I understand that the physical path of an Application in IIS is not required to live in the same location reflected in the virtual paths. Of course, it can be done that way.
Is it considered bad practice to have this overlap? Are there any negative consequences that might occur by doing this?
Here is an example:
I have a website at c:\inetpub\wwwroot
and I deploy two applications:
Virtual Paths:
/apps/Application1
/apps/Application2
Physical Paths:
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\apps\Application1
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\apps\Application2
An alternative solution might be this:
Virtual Paths:
/apps/Application1
/apps/Application2
Physical Paths:
C:\inetpub\Application1
C:\inetpub\Application2
No, the physical path does not need to match the virtual path. It's totally up to you how you want to set it up.