Statement of problem/issue

• I have built a wordpress site using webmatrix 3.0 on our dev server on a virtual private server.
• I am now trying to deploy that worpdress site to our test server (a different IP address, virtual private server at the same hosting company).
• I am having problems doing that - i get a variety of errors when attempting to deploy
• I am not a server admin and know little about IIS or configuring it.

Background

i am trying to use a mixture of these articles here to help me set up the windows 2008, IIS 7.5 server for webmatrix webdeploment. the first article (forums.iis.net) is the main method i am using.

1.  http://forums.iis.net/t/1200267.aspx/1?How+do+I+get+Web+Deploy+Installed+Correctly
2.  http://www.orcsweb.com/blog/gabe/how-to-install-webdeploy-on-windows-server-2012/ and
3.  http://blog.scnetstudio.com/post/2011/01/08/How-to-Configure-Windows-Server-2008-R2-to-support-Web-Deploy-(for-Web-Matrix).aspx

What i have done so far:

Using the articles above, i have done the following on the test server, where i am trying to publish TO:

1. Downloaded Microsoft's web platform installer 4.5 (http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx) to the test server, customizing the download by selecting the 'recommended server configuration' apps as discussed article #2 above.
2. created a 'dummy web site' or test web site & set up a 'webmatrixuser" as discussed in article #2 above
3. Configured the windows server with the various permissions, delegation rules and other super confusing stuff as discussed in article #3 above
4. Finally, configured that dummy web site for web deploy publishing as discussed in article #2
5. export that web deploy file to a 'web deploy' folder created

I have done the following on the dev server, where i am trying to publish FROM:

1. Opened up web matrix
2. Imported the file from step #5 above into the publisher settings in webmatrix
3. Push "test connection"

An example of that publish settings screen in webmatrix is attached here.

What i have done with the DNS:

1. Logged into the network solutions account containing the dummy test domain we are using for testing/acceptance testing
2. Pointed the dns to the test server ip address

Results/Issues

After doing all of the above, i have the following:

1. I am not sure i have the publish settings correctly configured. when i configure the publish settings on the test server, the web deploy functionality defaults to the servername for the urls for the publishing server connection. i think i need to change that to the domain name i am pointing that ip address to right? My most recent error when i hit "validate connection' in webmatrix 3.0 is" unable to establish connection"
2. Since the dns was just changed today, do i need to wait for that to populate first?
3. Until the dns propogates, can i just use the ip address of the test server instead?
4. Are the procedures i used correct?
5. Did i need to go through all those five tasks outlined in "what i have done so far", and are they even correct? Task #3 really confused me

Supporting documents/snapshots

• test server web deploy setup
• test server web deploy setup publishing settings
• dev server webmatrix publishing settings

Thanks in advance for any help! i have spent days on this!

jay wilner