Deployment issue of an web application using MSDeploy command

Question

I have a web application and I am trying to deploy it on a webserver using MSDeploy.exe (Web Deploy 2)

I have tried 4 scenarios:

1. Through VS2010 Publish method with following settings:
   Publish Method: Web Deploy
   Service Url: https://MyServerName:8172/MsDeploy.axd
   Site/application: MyWebSiteName
   Allow untrusted: checked
   Username: MyUsername
   Password: MyPassword
   This method works just fine.
   On MyServerName machine I have Web Management Service running; I have a website MyWebSiteName, an application MyWebAppName and MyUserName is an IIS Manager for it.

2. Through VS2010 Publish method with following settings:
   Publish Method: Web Deploy
   Service Url: https://MyServerName:8172/MsDeploy.axd
   Site/application: MyWebSiteName/MyWebAppName
   Allow untrusted: checked
   Username: MyUsername
   Password: MyPassword
   This method works just fine.

3. Through MSDeploy.exe command line (within a Powershell script)
   $Source = "contentPath='...._PublishedWebsites\MyWebApp'"
   $Destination = "contentPath=MyWebSiteName,computerName='https://fc-wapps-trial:8172/MsDeploy.axd?Site=WebSiteTest',Username=MyUsername,Password=MyPassword,AuthType=basic"
   MSDeploy -verb:sync -source:$Source -dest:$Destination -allowUntrusted
   This method also works fine.

4. Through MSDeploy.exe command line (within a Powershell script)
   $Source = "contentPath='...._PublishedWebsites\MyWebApp'"
   $Destination = "iisApp=MyWebSiteName/MyWebAppName,computerName='https://fc-wapps-trial:8172/MsDeploy.axd?Site=WebSiteTest/MyWebAppName',Username=MyUsername,Password=MyPassword,AuthType=basic"
   MSDeploy -verb:sync -source:$Source -dest:$Destination -allowUntrusted
   This method doesn't work. I am getting the following error.
   Error Code: ERROR_USER_UNAUTHORIZED
   More Information: Connected to the destination computer ("MyServerName") using the Web Management Service, but could not authorize. Make sure that you are using the correct user name and password, that the site you are connecting to exists, and that the credentials represent a user who has permissions to access the site.
   Error: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

I was looking at what is the actuall MSDeploy command that the method 2 uses and I got something like:
msdeploy.exe
-source:manifest='...\MyWebApp.SourceManifest.xml'
-dest:auto,ComputerName='https://MyServerName:8172/MsDeploy.axd?site=WebSiteTest',UserName='MyUsername',Password='MyPassword',IncludeAcls='False',AuthType='Basic'
-verb:sync
-disableLink:AppPoolExtension
-disableLink:ContentExtension
-disableLink:CertificateExtension
-skip:objectname='dirPath',absolutepath='...\App_Data$'
-setParam:kind='ProviderPath',scope='IisApp',match='^...\PackageTmp$',value=WebSiteTest/WebAppTest
-setParam:kind='ProviderPath',scope='setAcl',match='^..\PackageTmp$',value=WebSiteTest/WebAppTest
-allowUntrusted
-retryAttempts=2
Now this doesn't seem to be anything close to what I am using in method 4. I tried running it myself without success, but I assume I wasn't able to properly re-create all those parameters.

So my questions are:
- What I am doing wrong in method 4?
- How can I deploy a web application as a website application in IIS7 using MSDeploy.exe command

Thanks in advance for your help
Iulian

Answer 1

I ran into the same issue as you did. I solved it by only use site name in https://computername:8172/msdeploy.axd?site={websitenameonly}. Then set your webapplication path in the parameter using -setParam IIS Web Application Name= {your web application name here} or use a parameter file. And everything deployed fine.

It seems that the site querystring value is required to authorize the request only. I haven't find any definitive documentation from MS on any other querystring parameters that might solve this. But I actually tested 2 cases. 1) Deploying to a web site in IIS 7.5, this parameter is required. 2) Deploying to a web application under a web site, this parameter is actually optional, but if you want to include it, then it has to be a root site.

You actually answered your own question here just probably didn't realize it.