--- title: "Optimizing the .NET MVC Deployment Process: Automated Builds and Manual Deployment" description: "How to use Jenkins Pipeline with MSBuild to automatically build legacy .NET MVC projects, and then deploy them after manually comparing differences with Beyond Compare." canonical_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy" author: "Mark Ku" author_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku" site: "Mark Ku's Tech Notes" date_published: "2024-09-03 01:01:35 +0800" category: "DevOps" tags: ["jenkins", "msbuild", "dotnet", "cicd", "devops", "deploy", "powershell"] language: "en" license: "CC BY 4.0" license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" attribution: "when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original" --- # Optimizing the .NET MVC Deployment Process: Automated Builds and Manual Deployment ## Background Most systems at my company can be containerized, but there are some legacy websites—the oldest, largest, and most profitable—that we can't upgrade technologically for the time being. With many people involved in manual deployments, we often run into issues where someone forgets to commit a binary. Therefore, I wanted to automate the build part of the process to optimize our deployment workflow and reduce the impact of errors. Because it's a legacy system using the old .NET MVC framework, it can't be containerized. A fully automated deployment would be a bit risky, so the deployment part will remain a manual process. ## Goals * When someone pushes any code to the `master` branch, Jenkins will automatically trigger a build and then commit and push the resulting binaries to GitHub. * In the production environment, we'll write a script to pull the latest binaries ready for deployment via Git. Then, we'll use Beyond Compare to check the differences in the binaries, and finally, perform the deployment manually. ## Environment Details Since it's a legacy system, Jenkins is installed on a Windows Server. ## First, Find MSBuild We all know that .NET MVC projects are built using the MSBuild tool. Based on our version of Visual Studio 2019, the corresponding MSBuild version is 16. However, on Microsoft's website, the download links for older versions of the MSBuild tools are hard to find. I eventually found the download link for the older Visual Studio 2019 from my [MSDN subscription account](https://my.visualstudio.com/Downloads?q=visual%20studio%202019). ![MSDN](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy/images/msdn.png) During installation, remember to check "Desktop development with C++". ![Installation](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy/images/installation.png) ## Configure the MSBuild Path in Jenkins The MSBuild installation path is: The path for MSBuild.exe installed with Visual Studio 2019 is: ``` C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin ``` ## Download [nuget.exe](https://www.nuget.org/downloads) Download nuget.exe to: ``` C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin ``` ## Download and Install the [.NET Framework 4.8 Developer Pack](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net48) ## First, Configure a Webhook in the GitHub Repo to Notify Jenkins on Commits for Automatic Builds ![GitHub webhook setting](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy/images/github-webhook.png) ``` http://jks.xxx.com/github-webhook/ ``` ## Next, Configure the Automatic Build Pipeline in Jenkins Create a Job > Select "New Item" > "Pipeline", and configure the GitHub Project. ![GitHub project setting](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy/images/github-project-setting.png) ``` properties([pipelineTriggers([githubPush()])]) pipeline { agent any environment { } options { buildDiscarder logRotator(artifactDaysToKeepStr: '', artifactNumToKeepStr: '3', daysToKeepStr: '', numToKeepStr: '3') } stages { stage('Cleanup Directories') { steps { script { // Delete the 'Api' and 'Artifact' directories dir('Api') { deleteDir() } dir('Artifact') { deleteDir() } dir('Publish') { deleteDir() } echo "Deleted Api and Artifact directories." } } } stage("GitHub Pull - Ｎet mvc api") { steps { dir('Api') { git( branch: 'master', credentialsId: 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx', url: 'git@github.com:iRobot/MVC.Api.git' ) } } } stage("GitHub Pull - Artifact") { steps { dir('Artifact') { git( branch: 'main', credentialsId: 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx', url: 'git@github.com:iRobot/Artifact.git' ) } } } stage('Restore nuget') { steps { script { bat 'echo Current Directory: %CD%' bat 'echo Workspace Directory: %WORKSPACE%' bat '"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\Community\\MSBuild\\Current\\Bin\\nuget.exe" restore ".\\Api\\IRobot.WebCore\\IBuyPower.WebCore.sln"' } } } stage('Build') { steps { script { // Define the MSBuild path and solution file def msBuildPath = '"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2019\\Community\\MSBuild\\Current\\Bin\\MSBuild.exe"' def solutionPath = '".\\api\\IRobot.WebCore\\IRobot.WebCore.sln"' // Build command with all necessary parameters def buildCommand = "${msBuildPath} ${solutionPath} /t:Clean,Build /p:Configuration=enUSLive /p:DeployOnBuild=True /p:DeployDefaultTarget=WebPublish /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:DeleteExistingFiles=True /p:OutDir=\"%WORKSPACE%\\Publish\" /p:ExcludeGeneratedDebugSymbol=True -verbosity:minimal" // Execute the build command bat script: buildCommand, returnStatus: true } } } stage("Copy to Artifact") { steps { script { def buildCommand = "robocopy \"%WORKSPACE%\\Publish\\_PublishedWebsites\\Core.Web\" \"%WORKSPACE%\\Artifact\" /E /COPY:DAT /MT:100" // Execute the build command bat script: buildCommand, returnStatus: true } } } stage('Check for Changes and Commit') { steps { dir('Artifact') { script { // Set local git configuration for user identity bat "git config user.email \"jenkins@example.com\"" bat "git config user.name \"Jenkins CI\"" // Stage all changes bat "git add ." // Commit with a timestamp bat "git commit -m \"Automated commit at ${new Date().format('HH:mm:ss')} by Jenkins\"" // Attempt to push changes to remote repository def pushResult = bat(script: "git push --set-upstream origin main", returnStdout: true, returnStatus: true) if (pushResult != 0) { echo "Failed to push changes. Error Code: ${pushResult}" } } } } } } } ``` ## Manual Deployment Because it's a legacy system using the old .NET MVC framework, it can't be containerized. A fully automated deployment would be a bit risky, so the deployment part will remain a manual process. ### Then, Install Beyond Compare ### Write the PowerShell script `deploy.ps1` ``` git pull $LOCAL = "C:\Workspace\USApiArtifact\bin" $REMOTE = "C:\inetpub\Core.Web\bin" $env:Path = "C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 4\" $filters = "/filters=-web.config" BCompare.exe /excludefilter="web.config" "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" $filters ``` ## Finally, after running the script, you can use Beyond Compare to verify that the DLLs for this deployment are as expected. Then, deploy the new version of the application by right-clicking and selecting "Copy to Right". ![Final](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy/images/beycond-copare.png) --- ## About this article and its author Originally published on [Mark Ku's Tech Notes](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/net-mvc-auto-build-manual-deploy) License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original ### About the author **[Mark Ku](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku)** — Software Solution Provider - 10+ years senior software engineer, now an AI Builder - Focused on large-platform architecture — North-American e-commerce, AI SaaS subscription billing - Combining AI Agents and automation to build evolvable product foundations ### Free tools built by the author All of these are free to use: - [Free PDF Sign Tool](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/pdf-sign): Online PDF sign tool — draw, type, or upload a signature, then drag, resize, and download. 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