It’s not enough to just install MSDeploy on a server to allow Visual Studio 2010 to connect to the server. If you don’t follow the steps below, you will probably get 403 errors when trying to connect.
- When adding the Web Server (IIS) role, be sure to install Management Service.
- In the Services snap-in, find the Web Management Service and set its startup to Automatic (it’s manual by default). Don’t start it yet.
- Open the Internet Information Services Manager, and select the server.
- Open the Management Service feature.
- Check Enable Remote Connections.
- Choose a port (or keep the default), IP, Certificate, choose any restrictions you might require.
- In the Actions part of the right pane, click Apply.
- Click the Start link in the right pane.
Now IIS is configured to accept incoming connections. Open a port on the firewall for the port (8172 by default) you selected in step 6 above.
Install MSDeploy. Make sure you start the Web Deployment Service after the install, and set the service startup to Automatic.
Now you can use the Publish feature of Visual Studio 2010 to push directly to your development server.
See also: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd465337.aspx
