Managing the Migration Process

Deployment Environment

It’s a very good idea to set up a dedicated physical server for deployment, leaving your production Web server running until the new server is fully tested and debugged. This is especially true if you’re migrating both your Web server and your operating system, such as when moving to Windows 2000 Server with IIS 5.0 from a UNIX computer running Apache; however, your job will be easier if you do this in all cases. This way you can set up users, groups, and permissions, and transfer all of your files, applications, and configuration settings without running the risk of losing your data in the event of a mishap. In addition, by doing this you can also thoroughly test the server and applications prior to deployment, which is highly recommended for mission-critical servers and applications.

For details on setting up a dedicated physical server for deployment, and for more information about assessing your deployment hardware needs, see Migrating a Web Server to IIS 5.0 in this book.