Minimal files needed to deploy ASP.NET App to the Web Server

Question

I have a ASP.NET project. When compiling this project it will create a DLL.

Let's assume this project does not need any other dlls(references).

I want to know what are the minimal files needed.

I know VB code behind files will be part of this dll and are not needed on server

So question is:

1: Is Web.Config file needed?
2: Is Global.asax needed?
3: Are aspx files needed?

If all of above needed then can't we simply copy them to the we server and don't publish the application?

Answer 1

Yes, you can xcopy your web.config , global.asax and all .aspx files to the server, which is essentially what the Publish command in Visual Studio does.

There is also the option to create a new Profile when doing a Publish via Visual Studio and have the files published to a directory so you can see what would have been pushed to an actual server before actually doing it. I use this as part of our deployment process to have a copy of the code that gets deployed to each of our testing environments.