Microsoft 70-487: Choose a deployment strategy for an Azure web application

Exam Objectives

Perform an in-place upgrade and VIP swap; configure an upgrade domain; create and configure input and internal endpoints; specify operating system configuration; deploy applications using Azure Web Site

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-487 - Chapter 5.2
[MSDN] How to update a cloud service
[MSDN] How to manage cloud services
[Blog] What is Windows Azure Fault Domain and Upgrade Domain?
[MSDN] Set up staging environments in Azure App Service
[PluralSight] Windows Azure Web Sites
[GitHub] Publish to Azure using Web Deploy

[GitHub] Setting up a VSTS account so it can deploy to a Web App
[MSDN] Azure Exam Prep – Fault Domains and Update Domains
[MSDN] Enable communication for role instances in azure
[MSDN] Azure Guest OS releases and SDK compatibility matrix
[MSDN] Deploy your app to Azure App Service using FTP/S

Microsoft 70-487: Create, configure, and publish a web package

Exam Objectives

Create an IIS InstallPackage; configure the build process to output a web package; apply pre- and post- condition actions to ensure that transformations are correctly applied; include appropriate assets (web content, certificates)

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-487 - Chapter 5.5
[MSDN] Web Packaging: Creating web packages using MSBuild
[MSDN] Building and Packaging Web Application Projects (pre-VS2013)
[MSDN] Web Deployment Overview for Visual Studio and ASP.NET
[MSDN] How to: Edit Deployment Settings in Publish Profile 
[Blog] How to build and deploy a web deployment package using MSBuild
[MSDN] Web Deployment Operation
[MSDN] Web Deployment runCommand Provider
[MSDN] Excluding Files and Folders from Deployment

Microsoft 70-487: Configure a web application for deployment

Exam Objectives

Switch from production/release mode to debug mode; use SetParameters to set up an IIS app pool; set permissions and passwords; enable and monitor ASP.NET App Suspend; configure WCF endpoints (including HTTPS protocol mapping), bindings, and behaviors; transform web.config by using XSLT (for example, across development, test, and production/release environments); configure Azure configuration settings

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-487 - Chapter 5.3
[MSDN] How to: Set Debug and Release Configurations
[MSDN] Understanding Build Configurations

[MSDN] Configuring Parameters for Web Package Deployment
[MSDN] Web Deploy Parameterization
[TechNet] Using declareParam and setParam
[Blog] MSDeploy with Declare and Set parameter files

[MSDN] Configuring Permissions for Team Build Deployment
[MSDN] Basic Security Practices for Web Applications
[MSDN] Best practices for deploying passwords
[Blog] Davidson Sousa - Setting folder permissions using Web Deploy
[Blog] Sayed Hashimi - Setting Folder Permissions on Web Publish
[Blog] Kevin Leetham - Modifying directory permissions with Web Deployment

[MSDN] Enable and monitor ASP.NET App Suspend on Windows Server 2012 R2
[MSDN] ASP.NET App Suspend – responsive shared .NET web hosting

[MSDN] How to: Transform Web.config When Deploying a Web Application Project
[MSDN] Web.config Transformation Syntax for Web Project Deployment
[GitHub] Xdt transform samples

[MSDN] Configure web apps in Azure App Service
[MSDN] Configure Azure cloud service roles with Visual Studio

Microsoft 70-487: Design a deployment strategy

Exam Objectives

Create an IIS install package; deploy to web farms; deploy a web application by using XCopy; automate a deployment from TFS or Build Server

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-487 - Chapter 5.1
[MSDN] How to: Create a Web Deployment Package in Visual Studio
[MSDN] Using Web Deploy for Web Farms (2009)
[MSDN] Deploy an Application to a Web Farm

[MSDN] Introducing the Microsoft Web Farm Framework
[MSDN] Xcopy
[MSDN] Walkthrough: Deploying an ASP.NET Web Application Using XCOPY
[MSDN] How to: Create an Automated Build and Deployment Solution with TFS
[MSDN] Build and Deployment Automation Case Study 
[Blog] Using Windows Azure VMs to Publish and Synchronize a Web Farm

Microsoft 70-487: Share assemblies between multiple applications and servers

Exam Objectives

Prepare the environment for use of assemblies across multiple servers (interning); sign assemblies by using a strong name; deploy assemblies to the global assembly cache; implement assembly versioning; create an assembly manifest; configure assembly binding redirects (for example, from MVC4 to MVC5)

Quick Overview of Training Materials

Exam Ref 70-487 - Chapter 5.6
[MSDN] Programming with Assemblies:
     - How to: Sign an Assembly with a Strong Name
     - How to: Install an Assembly into the Global Assembly Cache
[MSDN] Assemblies in the CLR:
     - Global Assembly Cache
     - Assembly Versioning
     - Assembly Manifest
     - Strong-Named Assemblies
[MSDN] Configuring Assembly Binding Redirection
[MSDN] Redirecting Assembly Versions
[MSDN] Look at Sharing Common Assemblies in ASP.NET 4.5
[MSDN] How the Runtime Locates Assemblies
[StackOverflow] What is the GAC in .NET?

[Blog] Sharing common assemblies with aspnet_intern.exe
[Blog] ASP.NET Assembly Interning
[Blog] Back to Basics: When does a .NET Assembly Dependency get loaded
[YouTube] .NET Assembly Versioning