Web Packaging in visual studio 2010

Visual Studio 2010 uses the MSDeploy tool to create a compressed (.zip) file for your application, which is referred to as a Web package. The package file contains metadata about your application plus the following content:

· IIS settings, which includes application pool settings, error page settings, and so on.

· The actual Web content, which includes Web pages, user controls, static content (images and HTML files), and so on.

· SQL Server database schemas and data.

· Security certificates, components to install in the GAC, registry settings, and so on.

A Web package can be copied to any server and then installed manually by using IIS Manager. Alternatively, for automated deployment, the package can be installed by using command-line commands or by using deployment APIs.

VS 2010 provides built in MSBuild tasks and targets to create Web packages. For more information, see 10 + 20 reasons why you should create a Web Package on Vishal Joshi’s blog.