https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/host-and-deploy/aspnet-core-module?view=aspnetcore-3.1
ASP.NET Core Module
By Tom Dykstra, Rick Strahl, Chris Ross, Rick Anderson, Sourabh Shirhatti, and Justin Kotalik
The ASP.NET Core Module is a native IIS module that plugs into the IIS pipeline to either:
- Host an ASP.NET Core app inside of the IIS worker process (
w3wp.exe
), called the in-process hosting model. - Forward web requests to a backend ASP.NET Core app running the Kestrel server, called the out-of-process hosting model.
Supported Windows versions:
- Windows 7 or later
- Windows Server 2008 R2 or later
When hosting in-process, the module uses an in-process server implementation for IIS, called IIS HTTP Server (IISHttpServer
).
When hosting out-of-process, the module only works with Kestrel. The module doesn't function with HTTP.sys.
Hosting models
In-process hosting model
ASP.NET Core apps default to the in-process hosting model.
The following characteristics apply when hosting in-process:
-
IIS HTTP Server (
IISHttpServer
) is used instead of Kestrel server. For in-process, CreateDefaultBuilder calls UseIIS to:- Register the
IISHttpServer
. - Configure the port and base path the server should listen on when running behind the ASP.NET Core Module.
- Configure the host to capture startup errors.
- Register the
-
The requestTimeout attribute doesn't apply to in-process hosting.
-
Sharing an app pool among apps isn't supported. Use one app pool per app.
-
When using Web Deploy or manually placing an app_offline.htm file in the deployment, the app might not shut down immediately if there's an open connection. For example, a websocket connection may delay app shut down.
-
The architecture (bitness) of the app and installed runtime (x64 or x86) must match the architecture of the app pool.
-
Client disconnects are detected. The HttpContext.RequestAborted cancellation token is cancelled when the client disconnects.
-
In ASP.NET Core 2.2.1 or earlier, GetCurrentDirectory returns the worker directory of the process started by IIS rather than the app's directory (for example, C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv for w3wp.exe).
For sample code that sets the app's current directory, see the CurrentDirectoryHelpers class. Call the
SetCurrentDirectory
method. Subsequent calls to GetCurrentDirectory provide the app's directory. -
When hosting in-process, AuthenticateAsync isn't called internally to initialize a user. Therefore, an IClaimsTransformation implementation used to transform claims after every authentication isn't activated by default. When transforming claims with an IClaimsTransformation implementation, call AddAuthentication to add authentication services:
C#public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) { services.AddTransient<IClaimsTransformation, ClaimsTransformer>(); services.AddAuthentication(IISServerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme); } public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app) { app.UseAuthentication(); }
- Web Package (single-file) deployments aren't supported.
Out-of-process hosting model
To configure an app for out-of-process hosting, set the value of the <AspNetCoreHostingModel>
property to OutOfProcess
in the project file (.csproj):
<PropertyGroup>
<AspNetCoreHostingModel>OutOfProcess</AspNetCoreHostingModel>
</PropertyGroup>
In-process hosting is set with InProcess
, which is the default value.
The value of <AspNetCoreHostingModel>
is case insensitive, so inprocess
and outofprocess
are valid values.
Kestrel server is used instead of IIS HTTP Server (IISHttpServer
).
For out-of-process, CreateDefaultBuilder calls UseIISIntegration to:
- Configure the port and base path the server should listen on when running behind the ASP.NET Core Module.
- Configure the host to capture startup errors.
Hosting model changes
If the hostingModel
setting is changed in the web.config file (explained in the Configuration with web.config section), the module recycles the worker process for IIS.
For IIS Express, the module doesn't recycle the worker process but instead triggers a graceful shutdown of the current IIS Express process. The next request to the app spawns a new IIS Express process.
Process name
Process.GetCurrentProcess().ProcessName
reports w3wp
/iisexpress
(in-process) or dotnet
(out-of-process).
Many native modules, such as Windows Authentication, remain active. To learn more about IIS modules active with the ASP.NET Core Module, see IIS modules with ASP.NET Core.
The ASP.NET Core Module can also:
- Set environment variables for the worker process.
- Log stdout output to file storage for troubleshooting startup issues.
- Forward Windows authentication tokens.
How to install and use the ASP.NET Core Module
For instructions on how to install the ASP.NET Core Module, see Install the .NET Core Hosting Bundle.
Configuration with web.config
The ASP.NET Core Module is configured with the aspNetCore
section of the system.webServer
node in the site's web.config file.
The following web.config file is published for a framework-dependent deployment and configures the ASP.NET Core Module to handle site requests:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
<location path="." inheritInChildApplications="false">
<system.webServer>
<handlers>
<add name="aspNetCore" path="*" verb="*" modules="AspNetCoreModuleV2" resourceType="Unspecified" />
</handlers>
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="false"
stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout"
hostingModel="inprocess" />
</system.webServer>
</location>
</configuration>
The following web.config is published for a self-contained deployment:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
<location path="." inheritInChildApplications="false">
<system.webServer>
<handlers>
<add name="aspNetCore" path="*" verb="*" modules="AspNetCoreModuleV2" resourceType="Unspecified" />
</handlers>
<aspNetCore processPath=".\MyApp.exe"
stdoutLogEnabled="false"
stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout"
hostingModel="inprocess" />
</system.webServer>
</location>
</configuration>
The InheritInChildApplications property is set to false
to indicate that the settings specified within the <location> element aren't inherited by apps that reside in a subdirectory of the app.
When an app is deployed to Azure App Service, the stdoutLogFile
path is set to \\?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout
. The path saves stdout logs to the LogFiles folder, which is a location automatically created by the service.
For information on IIS sub-application configuration, see Host ASP.NET Core on Windows with IIS.
Attributes of the aspNetCore element
Attribute | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
arguments |
Optional string attribute. Arguments to the executable specified in processPath. |
|
disableStartUpErrorPage |
Optional Boolean attribute. If true, the 502.5 - Process Failure page is suppressed, and the 502 status code page configured in the web.config takes precedence. |
false |
forwardWindowsAuthToken |
Optional Boolean attribute. If true, the token is forwarded to the child process listening on %ASPNETCORE_PORT% as a header 'MS-ASPNETCORE-WINAUTHTOKEN' per request. It's the responsibility of that process to call CloseHandle on this token per request. |
true |
hostingModel |
Optional string attribute. Specifies the hosting model as in-process ( |
InProcess inprocess |
processesPerApplication |
Optional integer attribute. Specifies the number of instances of the process specified in the processPath setting that can be spun up per app. †For in-process hosting, the value is limited to Setting |
Default: 1 Min: 1 Max: 100 † |
processPath |
Required string attribute. Path to the executable that launches a process listening for HTTP requests. Relative paths are supported. If the path begins with |
|
rapidFailsPerMinute |
Optional integer attribute. Specifies the number of times the process specified in processPath is allowed to crash per minute. If this limit is exceeded, the module stops launching the process for the remainder of the minute. Not supported with in-process hosting. |
Default: 10 Min: 0 Max: 100 |
requestTimeout |
Optional timespan attribute. Specifies the duration for which the ASP.NET Core Module waits for a response from the process listening on %ASPNETCORE_PORT%. In versions of the ASP.NET Core Module that shipped with the release of ASP.NET Core 2.1 or later, the Doesn't apply to in-process hosting. For in-process hosting, the module waits for the app to process the request. Valid values for minutes and seconds segments of the string are in the range 0-59. Use of 60 in the value for minutes or seconds results in a 500 - Internal Server Error. |
Default: 00:02:00 Min: 00:00:00 Max: 360:00:00 |
shutdownTimeLimit |
Optional integer attribute. Duration in seconds that the module waits for the executable to gracefully shutdown when the app_offline.htm file is detected. |
Default: 10 Min: 0 Max: 600 |
startupTimeLimit |
Optional integer attribute. Duration in seconds that the module waits for the executable to start a process listening on the port. If this time limit is exceeded, the module kills the process. The module attempts to relaunch the process when it receives a new request and continues to attempt to restart the process on subsequent incoming requests unless the app fails to start rapidFailsPerMinute number of times in the last rolling minute. A value of 0 (zero) is not considered an infinite timeout. |
Default: 120 Min: 0 Max: 3600 |
stdoutLogEnabled |
Optional Boolean attribute. If true, stdout and stderr for the process specified in processPath are redirected to the file specified in stdoutLogFile. |
false |
stdoutLogFile |
Optional string attribute. Specifies the relative or absolute file path for which stdout and stderr from the process specified in processPath are logged. Relative paths are relative to the root of the site. Any path starting with |
aspnetcore-stdout |
Set environment variables
Environment variables can be specified for the process in the processPath
attribute. Specify an environment variable with the <environmentVariable>
child element of an <environmentVariables>
collection element. Environment variables set in this section take precedence over system environment variables.
The following example sets two environment variables in web.config. ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT
configures the app's environment to Development
. A developer may temporarily set this value in the web.config file in order to force the Developer Exception Page to load when debugging an app exception. CONFIG_DIR
is an example of a user-defined environment variable, where the developer has written code that reads the value on startup to form a path for loading the app's configuration file.
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="false"
stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout"
hostingModel="inprocess">
<environmentVariables>
<environmentVariable name="ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT" value="Development" />
<environmentVariable name="CONFIG_DIR" value="f:\application_config" />
</environmentVariables>
</aspNetCore>
Note
An alternative to setting the environment directly in web.config is to include the <EnvironmentName>
property in the publish profile (.pubxml) or project file. This approach sets the environment in web.config when the project is published:
<PropertyGroup>
<EnvironmentName>Development</EnvironmentName>
</PropertyGroup>
Warning
Only set the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT
environment variable to Development
on staging and testing servers that aren't accessible to untrusted networks, such as the Internet.
app_offline.htm
If a file with the name app_offline.htm is detected in the root directory of an app, the ASP.NET Core Module attempts to gracefully shutdown the app and stop processing incoming requests. If the app is still running after the number of seconds defined in shutdownTimeLimit
, the ASP.NET Core Module kills the running process.
While the app_offline.htm file is present, the ASP.NET Core Module responds to requests by sending back the contents of the app_offline.htm file. When the app_offline.htm file is removed, the next request starts the app.
When using the out-of-process hosting model, the app might not shut down immediately if there's an open connection. For example, a websocket connection may delay app shut down.
Start-up error page
Both in-process and out-of-process hosting produce custom error pages when they fail to start the app.
If the ASP.NET Core Module fails to find either the in-process or out-of-process request handler, a 500.0 - In-Process/Out-Of-Process Handler Load Failure status code page appears.
For in-process hosting if the ASP.NET Core Module fails to start the app, a 500.30 - Start Failure status code page appears.
For out-of-process hosting if the ASP.NET Core Module fails to launch the backend process or the backend process starts but fails to listen on the configured port, a 502.5 - Process Failure status code page appears.
To suppress this page and revert to the default IIS 5xx status code page, use the disableStartUpErrorPage
attribute. For more information on configuring custom error messages, see HTTP Errors <httpErrors>.
Log creation and redirection
The ASP.NET Core Module redirects stdout and stderr console output to disk if the stdoutLogEnabled
and stdoutLogFile
attributes of the aspNetCore
element are set. Any folders in the stdoutLogFile
path are created by the module when the log file is created. The app pool must have write access to the location where the logs are written (use IIS AppPool\<app_pool_name>
to provide write permission).
Logs aren't rotated, unless process recycling/restart occurs. It's the responsibility of the hoster to limit the disk space the logs consume.
Using the stdout log is only recommended for troubleshooting app startup issues when hosting on IIS or when using development-time support for IIS with Visual Studio, not while debugging locally and running the app with IIS Express.
Don't use the stdout log for general app logging purposes. For routine logging in an ASP.NET Core app, use a logging library that limits log file size and rotates logs. For more information, see third-party logging providers.
A timestamp and file extension are added automatically when the log file is created. The log file name is composed by appending the timestamp, process ID, and file extension (.log) to the last segment of the stdoutLogFile
path (typically stdout) delimited by underscores. If the stdoutLogFile
path ends with stdout, a log for an app with a PID of 1934 created on 2/5/2018 at 19:42:32 has the file name stdout_20180205194132_1934.log.
If stdoutLogEnabled
is false, errors that occur on app startup are captured and emitted to the event log up to 30 KB. After startup, all additional logs are discarded.
The following sample aspNetCore
element configures stdout logging at the relative path .\log\
. Confirm that the AppPool user identity has permission to write to the path provided.
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="true"
stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout"
hostingModel="inprocess">
</aspNetCore>
When publishing an app for Azure App Service deployment, the Web SDK sets the stdoutLogFile
value to \\?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout
. The %home
environment variable is predefined for apps hosted by Azure App Service.
To create logging filter rules, see the Configuration and Log filtering sections of the ASP.NET Core logging documentation.
For more information on path formats, see File path formats on Windows systems.
Enhanced diagnostic logs
The ASP.NET Core Module is configurable to provide enhanced diagnostics logs. Add the <handlerSettings>
element to the <aspNetCore>
element in web.config. Setting the debugLevel
to TRACE
exposes a higher fidelity of diagnostic information:
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="false"
stdoutLogFile="\\?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout"
hostingModel="inprocess">
<handlerSettings>
<handlerSetting name="debugFile" value=".\logs\aspnetcore-debug.log" />
<handlerSetting name="debugLevel" value="FILE,TRACE" />
</handlerSettings>
</aspNetCore>
Any folders in the path (logs in the preceding example) are created by the module when the log file is created. The app pool must have write access to the location where the logs are written (use IIS AppPool\<app_pool_name>
to provide write permission).
Debug level (debugLevel
) values can include both the level and the location.
Levels (in order from least to most verbose):
- ERROR
- WARNING
- INFO
- TRACE
Locations (multiple locations are permitted):
- CONSOLE
- EVENTLOG
- FILE
The handler settings can also be provided via environment variables:
ASPNETCORE_MODULE_DEBUG_FILE
: Path to the debug log file. (Default: aspnetcore-debug.log)ASPNETCORE_MODULE_DEBUG
: Debug level setting.
Warning
Do not leave debug logging enabled in the deployment for longer than required to troubleshoot an issue. The size of the log isn't limited. Leaving the debug log enabled can exhaust the available disk space and crash the server or app service.
See Configuration with web.config for an example of the aspNetCore
element in the web.config file.
Modify the stack size
Only applies when using the in-process hosting model.
Configure the managed stack size using the stackSize
setting in bytes in web.config. The default size is 1048576
bytes (1 MB).
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="false"
stdoutLogFile="\\?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout"
hostingModel="inprocess">
<handlerSettings>
<handlerSetting name="stackSize" value="2097152" />
</handlerSettings>
</aspNetCore>
Proxy configuration uses HTTP protocol and a pairing token
Only applies to out-of-process hosting.
The proxy created between the ASP.NET Core Module and Kestrel uses the HTTP protocol. There's no risk of eavesdropping the traffic between the module and Kestrel from a location off of the server.
A pairing token is used to guarantee that the requests received by Kestrel were proxied by IIS and didn't come from some other source. The pairing token is created and set into an environment variable (ASPNETCORE_TOKEN
) by the module. The pairing token is also set into a header (MS-ASPNETCORE-TOKEN
) on every proxied request. IIS Middleware checks each request it receives to confirm that the pairing token header value matches the environment variable value. If the token values are mismatched, the request is logged and rejected. The pairing token environment variable and the traffic between the module and Kestrel aren't accessible from a location off of the server. Without knowing the pairing token value, an attacker can't submit requests that bypass the check in the IIS Middleware.
ASP.NET Core Module with an IIS Shared Configuration
The ASP.NET Core Module installer runs with the privileges of the TrustedInstaller account. Because the local system account doesn't have modify permission for the share path used by the IIS Shared Configuration, the installer throws an access denied error when attempting to configure the module settings in the applicationHost.config file on the share.
When using an IIS Shared Configuration on the same machine as the IIS installation, run the ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle installer with the OPT_NO_SHARED_CONFIG_CHECK
parameter set to 1
:
dotnet-hosting-{VERSION}.exe OPT_NO_SHARED_CONFIG_CHECK=1
When the path to the shared configuration isn't on the same machine as the IIS installation, follow these steps:
- Disable the IIS Shared Configuration.
- Run the installer.
- Export the updated applicationHost.config file to the share.
- Re-enable the IIS Shared Configuration.
Module version and Hosting Bundle installer logs
To determine the version of the installed ASP.NET Core Module:
- On the hosting system, navigate to %windir%\System32\inetsrv.
- Locate the aspnetcore.dll file.
- Right-click the file and select Properties from the contextual menu.
- Select the Details tab. The File version and Product version represent the installed version of the module.
The Hosting Bundle installer logs for the module are found at C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Temp. The file is named dd_DotNetCoreWinSvrHosting__<timestamp>_000_AspNetCoreModule_x64.log.
Module, schema, and configuration file locations
Module
IIS (x86/amd64):
-
%windir%\System32\inetsrv\aspnetcore.dll
-
%windir%\SysWOW64\inetsrv\aspnetcore.dll
-
%ProgramFiles%\IIS\Asp.Net Core Module\V2\aspnetcorev2.dll
-
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\IIS\Asp.Net Core Module\V2\aspnetcorev2.dll
IIS Express (x86/amd64):
-
%ProgramFiles%\IIS Express\aspnetcore.dll
-
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\IIS Express\aspnetcore.dll
-
%ProgramFiles%\IIS Express\Asp.Net Core Module\V2\aspnetcorev2.dll
-
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\IIS Express\Asp.Net Core Module\V2\aspnetcorev2.dll
Schema
IIS
-
%windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\schema\aspnetcore_schema.xml
-
%windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\schema\aspnetcore_schema_v2.xml
IIS Express
-
%ProgramFiles%\IIS Express\config\schema\aspnetcore_schema.xml
-
%ProgramFiles%\IIS Express\config\schema\aspnetcore_schema_v2.xml
Configuration
IIS
- %windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config
IIS Express
-
Visual Studio: {APPLICATION ROOT}\.vs\config\applicationHost.config
-
iisexpress.exe CLI: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config
The files can be found by searching for aspnetcore in the applicationHost.config file.
Additional resources
- Host ASP.NET Core on Windows with IIS
- Deploy ASP.NET Core apps to Azure App Service
- ASP.NET Core Module reference source (master branch): Use the Branch drop down list to select a specific release (for example,
release/3.1
). - IIS modules with ASP.NET Core