Sharepoint 2007 Content Deployment

Content deployment is one of the most discussed topics on the web. Can think of two reasons
1. Sheer value of the feature - ability to author content on one environment and deploy it on another seamlessly is simply too cool
2. Quite a bit of issues to deal with and think about while using the feature

Having gone through the grind, I would suggest the following
1. Use the feature as it is OOB but don't go overboard with it. This surely is not a feature where you can try out smart ideas.
2. Even the simplest and straight forward use cases can have issues, but there are resolution available too refer
3. Understand how the whole thing works conceptually so you can think through certain issues

Know the following
1. Content deployment has the following 3 distinct steps --> EXPORT of content that needs to get deployed from source server to source server physical location, TRANSPORT of exported content from source to destination server's physical location, IMPORT of content from the transported files to destination content db
2. Manifest file is available in the exported file which plays the role of the manifest file we find elsewere - gives information about the content that is getting deployed
3. Timerservice OWSTIMER.exe is the process that does content deployment (on both servers)
4. OWSTIMER removes the deployed content from the physical location automaticallly - in case you want the manifest xml for debugging, you need to play a you-or-me-first game with the owstimer process
5. If you have features deployed in the source - make sure that they are deployed in destination (through WSP) before content deployment happens