Our First Windows Server - Development Question
We just purchased our business' first server: Windows Server 2003. Now, we have realized that we do not want to push everything over to the "production" server without first testing it. Is there a way for us to develop and test before putting it on the production server without spending another boatload of cash on another Windows Server 2003? We are using Visual Studio 2003. Would an older server work the same (i.e. 2000) for our purposes?
ASKER
Yes, the production web server is the W2003 Server. We're not doing anything specialized, but we are doing quite a bit of db-driven work. [I forgot to mention that we just purchased a SQL Server as well.] So, we have these two machines running, and I set up our firewall (with help from EE) such that the web server is on a DMZ and the SQL server is on our LAN. The development work will be done on a machine on the LAN and we want to test it before sending it out to the web server exposed to the world. Did I fill in the blanks? Sorry for not providing enough details.
Hi
To give you help we need some more detailed information about the existing setup
You have a new server and you dont want to put anything on it to affect the existing system?
What is the existing system and what is it running on?
Or have you purchased the software and you will be looking to upgrade your existing server to this, but would like to test your web-apps prior to this ??
Kev
To give you help we need some more detailed information about the existing setup
You have a new server and you dont want to put anything on it to affect the existing system?
What is the existing system and what is it running on?
Or have you purchased the software and you will be looking to upgrade your existing server to this, but would like to test your web-apps prior to this ??
Kev
ASKER
We don't want to put anything out on the web before we get to test it in-house. We have never had a server before, as referenced earlier this is our business' first web server.
Are you hosting this server yourself in house? or is it at a remote location or hosting centre?
Is this a specific web-server or is this a server you are putting on to your network which will do other things such as file and print serving etc???
Is this a specific web-server or is this a server you are putting on to your network which will do other things such as file and print serving etc???
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
It is a dedicated machine - web server only. That's why it is out on our DMZ - we don't do any file sharing with the outside world.
I think KCTS has hit the nail on the head for us. We just realized our SQL server is sitting on top of another Windows Server 2003, so we will run Virtual PC on that machine to test everything out.
Thanks!
I think KCTS has hit the nail on the head for us. We just realized our SQL server is sitting on top of another Windows Server 2003, so we will run Virtual PC on that machine to test everything out.
Thanks!
Don't you have an MSDN subscription? Upgrade if yours doesn't includes software - then you'll have legal copies of various products that you can use for development (they are not legal for production, but ARE legal for development and testing.
Is the production server the windows 2003 server?
Microsoft Virtual Server springs to mind, but I'm not sure what you're doing. For general .NET development often applications will run on windows XP workstations.