I'm trying to add a web setup project for my web services project to make a reasonably complex installation easier for the end user. But the defaults are getting in my way and I'm not sure how to adjust them.
My requirements are:
Create a new website & app pool
When creating the new app pool, needs to be set to .Net 4, classic mode with user selectable user account to run the app pool
Install the web service to a custom path under C:\Program Files\<comapany name>\Services folder to meet company standards
Create a SQL database adding a login & db_datawriter roles to the account selected for the app pool
Run SQL statement to build initial database
Creating a SQL database and Logins (4 & 5) seems possible through Custom Actions as I'll get to run my code at install time. But the web setup project by default only allows users to select from existing websites and app pools (1 & 2) and doesn't seem to allow me to customise this process except to add an image, this also means that the physical path for the selected website is used.
An option would be to create a suitable website & app pool prior to installation and remove it if it goes unused, then the user would simply need to select the website/app-pool I've created for them (not ideal but..) but there isn't a pre-installation step for me to attach such custom code to and I'm not sure how to interface with IIS reliably & programmatically.
Can anyone suggest the best way for me to approach creating the installer outlined above as I don't think web setup projects are fit for purpose at this stage, but would prefer not to have to waste a day learning WIX or NSIS.
1 & 3) Creating a new app pool isn't possible as there is no way to run custom code pre-installation in web setup projects, in my case it turned out to be acceptable for a user to create the website/app pool in IIS before installation. You can modify the Virtual Directory of the existing site through Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll (got the idea from here) if desired, by passing [TARGETSITE] to CustomActionData so you can find the Application object needed to modify the Virtual Directory.
2) This is achieved by referencing the Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll (got the idea from here) and using it to change application pool properties, you will need to pass the appPool name to the Custom action by adding /AppPool="[TARGETAPPPOOL]" to the CustomActionData for the CustomAction.
FYI - The available properties you may pass to CustomActionData are documented here but are incomplete (excluding [TARGETAPPPOOL] and [TARGETSITE] for example)
I used this code to modify the app pool:
Microsoft.Web.Administration.ServerManager serverManager = new ServerManager();
var appPoolName = base.Context.Parameters["AppPool"].ToString();
var appPool = serverManager.ApplicationPools.SingleOrDefault( pool => pool.Name == appPoolName );
appPool.ManagedRuntimeVersion = "v4.0";
appPool.ManagedPipelineMode = ManagedPipelineMode.Classic;
serverManager.CommitChanges();
4 - 5) Simply open a SQL Connection from a custom action and run the relevant SQL Scripts, you won't be able to add the true accounts ie: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE or NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS, but may use the virtual user accounts IIS creates IIS APPPOOL\<app pool name>.
If you need to develop a sophisticated installer but don't want to spend even a day learning installer technologies then your best bet is probably to hire a consultant to do it for you.
Related
I have few queries related to Amazon Workspace.
Q1) I am building a .net website from where I want to access the Amazon Workspace. What could be a better way to do so? Is it possible that I create a webpage in my website and from there I can access the Workspace desktop in an iFrame or something? or is there any API support for same?
Q2) Can we set some startup program in Amazon Workspace which initiates any application for eg: photoshop, whenever the Workspace is started?
I think you're missing the point of Amazon Workspaces - they are a virtual desktop solution (loosely similar to Citrix), which provides a Windows 7 or Windows 10 'Desktop Experience' running on top of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2012 respectively.
So, to answer your questions:
Q1) I am building a .net website from where I want to access the
Amazon Workspace. What could be a better way to do so? Is it possible
that I create a webpage in my website and from there I can access the
Workspace desktop in an iFrame or something? or is there any API
support for same?
You don't want to embed a Workspace instance inside of a web-page, either as an iFrame or by using some other magic. It is probably possible, but you will need to jump through many, many burning hoops of death to achieve it.
If you want to access a web-page that you are building from the Workspace instance, treat Workspaces as just any other desktop and use Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera etc. to access the site.
If you are looking at how to access Workspace Instances, AWS have desktop clients for all major Operating Systems, as web-based version (not to be confused with the web-page that you personally are writing); alternatively, Workspaces can be accessed from physical PCoIP Zero-Client devices. Take a look at https://clients.amazonworkspaces.com/ for the full list.
Q2) Can we set some startup program in Amazon Workspace which
initiates any application for eg: photoshop, whenever the Workspace is
started?
Yes you can, configure a Group Policy Object in your underlying Workspaces Directory to start an application on logon.
However, if you are going to run something intensive such as Photoshop, I would recommend either the Performance or Graphics Bundles - see https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/details/ for more information.
I'm developing an tool using Django for internal use at my organization. It's used to search and tag documents (using Haystack and Solr), and will be employed on different projects. My team currently has a working prototype and we want to deploy it 'in the wild.'
Our security environment is strict. Project documents are located on subfolders on a network drive, and access to these folders is restricted based on users' Windows credentials (we also have an MS SQL server that uses the same credentials). A user can only access the projects they are involved in. Since we're an exclusively Microsoft shop, if we want to deploy our app on the company intranet, we'll need to use an IIS server to deal with these permissions. No one on the team has the requisite knowledge to work with IIS, Active Directory, and our IT department is already over-extended. In short, we're not web developers and we don't have immediate access to anybody experienced.
My hacky solution is to forgo IIS entirely and have each end user run a lightweight server locally (namely, CherryPy) while each retaining access to a common project-specific database (e.g. a SQLite DB living on the network drive or a DB on the MS SQL server). In order to use the tool, they would just launch an all-in-one batch script and point their browser to 127.0.0.1:8000. I recognize how ugly this is, but I feel like it leverages the security measures already in place (note that never expect more than 10 simultaneous users on a given project). Is this a terrible idea, and if so, what's a better solution?
I've dealt with a similar situation (primary development was geared toward a normal deployment situation, but some users have a requirement to use the application on a standalone workstation). Rather than deploy web and db servers on a standalone workstation, I just run the app with the Django internal development server and a SQLite DB. I didn't use CherryPy, but hopefully this is somewhat useful to you.
My current solution makes a nice executable for users not familiar with the command line (who also have trouble remembering the URL to put in their browser) but is also relatively easy development:
Use PyInstaller to package up the Django app into single executable. Once you figure this out, don't continue to do it by hand, add it to your continuous integration system (or at least write a script).
Modify the manage.py to:
Detect if the app is frozen by PyInstaller and there are no arguments (i.e.: user executed it by double clicking it) and if so, then run execute_from_command_line(..) with arguments to start the Django development server.
Right before running the execute_from_command_line(..), pop off a thread that does a time.sleep(2) (to let the development server come up fully) and then webbrowser.open_new("http://127.0.0.1:8000").
Modify the app's settings.py to detect if frozen and change things around such as the path to the DB server, enabling the development server, etc.
A couple additional notes.
If you go with SQLite, Windows file locking on network shares may not be adequate if you have concurrent writing to the DB; concurrent readers should be fine. Additionally, since you'll have different DB files for different projects you'll have to figure out a way for the user to indicate which file to use. Maybe prompt in app, or build the same app multiple times with different settings.py files. Variety of a ways to hit this nail...
If you go with MSSQL (or any client/server DB), the app will have to know the DB credentials (which means they could be extracted by a knowledgable user). This presents a security risk that may not be acceptable. Basically, don't try to have the only layer of security within the app that the user is executing. The DB credentials used by the app that a user is executing should only have the access that the user is allowed.
Been searching for the last few days for an alternative to the AWS Console Web ui.
We want to give this to our employees to manage their development/test environment their self without interaction from the IT team.
What we want is an extra Web ui that does the following "management tasks"
List all instances (maybe based on tags)
Stop / Start instances
Create / Destroy instances (from specific AMI's)
Also we would like to have logs + authentication (preferable LDAP)
I found a few but none of them actually was that simple.
We would also prefer to have a django/python based application but sinatra is also fine.
Alternatives that I found:
Asgard from netflix
Spurios (has no EC2 instances)
We also found Flask app builder to build our own app but it would be nice if some things already exsists. I believe many company's want the same but are they keeping that for internal use only ?
Maybe you know more projects that I, for some reason, did not stumble on.
I am working on a SP2013 project for a customer, and I need to set up a working environment for development, testing and production. Let's assume for the sake of simplicity that the work consists only of various customizations (lists, libraries, apps, themes etc.) and no code.
My setup is as follows:
The production environment is on some servers on the customer site
The test environment is set up in Azure
The development environment is on a virtual machine on my PC
Now, let's assume everything is set up correctly on each environment, and I want to be able to support the following tasks:
I do customizations on my dev environment, and want to deploy this in test for others to test, prefereably with existing data
After testing and QA, I want to deploy from test to production. This must of course only affect customizations, not existing data
Every now and then I would like to take a snapshot of the production environment and move it to test, so that the deployment of a new feature from development can be done as realistic as possible
I want to perform these tasks as smoothly and efficiently as possible, especially when deploying from dev to test which is done often. Deploying from test to production will not be done that often, and hence some more manual work will be tolerated.
I know of a few mechanisms that might be relevant:
Content deployment
Cross site publishing
Content database backup/restore
Save site as template, export wsp and import
(Last resort) Manually set up each customization by hand
Could some of you experienced SharePoint devs/admins make some recommendations as to which mechanism to use in which situation, when to not use it etc.? Are there other methods that should be mentioned? Remember that the three environments reside in separated physical environments, which will probably make a fully automated solution difficult. Would it make it easier if I set up the test environment on the customer site (i.e. part of the same farm)?
Another option depending on your specific customisations might be a third party tool. There are a number of them out there. ShareGate is one I have personally been using for migration work and seems very simple and effective for moving content around quickly between environments. Attunity Repliweb for SharePoint is another that might be worth looking at for the sort of development specific release work that you require.
As for native options, I am still finding my way as well but here are my suggestions :
Where possible I have used Visual Studio to create solution packages containing features to deploy pieces of functionality. A branding solution package for example might include several features that deploy your custom master pages, theme / look files, common JavaScript libraries and images.
Feature deployment makes it easy for you to deploy or remove functionality between environments and to reuse functionality between sites. Additionally you can add your Visual Studio solutions to a source control system such as VS Online or GitHub.
For one off sites I have created a dev site, configured it then used the built in SharePoint backup and restore to deploy it to prod. Subsequent changes have been created in dev and then manually applied to test and prod. Depending on the customisations this has been quite time consuming. You might combine this with a tool such as ShareGate to automate the deployment of individual artifacts such as a customized list from one environment to another.
For moving content around I have been using a combination of ShareGate for things such as documents alongside Boost Solutions Excel Import for handling list data. This allows me to export large amounts of list data to excel and easily reimport it into a new list which might be a copy that I have added new functionality to in preparation for replacing the old prod list or perhaps dev / test lists that I am populating before doing a full site backup to restore to production.
Good luck and hopefully some of these suggestions are useful to you ! I will be following this question as I am also interested to hear of better methods / habits for managing the SharePoint development cycle.
I finished setting up a development environment for a SharePoint 2013 production environment that I maintain. The last step was to move my production content to my development environment. I had to dig around a bit to find the PowerShell etc. Rather than go through that again next time, I decided to write a blog about it, so that I’d have all the steps in one place.
The first step is to back up the content database that you want to restore to development. To do this open up SQL Server Management Studio, right-click on the database you want to back up, hover over tasks, and select backup. You will be presented with the Back Up Database window. Make sure that your backup type is set to full, give the backup a name or stick with the default, and note or change the destination.
You can skip these steps if you have scheduled backups running and are able to access the backup drive. In that case just go grab a copy of the most recent full backup and copy it to your development SQL Server.
The next step is to restore the database to development. To do this open up SQL Server Management Studio in your development environment, right-click on the Databases folder, and select Restore Database. When presented with the Restore Database window, click on the Device Radio Button and click the ellipsis next to the text box. This will bring up the Select backup devices window. From there click Add, locate your backup file and click OK, click OK again to be returned to the Restore Database Window, and finally from there click OK. Now your database has been restored, and you are ready to add it to SharePoint.
If you don’t already have one with content in it that you don’t care about in it, create a new Web Application…
https://sharepointv15.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/create-a-web-application-in-sharepoint-2013/
Don’t worry about creating a site collection.
Now go to Central Admin and click on Manage content databases under Application Management.
rsd1
Make sure that the correct Web Application is selected. If it is not click on the drop down arrow next to the Web Application name, click change web application and select the correct Web Application in the window that you are presented with.
rsd2
Next click on the Content Database name
On the Manage Content Database Settings screen scroll down, click on the Remove Content Database check box, click OK on the warning pop up and click OK at the bottom of the screen.
rsd3
Now you’ll need to open up the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell as an administrator. To do this click on your start menu, click all programs, click on the Sharepoint 2013 folder, right-click the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and select Run as Administrator.
From here you will run the Mount-SPContentDatabase cmdlet
Mount-SPContentDatabase “MyDatabase” -DatabaseServer “MyServer” -WebApplication http://sitename
Click below for details on this cmdlt…
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607581.aspx
At this point you should be able to navigate to the web application URL and see the Site Collection that lives in the database you just mounted.
Note: This will work in SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2013. However, the database must be the same version of SharePoint that the farm you are trying to mount to is. If it is a lower version it will automatically try to upgrade it, so keep that in mind.
follow the below link.
https://sharepointv15.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/moving-content-between-environments/
I'm attempting to get an understanding of what is a best practice / recommended setup for moving information between multiple Sitecore installations. I have a copy of Sitecore setup on my machine for development. We need a copy of the system setup for demonstration to the client and for people to enter in content prelaunch. How should I set things up so I people can enter content / modify the demonstration version of the site and still allow me to continue development on my local machine and publish my updates without overwriting changes between the systems? Or is this not the correct approach for me to be taking?
I believe that the 'publishing target' feature is what I need to use, but as this is my first project working with Sitecore and so I am looking for practical experience on how to manage this workflow.
Nathan,
You didn't specify what version of Sitecore, but I will assume 6.01+
Leveraging publishing targets will allow you to 'publish' your development Sitecore tree (or sub-trees) from your development environment to the destination, such as your QA server. However, there is potential that you publish /sitecore/content/home/* and then you wipe out your production content!
Mark mentioned using "Sitecore Packages" to move your content (as well as templates, layout items, etc...) over, which is the traditional way of moving items between environments. Also, you didn't specify what version of Sitecore you are using, but the Staging Module is not needed for Sitecore 6.3+. The Staging Module was generally used to keep file systems in sync and to clear the cache of Content Delivery servers.
However, the one piece of the puzzle that is missing here is that, you will still need to update your code (.jpg, .css, .js, .dll, .etc) on the QA box.
The optimal solution would be to have your Sitecore items (templates, layout item, rendering items, and developer owned content items) in Source control right alongside your ASP.NET Web Application and any class library projects you may have. At a basic level, you can do this using built in "Serialization" features of Sitecore. Lars Nielsen wrote an article touching on this.
To take this to the next level, you would use a tool such as Team Development for Sitecore. This tool will allow you to easily bring your Sitecore items into Visual Studio and treat them as code. At this point you could setup automated builds, or continuous integration, so that your code and Sitecore items, are automatically pushed to your QA environment. There are also configuration options to handle the scenario of keeping production content in place while still deploying developer owned items.
I recommend you looks at the staging module if you need to publish to multiple targets from the same instance, i.e. publish content from one tree over a firewall to a development site, to a QA site, etc.
If you're just migrating content from one instance to another piecemeal, you can use Sitecore packages which are standard tools to move content. The packages serialize the content to XML and zip it up and allow you to install them in other instances.