Configure auto-start providers for IIS website?

[phaedrus30]

Hi there,

We need to be able to provide a custom auto-start provider for a website we are installing, so that certain services can be enabled as soon as the application pool starts.

I can set the App Pool mode to AlwaysRunning using the Advanced Installer UI, and I can also see that there is an Enable Pre-loading checkbox on the Website settings - what does this do when it is switched on?

However I can't see any way of setting an auto-start provider for the website, as required for providing this configuration in %WINDIR%\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config:

Code: Select all

<sites>
    <site name="MySite" id="1">
        <application path="/" serviceAutoStartEnabled="true" serviceAutoStartProvider="ApplicationPreload" />
    </site>
</sites>

<!-- Just AFTER closing the `sites` element AND AFTER `webLimits` tag -->
<serviceAutoStartProviders>
    <add name="ApplicationPreload" type="WebApplication1.ApplicationPreload, WebApplication1" />
</serviceAutoStartProviders>

Is this feature available, or do I have to use a custom action that wraps APPCMD? Being able to use the Advanced Installer UI would be preferable, of course, as it simplifies things a lot.

Thanks,

Sam

[Dan]

Hi Sam,

I can set the App Pool mode to AlwaysRunning using the Advanced Installer UI, and I can also see that there is an Enable Pre-loading checkbox on the Website settings - what does this do when it is switched on?

If the Enable pre-loading option is enabled, the website is loaded before the first request for it arrives from the users. This refers to database connections, .NET Framework, and the just-in-time compilation for ASP.NET applications, that usually get loaded the first time a user requests the website.
Also, the Enable Pre-Loading option is about the Application Initialization Module which replaced the auto-start support.

Is this feature available, or do I have to use a custom action that wraps APPCMD? Being able to use the Advanced Installer UI would be preferable, of course, as it simplifies things a lot.

We don't have support for this, so you will have to create your own custom action to implement this.

If you have other questions, please let us know.

Best regards,
Dan