Question

sessionState mode="StateServer" vs. "InProc"

Asked by: Monroe406

I have a Windows 2000 Server (SP4) with .NET Framework 1.1 (with hotfixes) installed, along with .NET Framework 2

I have a Delphi .DLL that interfaces with several .aspx files as part of a member database.  Each .aspx file contains categorized properties about members.  The first page is named profile1.aspx, the second page profile2.aspx and so forth.  NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons allow the user to move back and forth.

For some unknown reason, the session state was being lost as the member/user clicked the NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons.  My web.config file contained the following lines:

    <sessionState
            mode="InProc"
            stateConnectionString="tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424"
            sqlConnectionString="data source=127.0.0.1;user id=sa;password="
            cookieless="false"
            timeout="20"
    />

Out of desperation we changed the mode from "InProc" to "StateServer" and then turned ON the "ASP.NET State Service" from within the Services MMC snap-in.  After making this change, the session state is preserved between pages.

Might anyone know why session state would always be lost as the user moved from .aspx to .aspx page?

And 'yes' we do have the Application > App Options > Application Configuration > Enable Session State ENABLED within the web site's properties within IIS 5 (with session timeout of 20 minutes).

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Asked On
2009-01-22 at 18:06:42ID24076379
Topics

.NET

,

Microsoft IIS Web Server

,

Windows 2000 Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
0
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: wolfman007Posted on 2009-01-23 at 02:40:18ID: 23447754

StateServer stores session state in a separate process, so the state is preserved if the application is restarted.

You might have been losing sessions between pages if the app pools settings were causing it to be recycled because IIS thought the app pool was idle.

Idle Timeout

IIS 6.0 (and probably 7) has a setting that controls how idle processes are handled.

This can also affect the session timeout indirectly. This is the case when let's say you have the Idle timeout set to 10 minutes to save resources. If your site is not used a lot and say that the only user using your site stopped using it 10 minutes ago, this means that your application will get recycled. One of the side effects of an application getting recycled is that all sessions are terminated also. So, in this case even if your session is set to timeout say in 30 minutes, under some conditions (little traffic), it is effectively 10 minutes.

http://justgeeks.blogspot.com/2008/07/aspnet-session-timeouts.html

 

by: Monroe406Posted on 2009-01-23 at 05:39:35ID: 23448751

>> IIS 6.0 (and probably 7)  has a setting that controls

As our message stated, "I have a Windows 2000 Server (SP4)... within IIS 5"

What v 6 and 7 have is of little help.

>> let's say you have the Idle timeout set to 10 minutes to save resources.

The lost session state is taking place within a span of 30 SECONDS!  It only takes me 10 seconds to input bogus data on profile1.aspx and click the NEXT button, taking me (or, SHOULD be taking me) to profile2.aspx.  However, instead of forwarding me to profile2.aspx (the next page), the app throws the user to the login.aspx page, because the user session has already been lost.

 

by: Monroe406Posted on 2009-03-07 at 08:28:18ID: 23825412

I finally discovered the problem.  Our DLL app was writing a LOG file to the same folder where the DLL file resided.  Evidently .NET framework has a built in feature of automatically recycling the application/global data whenever something is changed in the bin folder. As a result, the global data of the application is being reset.

 

by: ee_autoPosted on 2009-03-20 at 02:22:15ID: 23937789

Question PAQ'd, 250 points refunded, and stored in the solution database.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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