Hi folks,

Looking for some pro's / con's advice regarding how to best deploy a VB.NET application.

The application is a rich client to be run as a desktop application on a LAN which will need access to a SQL Server database. The database will sit on it's own server, but I'm not sure how to best handle the application.

One solution would be to give each user their own copy of the executable but as there are 60 users this is time consuming if/when a change is made to the application (unless we embark on a smart client type app which will download the latest version).

The other solution I can see would be to place one copy of the executable on an application server and have everyone run it over the network.

thoughts?

Cheers
Steven

 

Hmmmm, {rolls back in recliner, eyes to the ceiling, exhales, scratches chin}....Ill get back to you on this one.

 

(this should be in the computer forum )

First thoughts....

Why not develop a thin client, with some or most of the processing being done on the server. When you create a new version of the app, it could notify the clients that a new version is available and provides a means to automatically download / run the update?
Would mean you just have to update the server, and the clients can sort themselves out...

 

Depends just how rich the client is and what controls it uses. If you don't invisage changing/updating the controls, or any custom libraries with it then you may as well just run the program off the server via a shortcut on the client.

 

cheers guys

rich client, but not much real processing power needed. updates will be minimal.

so would it be okay to run it off a shortcut - i guess the server has to have enough RAM and that's about it.

 

Yes Im sure you are still going to need the .net runtimes on each machine though which itself is a typically slim m$ download of about 30megs!!!

 

I've just developed a rich C# client app. Deployment is done using "zero touch deployment". Basically the executables are stored on a virtual directory in IIS. The client needs its .Net security changing to either trust the web server or to trust the executable on the web server.

Once that is done all the client needs to do is to point to the address of the exe i.e. http:\\yourserver\yourapp\app.exe. It will then download the app to the client and run it. If you upgrade the app on the server the client will automatically download the upgrade next time it is run.


That make some sense?

 

Considering microsoft standards are moving to preventing exes being rolled out, have you thought of using WISE or Install Sheild to package the application as an 'msi for .NET' and deploy using SMS 2003?

That may save you a lot of headache. I hope i got your question right.

Will this not only work on a corporate intranet or extranet environment?

 

The easiest way is to use the updater application block to install updates.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/updater.asp