使用数据库和Windows服务为Web应用制作安装程序

Question

I want to make an installer for a client which installs

1. a web app on IIS
2. a mssql db
3. a window service

I am totally naive to thinking of the solution for this automated deployment through an installer (msi or exe). The installer may hint the user for prerequisites for example MSSQL server and upgrading/installing IIS before the web app installation can proceed. Is it possible?

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible. You need to first select in an authoring tool for Windows Installer. Some examples are Windows Installer XML (WiX) and InstallShield (various editions from free to pricey). You'll have some kind of EXE bootstarpper/chainer where you can handle prerequisite installation such as windows features and database engines. Or you can choose to simply ship an MSI that detects and blocks if these are missing and put the effort on the user to manage their baseline environment. The actual MSI will then likely have features for web, service and sql. The web feature will install a bunch of files and configure the IIS meta. The windows service will install some files and create a windows service. The SQL feature will ask for connection string information, execute some sql scripts and possibly configure the web and service layers' connection strings.

Some of this can be deferred until after the installation and placed into a custom configuration utility to simplify the installer work.

There are various design decisions that can be made so it can't be answered in more detail in a simple question format.