Mike Volodarsky's WebLog

Creating portable ASP.NET applications that work on IIS 6.0, IIS 7.0 Classic, and IIS 7.0 Integrated modes

mvolo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:40:00 GMT

ASP.NET applications in IIS 7.0 Integrated mode requires configuration changes if they define custom modules or handlers. However, it is still possible to create portable ASP.NET applications that can function in all three environments without configuration changes.

See how at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2008/04/15/Creating-portable-ASP.NET-applications-that-work-on-IIS-6.0_2C00_-IIS-7.0-Classic_2C00_-and-IIS-7.0-Integrated-modes.aspx.

Thanks,

Mike

FastCGI RTM for IIS 6.0 is released on Download Center

mvolo — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:31:00 GMT

Just over a year after the we first announced the FastCGI, the final RTM version is here!

Read more about it and the history of the FastCGI project at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/11/12/FastCGI-for-IIS-6.0-is-released-on-Download-Center.aspx.

Thanks,

Mike

Request is not available in this context exception in Application_Start

mvolo — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 06:24:00 GMT

The “Request is not available in this context” exception is one of the more common errors you may receive on when moving ASP.NET applications to Integrated mode on IIS 7.0. This exception happens in your implementation of the Application_Start method in the global.asax file if you attempt to access the HttpContext of the request that started the application.

Learn more about why this happens and how to work around it to start enjoying the benefits of ASP.NET Integrated mode for your application: http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/11/10/Integrated-mode-Request-is-not-available-in-this-context-in-Application_5F00_Start.aspx.

Find your way around IIS 7 configuration sections with AppCmd

mvolo — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 08:36:00 GMT

The IIS 7 configuration system contains 50+ configuration sections (100+ if you count .NET Framework configuration), 477 attributes, and 57 collections. This can make it pretty challenging to figure out exactly what IIS 7 configuration section needs to be used to turn on some particular behavior, and then exactly syntax the configuration in that section should follow.

This is not typically an issue for me, because I can write most IIS configuration from memory. But, what if you didn't spend the past 4 years developing IIS7?

Learn some tricks for demystifying the IIS7 config at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/11/01/IIS7-configuration-sections-exposed.aspx.

Mike's IIS7 modules - what's coming next

mvolo — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:11:00 GMT

During IIS7 development, I've written quite a few modules for IIS7 / ASP.NET. Some of these were for various demos, others were to help out various internal and external customers, and others just because they were fun to write.

Now, I am thinking about upgrading some of these with the feature requests and bugfixes you have been asking for, and getting some new ones up as well. Come check out what you can get right now, and weigh in on what I should next at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/10/28/Mike_2700_s-IIS7-modules-_2D00_-what_2700_s-coming-next.aspx.

Fastest way to create IIS7 websites, applications, and application pools

mvolo — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:14:00 GMT

IIS7 provides quite a few ways to create websites, applications, and application pools. You can use the GUI, but what if you need to create 10, 100, or even 10,000 websites?

Read about the fastest way to create IIS7 websites in bulk at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/10/06/Create-IIS7-websites-and-application-pools-fast-with-AppCmd.aspx.

Temporary mvolo.com outages

mvolo — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 04:44:00 GMT

You may have noticed mvolo.com being unavailable at certain points over the past two days. I am in the process of moving the server across the country, and that combined with certain other toubles with the internet setup is contributing to spotty availability.

Next week the server will find its new permanent home so it will start being available 24/7 once again.

In the meantime, sorry for the inconvinience. Do check back soon as there are A LOT of exciting news and new stuff coming your way next week.

Thanks,

Mike

New IIS7 modules, Hosting roadshow, MSDN magazine, IIS7 Resource Kit, and more

mvolo — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:05:00 GMT

I've haven't had a chance to post much over the past few weeks - its pretty frustrating at times to look at the ever-increasing backlog of juicy IIS7 topics that I want to cover and no time to actually do them justice.

I've been working on a few interesting things lately, that have been taking my extra time.

Read more at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/09/09/End-of-summer-update_3A00_-New-IIS7-modules_2C00_-Hosting-roadshow_2C00_-MSDN-magazine_2C00_-IIS7-Resource-Kit_2C00_-and-more.aspx.

Developing IIS7 web server features with the .NET framework

mvolo — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:42:00 GMT

This article, the first in the IIS7 .NET Developer series, focuses on getting started with developing IIS7 web server features based on the .NET Framework. Learn about the options you have for your development environment, how to set up your Visual Studio project, when to build a module vs. a handler, and more. By the end of the article, you would have built and deployed a simple IIS7 managed handler and module.

Read the entire article at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/08/15/Developing-IIS7-web-server-features-with-the-.NET-framework.aspx.

IIS Authentication plugin for the Wordpress PHP blogging engine

mvolo — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:09:00 GMT

This weekend, I was working on an MSDN magazine article and happened to install PHP’s Wordpress blog app on IIS7. Of course, I used the latest FastCGI bits available in the box in in Windows Server 2008 Beta 3, and the latest Windows-optimized PHP 5.2.3 build from www.php.net. Long story short, I ended up writing a Wordpress plugin that allows Wordpress to use IIS authentication methods, including forms authentication.

Read more about installing Wordpress on IIS7, the Wordpress extensibility model, and get the IIS Authentication plugin for Wordpress here: http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/08/12/IIS-Authentication-plugin-for-the-Wordpress-PHP-blogging-engine.aspx.

IISSCHEMA.EXE - A tool to register IIS7 configuration sections

mvolo — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 06:57:00 GMT

IIS7 configuration extensibility allows you to create custom configuration sections that can be used side by side the IIS configuration sections. However, setting this up requires a few steps that may be difficult to accomplish, especially in a automated way from a script or an installer.

This post describes the IIS7 configuration extensibility, the steps to create and register your custom configuration sections, and provides a downloadable tool you can use to simplify and automate this process.

Read all about it and download IISSCHEMA.EXE here: http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/08/04/IISSCHEMA.EXE-_2D00_-A-tool-to-register-IIS7-configuration-sections.aspx.

Troubleshoot IIS7 errors like a pro

mvolo — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:50:00 GMT

Dealing with server errors can be frustruating. Thankfully, IIS7 comes with many improvements to help diagnose errors when they occur, and help resolve them - however, its important that you know how to property use these capabilities.

This post gives you what you need to know to troubleshoot IIS7 errors like a pro.

Read all about it at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/07/26/Troubleshoot-IIS7-errors-like-a-pro.aspx.

Anatomy of an IIS7 configuration path

mvolo — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:41:00 GMT

If you have worked with IIS6 and previous versions of IIS, you are most likely familiar with the IIS metabase paths. You know, the ones that look like LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT. The concept of configuration paths changes significantly in IIS7 with the introduction of the new distributed configuration system, and I wanted to spend some time discussing the new configuration pathsto help you manage and operate your IIS7 server with ease.

Read all about IIS7 configuration paths at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/07/21/Anatomy-of-an-IIS7-configuration-path.aspx.

OleView freezes / hangs forever on Windows Vista

mvolo — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:38:00 GMT

If you are working with COM and using OleView.exe on Windows Vista to view type libraries, you may notice that the tool hangs forever when trying to open a type library from a file or resource in a DLL. I've encountered this problem myself on every Vista box I've tried it on, and have seen people complaining about it elsewhere.

The solution is pretty simple - read http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/07/21/OleView-freezes-_2F00_-hangs-forever-on-Windows-Vista.aspx for more details.

Thanks,

Mike

Creating IIS7 sites, applications, and virtual directories

mvolo — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:44:00 GMT

In the course of IIS7 development, the team and I have answered an infinity of questions about IIS7 on any possible topic imaginable. Ironically, neither I nor anyone else I know on the team has ever answered the most basic question - what is the minimum set of steps necessary to get a website running with IIS7?

This post answers this exact question, and explains the key IIS7 concepts of sites, applications, and virtual directories (vdirs), which must be created before your IIS7 server can serve a single request. It also provides the steps necessary to create IIS7 sites, applications, and virtual directories, and options for configuring them.

Read more at http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2007/07/12/Creating-IIS7-sites_2C00_-applications_2C00_-and-virtual-directories.aspx.