Ram Poornalingam's WebLog

Activation Without .svc files – Config Based Activation (CBA)

Ram Poornalingam — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:44:21 GMT

.Svc files were perceived as a management overhead. In Net Framework 4.0, WCF services hosted in WAS/IIS do not require .svc file anymore.

We can activates service through the config Based Activation feature.

This feature allows for registration of services in web.config file. Here is a sample registration for two services in a single web.config file.

<system.serviceModel>
 <serviceHostingEnvironment>
   <serviceActivations>
   <add relativeAddress=”CreditCheckService.svc” service=”Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples.CreditCheckService” />
   <add relativeAddress=”Payment/Service.svc” service=”Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples.PaymentCheckService” />
  </serviceActivations>
 </serviceHostingEnvironment>
</system.serviceModel>

Some details to remember about config Based Activation feature

serviceHostingEnvironment is an application level configuration. Please place the web.config containng the configuration under the root of the virtual Application.
CBA supports activation over both http and non-http protocol
CBA feature requires extensions in the relatativeAddress i.e. .svc, .xoml or .xamlx. You can map your own extensions to the know buildProviders which will then enable you to activate service over any extension.
Upon confict, CBA overrides .svc registrations.
serviceHostingEnvironment is a machinetoApplication inheritable section. If you register a single service in the root of the machine then every service in the application will inherit this service.

.NET 4.0 Beta1/Beta2 Web Application Configuration section missing declaration error

Ram Poornalingam — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:02:10 GMT

Symptoms

If you encounter the following error in your web application (things hosted in IIS) “The configuration section <sectionName> cannot be read because it is missing a section declaration "

examples

“The configuration section 'standardEndpoints' cannot be read because it is missing a section declaration”

“The configuration section ‘tracking’ cannot be read because it is missing a section declaration”

then you need to install either SP2 of Vista/Win2k8 or the hotfix mentioned in KB article 958854.

I would actually recommend anyone trying out 4.0 Beta1 bits always install the hotfix below.

Issue

A cut and paste from the KB article

“A hotfix rollup is available for Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 to support the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. This hotfix rollup resolves the following issues that occur when you use the .NET Framework 4.0 with IIS 7.0:

You cannot use the IIS Manager UI (Inetmgr.exe) to manage both .NET Framework 2.0 applications and .NET Framework 4.0 applications.
You cannot use WMI to manage .NET Framework 4.0 configurations.
The managed runtime version is not set correctly in the worker process (W3wp.exe).
The IIS configuration system does not determine the correct managed runtime version.
You cannot use the IIS 7.0 command-line management tool (Appcmd.exe) to manage .NET Framework 4.0 configurations.
The IIS Manager UI (Inetmgr.exe) shows the .NET Framework 2.0 Provider features for .NET Framework 4.0 applications and site

“

Here is the link to the KB article

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/958854

Solution

Install Windows Server 2008 /Vista Sp2

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/dd727510.aspx

Install hotfix

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=958854&kbln=en-us

Hosting WCF service with multiple IIS site bindings/base addresses per scheme

Ram Poornalingam — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:36:56 GMT

Technorati Tags: WCF

Here is a workaround to support this -http://ranamauro.blogspot.com/2008/07/hosting-wcf-service-on-iis-site-with_25.html

How can WCF support multiple IIS Binding specified per site ?

Ram Poornalingam — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Background

IIS has web sites, which are containers for virtual applications which contain virtual directories. The application in a site can be accessed through one or more IIS binding.

IIS bindings provide two pieces of information – binding protocol and binding information. Binding protocol defines the scheme over which communication occurs, and binding information is the information used to access the site.

Example

Binding protocol – HTTP

Binding Information – IPAddress , Port, Hostheader

IIS supports specifying multiple IIS bindings per site, which results in multiple base addresses per scheme. A WCF service hosted under a site allows binding to only one baseAddress per scheme.

Solution in .Net Fx 3.0:Supporting Multiple IIS Bindings Per Site

Solution in .Net Fx3.5: BaseAddressPrefixFilters

I am updating this blog entry with a better solution support for 3.5. This one does not require you to write custom factories

Say you want to host the service over http://payroll.myorg.com:80 and http://payroll.myorg.com:9000

Step1 set the baseAddressPrefix to one of the addresses

Example

<system.serviceModel>

<serviceHostingEnvironment>

<baseAddressPrefixFilters>

<add prefix=”http://payroll.myorg.com:8000”/>

</baseAddressPrefixFilters>

</serviceHostingEnvironment>

</system.serviceModel>

Step 2 Set the endpoints in your web.config file to be absolute URIs

<services>

<service>

<endpoint address="http://payroll.myorg.com:8000/Service1.svc/EP1" Binding="..." Contract="..." />

<endpoint address="http://payroll.myorg.com:9000/Service1.svc/EP12" Binding="..." Contract="..." />

</service>

</services>

Solution in .Net Fx4.0: BaseAddressPrefixFilters

Beta2 Fix

In the current Beta2 release of the .NET Framework, we added support for multiple site binding . Just set the binding in IIS site and the service will inherit the address

Final RTM Fix

In the final bits, we decided to make it an opt-in due to application compatability reasons. In order to enable multiple site binding, you need to set multipleSiteBindingEnabled to true in your application. Multiple site binding is supported only for Http protocol. The address of endpoints in the configuration file need to be complete URI. When porting your 3.0 or 3.5 workaround to 4.0 you need to keep this particular aspect.

How do I set binding and enable protocols for Non-Http Transports in IIS?

Ram Poornalingam — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:01:45 GMT

Current in Vista the only mechanism for turning on the settings for Non-Http transports is through AppCmd.exe (For information on Hosting in WAS read - How to- Host a WCF Service in WAS) .This capability has been added in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista sp1. Through IIS Manager, you will be able to set binding on the site and enable the protocol on the Virtual Application. The screenshots below walk you through the steps.

Step 1 Set the Binding on the Site

Step 2 Enable the Protocol on the Virtual Application under the site

Tech Ed 2007

Ram Poornalingam — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:13:29 GMT

Tech Ed 2007 was in Florida this year and was attended by over 13,000 people . Wow! that is huge . Lots of teched content is still accessible online . Check out this site for more information http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2007/default.mspx

I gave a chalk talk on "Hosting WCF and WF applications in IIS" ,which was well received and did booth duty rest of the time. This gave me an opportunity to interact with many customers, understand their pain points and solve a few of their problems.

I also took some pictures at Tech-Ed .....

Portofino Bay at Universal (the last pic is the map of the hotel) is the resort hotel I stayed in Orlando; I highly recommend this place.

Technorati Tags: WCF

Supporting Multiple IIS Bindings Per Site

Ram Poornalingam — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:59:00 GMT

If you see this error when you are hosting in IIS then most probably you have multiple IIS bindings per scheme in your web site. WCF in .Net Framework 3.0 ,out of the box, does not support multiple binding per site, but this can enabled by extending the System.ServiceModel.Activation.ServiceHostFactory, and providing a CustomServiceHostFactory. CustomServiceHostFactory picks the appropriate base address for the application. The Factory attribute in the ServiceHost directive is set to the CustomSerivceHostFactory.

The only drawback is every developer hosting their application will need to change the svc file to provide the CustomServiceHostFactory, which picks the appropriate base address.

Sample Code

public class MultipleIISBindingSupportServiceHostFactory : ServiceHostFactory

{

protected override ServiceHost CreateServiceHost(Type serviceType, Uri[] baseAddresses)

{

Uri[] requiredAddress = GetAppropriateBase(baseAddresses);

return base.CreateServiceHost(serviceType, requiredAddress);

}

Uri[] GetAppropriateBase(Uri [] baseAddresses)

{

List<Uri> retAddress = new List<Uri>();

foreach (Uri address in baseAddresses)

{

if (address.DnsSafeHost == "localhost")

{

retAddress.Add(address);

}

return retAddress.ToArray();

}

In the svc file, fill in the Factory attribute

<%@ServiceHost Factory="NS.MultipleIISBindingSupportServiceHostFactory" Service="CalculatorService" %>

.Net Framework 3.0 Shipped

Ram Poornalingam — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:34:00 GMT

This Entry is a bit late, but nevertheless .....

.Net Framework 3.0 Redist

This is an additive release to 2.0 which contains Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows WorkFlow Foundation(WF)Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows Cardspaces. No new features have been added to the base existing framework

.Net Framework 3.0 SDK

This is the Windows Vista SDK RTM release which also contains the SDK for .Net Framework 3.0 .

Monthly refreshes of WCF SDK can retrieved from http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa388579.aspx . MSDN Refreshes contain only conceptual and reference documentation updates. Most likely there are no issue with our tools ;)

WCF SDK contains conceptual documentation, reference documentation, tools like Svcutil.exe etc., libs, and header files.

Finally !!!

Ram Poornalingam — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:21:00 GMT

I am a Program Manager with the Connected Systems Division, and will be using this space to dump any use information WCF,WF and related technologies. I will try to keep my focus of the logs on hosting.

I also hope to seek your opinions,comments and feedback on various issues that I will be blogging.