How to Use FrontPage and Site Server Deployment

This article describes some of the ways you can use Site Server Deployment in conjunction with the FrontPage Server Extensions.

The biggest obstacle here is the fact that FrontPage locks files when they are in use. Site Server 3.0 offers the ability to skip locked files, but there is a chance that the locked file is an important one. It is preferable to have the deployment take place during a time when usage is low (for example, the middle of the night) in order to minimize the number of locked files. To improve things, you can run a batch file that stops and restarts the services on the source server before the replication. This will also help with the locked files.

In addition to the above, the following must be true:

• The directory structure of the two servers must be identical.
• The servers must be running the exact same version of IIS.
• The servers must be running the same version of the FrontPage Server Extensions.
• The virtual directories on the Web servers must be exactly the same; this means if you create a subweb on the source server, you must also create it on the destination server. This can be done through the FrontPage Client or (recommended) through the Fpsrvadm.exe utility.
• Do not replicate permissions.

The last step in the process is to recalculate hyperlinks on the destination server. This can be accomplished with a batch file using the Fpsrvadm.exe utility. A sample command line may look similar to the following: For more information regarding this utility and its uses, please see the online Server Extensions Resource Kit at the following location: Note: FrontPage is not designed to be used this way and there may be some problems with certain features of FrontPage (themes, shared borders, and navigation structure) when using Site Server to move the content. The best way to move FrontPage managed content is to use the Publish feature in the FrontPage Client. This article is only intended to give you a starting point for you own experiments.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: