Deployment and Publishing

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

ℹ️ What You'll Learn

• Publishing vs building
• Framework-dependent deployment
• Self-contained deployment
• Deployment on different platforms
• Docker containerization basics
• Azure App Service deployment

Publish vs Build

Build: Compile to MSIL, stored locally in bin/

Publish: Create deployment package, ready for production

Framework-Dependent Deployment (FDD)

Requires .NET installed on target server.

dotnet publish -c Release

Creates folder: bin/Release/net8.0/publish/

Contains:

• Your .dll files
• Dependencies
• Configuration files

Target server needs: .NET 8 Runtime

Advantages: Smaller package (no runtime)

Use for: Azure App Service, shared servers

Self-Contained Deployment (SCD)

Includes .NET runtime with app.

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained

-r flag: Runtime identifier

• win-x64 — Windows 64-bit
• linux-x64 — Linux 64-bit
• osx-x64 — Mac Intel
• osx-arm64 — Mac Apple Silicon

Target server needs: Nothing (includes .NET)

Advantages: Works anywhere, no .NET dependency

Disadvantages: Larger package (includes runtime)

Publish a Project

dotnet publish -c Release

Creates publish/ folder with everything needed.

Copy publish/ folder to server, run.

Docker Deployment

Package app in Docker container.

Dockerfile:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
WORKDIR /build
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o output

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/runtime:8.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /build/output .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "SchoolAPI.dll"]

Build and run:

docker build -t schoolapi:1.0 .
docker run -p 8080:80 schoolapi:1.0

Azure App Service Deployment

For ASP.NET Core APIs.

1. Create App Service in Azure Portal
2. Publish from Visual Studio:
   • Right-click project → Publish
   • Select Azure App Service
   • Create or select existing service
3. Azure deploys automatically

Linux Server Deployment

1. Create Release build
2. Copy to server

dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 --self-contained

3. On server:

chmod +x SchoolAPI
./SchoolAPI

Publishing Settings

Configure in csproj:

<PropertyGroup>
  <PublishTrimmed>true</PublishTrimmed>
  <PublishReadyToRun>true</PublishReadyToRun>
  <PublishSingleFile>true</PublishSingleFile>
</PropertyGroup>

• PublishTrimmed: Remove unused code (smaller)
• PublishReadyToRun: Pre-compile for target platform (faster startup)
• PublishSingleFile: Single .exe file (convenient)

Versioning for Deployment

Update version in csproj before publish:

<PropertyGroup>
  <Version>1.2.0</Version>
</PropertyGroup>

Visible in:

• File properties
• Package information
• Assembly version

🎯 Interview Favourite

Q: What is the difference between framework-dependent and self-contained deployment?

Good Answer: "Framework-dependent deployment (FDD) publishes your application without including the .NET runtime, requiring the server to have .NET installed. Use with dotnet publish -c Release. It creates a smaller package but depends on the server having exactly the right .NET version. Self-contained deployment includes the full .NET runtime, so the application works anywhere without pre-installed .NET. Use dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained specifying the target runtime. SCD is larger but more portable. For ASP.NET Core on Azure App Service, use FDD. For distributing standalone executables or Docker containers, use SCD."

🤖Use AI to Learn Faster

Use ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot to go deeper on Deployment and publishing. Try these prompts:

• "When should I use framework-dependent vs self-contained deployment?"
• "How do I publish a .NET application for production?"
• "What is Docker and how does it help with deployment?"
• "How do I deploy to Azure App Service?"

💡 Tip: After reading this article, paste your own code into AI and ask "What could go wrong here and why?" — fastest way to find edge cases and deepen understanding.

.NET Platform Section Links

Use these links to continue the full Backend > .NET Platform topic from the top menu:

• .NET Platform Fundamentals
• .NET Developer Roadmap
• C# Tutorial
• ASP.NET Core Tutorial
• ASP.NET Core Web API
• SQL Server Tutorial
• .NET Interview Questions

Target search terms for this lesson: dotnet publish, .net deployment, self contained deployment dotnet, deploy dotnet app.

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