Deploying a Web Service is enabling a Web service to execute on a specific Web server. Before deploying a Web service the first thing you need to do is change the namespace of the Web service and make sure it specifies a unique namespace. The reason why you need to change the namespace is to avoid conflicts with other Web services. The default Web service namespace is set to "http://tempuri.org" and there exists a possibility that others might be using the same namespace. The namespace you specify is used within the WSDL document of the Web service to uniquely identify the callable entry points of the service. It is recommended that you specify a namespace URI that you own or have under you control. Using your domain name as part of Web service namespace gurantee uniqueness. ASP .NET Web services support a Namespace property as part of the WebService attribute which is set to tempuri.org by default. The following code sample shows how to set a namespace to a Web service.

In general, deploying a Web service is copying the Web service entry point file (ASMX file), the Web service assembly and related assemblies and other support files like Web.config, etc, to the target Web server. Some Web services may just require you to copy the ASMX file on to the target Web server. The tools you can use to deploy a Web service are: VS .NET Web Setup Project and VS .NET Project Copy.

If you build your Web services with Visual Studio .NET then you can use the Web Setup Project wizard to deploy your Web service. The Web Setup project creates a MSI file that when executed, creates and configures a virtual directory on the Web server, copies all the required files to execute the Web service and registers any additional assemblies needed by the Web service. The image below displays the new project dialogue with Web Setup as the selection.

The steps required to deploy a Web service using the Web Setup project are as follows:

1. Create the Web Setup project using the Web Setup Project template in VS .NET.
2. Build the project.
3. Copy the installation package to the target Web server
4. Run the installation package on the Web server.

When you use Web Setup Project to deploy your Web services you have an option to specify an alternate virtual directory during the setup process and also the setup process creates a new virtual directory and configures the virtual directory for the Web service.

VS .NET project copy is another method for deploying Web services. This is a simple process for deployment but it does not perform the tasks like configuring a virtual directory and file registrations that the Web service may require. You can view the Project Copy dialogue by selecting Project->Copy Project from main menu. Tha image below displays that.

As you can see from the above image, you have three options while using this method. They are:

Only files needed to run this application: Copies all DLLs with references in the bin folder as well as any files marked with a BuildAction of Content.

All project files: Copies all project files created and managed by VS .NET.

All files in the source project folder:Copies all VS .NET project files as well as other files that reside in the project folders.