About Site Packager

Commerce Server Site Packager packages and unpacks Web sites and settings so you can easily deploy your applications.

Packages

Unpacking Options

Solution Sites

How Database and Application Names Are Created

How Global Resources Are Unpacked

Where Databases Are Located

How Web Server Permissions Are Set

Packages

A package is a specially formatted Commerce Server file. Each package is identified with a .pup filename extension. A package always contains a single site, which includes the resources, their data, and applications of a Commerce Server site.

In addition to site resources, applications, and the Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 settings that are needed to recreate the Web server configurations, Commerce Server Site Packager also includes the property values from the Administration database. For example, when you package the App Default Config resource, all of the current property values are also packaged. When you unpack the App Default Config resource, the property values are unpacked onto the Administration database.

The package includes global resource pointers but not the global resources themselves. Connection strings are packaged without the user name and password fields.

During the application packaging process, Site Packager searches the IIS metabase on your local computer, and finds the physical directory that is the root for that application. It then starts at that root directory and packages all the subdirectories below into a new file with a .pup filename extension. Site Packager preserves certain settings in IIS, such as authorizations and access permissions.

Site Packager does not package properties that are specific to the computer you are on. For example, Web server properties and some application properties that are set in Commerce Server Manager are not packaged. For a list of data that is packaged for each resource, see Site Packager Reference Information.

Unpacking Options

By default, Site Packager unpacks each application into the IIS Default Web Site in a virtual directory that matches the application name. To improve the security of your site, you should create a new IIS Web site instead of using the Default Web Site for the Commerce Server sites you unpack. You can change the name of the virtual directory that contains each application. To change the IIS Web site or virtual directory while unpacking, you must use the Custom mode of Site Packager.

When you unpack another Web server to an application (and create a Web farm), you are not able to change any of the application configuration information during the unpacking process because all Web servers must use the same settings. Site Packager displays the name of the IIS Web site where the application will be installed and the IIS application path for each Commerce Server application.

When you unpack a site and application that already exist in the Administration database, Site Packager assumes you are adding a Web server to the application.

Solution Sites

Solution Sites are packages that contain the resources you need to build a site. After you install Commerce Server, you can unpack one of these Solution Sites, and then use it as a foundation for building your own site.

Commerce Server includes the following Solution Site:

  • Blank. Contains all the Commerce Server resources for building a custom site.

Additional Solution Sites are available on the Commerce Server Web site, such as:

  • Retail. Contains the Commerce Server resources for building a retail site.

  • Supplier. Contains the Commerce Server resources for building an Active Directory-enabled supplier site.

How Database and Application Names Are Created

Commerce Server Site Packager derives the database names and application names from the package.

An IIS application is created for each application in the package. The full path of each application is stored in the package.

How Global Resources Are Unpacked

Two global resources — Predictor and Direct Mailer — are installed by using Commerce Server Setup; all other global resources are installed using Site Packager. Before you unpack a site that requires the global resources Predictor or Direct Mailer, you must install these resources by using Commerce Server Setup. For information about installing a global resource, see Installing and Uninstalling Global Resources.

Where Databases Are Located

Site Packager does not prompt you to specify the locations of database files. Instead it accepts the SQL Server default folders. Make sure there is enough disk space to create the databases on the database servers.

How Web Server Permissions Are Set

IIS Web server permissions can be set up to limit the access of anonymous users to your applications, and can also be used to limit the viewing of source code over the Internet, even for users with Windows permissions (or access control entries).

It is important to understand the distinction between Web server permissions and NTFS permissions. Unlike NTFS, Web server permissions apply to all users accessing your Web sites. NTFS permissions apply only to a specific user or group of users with a valid Windows account. NTFS controls access to physical directories on your server, whereas Web permissions control access to virtual directories on your Web site.

When you package a site, it will pick up the Web server permissions as set in the source site. For example, if you have the Execute Permissions setting set to Scripts and Executables in the root folder of the application on the source computer, the virtual root folder on the destination computer will have the same setting.

For example, the following table describes how the IIS permissions are set in the packages provided by Microsoft.

Folder Permissions
Root Set Execute permission to Scripts and Executables.
Pipeline, Include, Template Deny permission to read, write, and execute.

Ee811763.note(en-US,CS.10).gif Note

  • Site Packager does not preserve Windows access control lists (ACLs), which contain NTFS permissions. ACLs describe the groups and individuals who have access to specific objects in Windows 2000. These objects include Microsoft Active Directory objects, local NTFS files and folders, the registry, and printers.

See Also

Using Commerce Server and IIS

Packaging a Site

Unpacking a Site

Site Packager Reference Information

Running Site Packager from the Command Line


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