How can I build against Microsoft.Web.Administration (IIS 7.x) on a Windows 2003 build machine?

Question

I am writing a C# config app for (amongst other things) setting up websites. It's only required to support IIS 7.x (Windows 2008 / 2008 R2), and requiring the compatibility pack is a no-no, so I figured I'd just use the Microsoft.Web.Administration namespace.

However, the only place I can find the assembly that contains this namespace (Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll) is from the IIS 7.x installation folder, and our main build machines are Windows 2003 and so cannot install IIS 7.x.

One option is to mandate a 2008 build machine but we currently only have one so that's not ideal. We've already ruled out appcmd.exe.

The other option is to make a package consisting of the dlls necessary to build against Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll. Has anyone tried that? Is there such a package already in existence, hidden somewhere on the MS download site?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Works. The dll's are good enough to compile against them. Just take them (from a web server) and make them available for the build system.