IIS 7.5 - Unable to deploy second server to WFF farm, "Failed to upload assembly 'Microsoft.Web.PlatformInstaller, Version=3.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' on remote agent"

I recently had a case where customer was setting up a web farm using the Web Farm Framework (WFF).

 

Customer could setup the controller and deploy the primary server.

However, when attempting to deploy a secondary server into the farm, it failed with the following:

 

Failed to upload assembly 'Microsoft.Web.PlatformInstaller, Version=3.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' on remote agent.

 

So I did what you do when you get cases like this. Research. But I couldn’t come up with anything, so hence this post.

 

It showed that the error in this case came from the fact that the receiving machine, i.e. the one that would act as host for the secondary server did not have .Net installed.

Each computer that will participate in a server farm needs to (amongst other things) have the .NET Framework 2.0 or later installed.

 

Once installed, the secondary server could be deployed.

 

Some references:

 

Setting up a Server Farm with the Web Farm Framework 2.0 for IIS 7

https://www.iis.net/learn/web-hosting/microsoft-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis-7/setting-up-a-server-farm-with-the-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis  

System and Platform Requirements for the Web Farm Framework 2.0 for IIS 7

https://www.iis.net/learn/web-hosting/microsoft-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis-7/system-and-platform-requirements-for-the-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis  

Creating a Server Farm with the Web Farm Framework

https://www.asp.net/web-forms/tutorials/deployment/configuring-server-environments-for-web-deployment/creating-a-server-farm-with-the-web-farm-framework  

Overview of the Web Farm Framework 2.0 for IIS 7

https://www.iis.net/learn/web-hosting/microsoft-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis-7/overview-of-the-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis  

 

HTH