Copy publication data from editor to Internet server manually

In case the publication process fails to upload a remote publication to an Internet server, one can update the remote server manually by copying database and other files to the server.

This requires that the remote server already has got a first publication, so the target file area is available and that the web application has a definition for the site, to be able to attach to published data.

If there are many and/or large files we recommend that a Zip archive is made for the database file, for image sub folders etc. Copying one file is less time consuming then trying to copy thousand files between computers.

Step-by-step guide

Start in the editor server, by freeing the database files from the SqlServer database engine

  1. Normally the database file is already detached from the database engine, else stop all programs using it
  2. When required, detach the database file from SqlServer
  3. Zip the mdf-file to reduce file copy time
  4. Copy the zip-archive to the Internet server, preferable to the target folder where the old database resides

When users have least problem with an application stop, replace the database on the Internet server

  1. Stop IIS to free the database on the Internet server
  2. Detach the old database from SqlServer (remember the database name) to free files
  3. Delete old mdf and ldf files, neither will be used again
  4. Restore the database file from the Zip-archive (ensure that it has old database file name)
  5. Attach the new file to the database engine (ensure that the attach operation created new database with correct name)
  6. Start IIS to permit users to continue

Synchronize attached image and document files in sub folders, to complete the remote publication with files

  1. Synchronize Images folder to upload all missing image files
  2. Synchronize Document folder to upload all missing document files
  3. Synchronize DocumentSet folder to upload all missing miscellaneous files 

 Where do I find publication site on the Editor server?

One possible path is: D:\Assert\Data\Site1\Publication\Remote\Site2 where:

  1. Site1 is the name of the editor site on the editor server computer
  2. Site2 is the local name of the remote site, often this is the same name as the remote server site name

Where do I find remote site on the Internet server?

The target folder is defined during configuration and is stored in file: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\AssertWeb\App_Data\server.config on the Internet server.

Refer to the <RemoteArea> element for current value.

One possible path is: D:\Assert\RemotePublish\Site1 where: Site1 is the name of the remote site as it is defined at the editor server in the publication repository.