What's the best way to deploy an executable process on a web server?

Question

The original question:

The title of this question might be a bit clumsily phrased, but here\'s the situation:

I have a .NET web project deployed on my server.

Answer 1

Store on the server/web the most recent version of the project that is online. eg: in a version.txt the value "2.1.0", or query the database if you have access too.

Your application running on clients, will periodically read the contents of the version.txt file, then compared against the inbuilt(self) version number.

• If a patch or minor release is detected eg 2.1.123, spins out a second app(updater.exe) that will quietly
  • do the upgrade,
  • it shall download the updated(preferred zipped) project from server/web.
  • Stop any running instances.
  • Unzipping the content.
  • Backup existing files(rename)
  • copy/install the new version of the project,
  • Start the application (when the app is restarted successfully it will delete its own backup file).
• if a major release is detected eg: 3.0.0
  • notifies the user there is a major upgrade
  • if user accepts, download the installer
  • runs a full installer update

Does this help?