. For us, that means we can innovate literally everywhere. We've put the guys who develop the software and the admins who watch over the server right next to the 24-hour Fanatical Support team, so we all learn from each other

- 24/7-based Support - We never fall asleep and we run a service that is operating 24/7 a year. Even everyone is on holiday during Easter or Christmas/New Year, we are always behind our desk serving our customers
- Excellent Uptime Rate - Our key strength in delivering the service to you is to maintain our server uptime rate. We never ever happy to see your site goes down and we truly understand that it will hurt your onlines business. If your service is down, it will certainly become our pain and we will certainly look for the right pill to kill the pain ASAP
- High Performance and Reliable Server - We never ever overload our server with tons of clients. We always load balance our server to make sure we can deliver an excellent service, coupling with the high performance and reliable server
- Experts in VS 2010 Hosting - Given the scale of our environment, we have recruited and developed some of the best talent in the hosting technology that you are using. Our team is strong because of the experience and talents of the individuals who make up ASPHostCentral
- Daily Backup Service - We realise that your website is very important to your business and hence, we never ever forget to create a daily backup. Your database and website are backup every night into a permanent remote tape drive to ensure that they are always safe and secure. The backup is always ready and available anytime you need it.
- Easy Site Administration - With our powerful control panel, you can always administer most of your site features easily without even needing to contact for our Support Team. Additionally, you can also install more than 100 FREE applications directly via our Control Panel in 1 minute!