ASP.NET Core Module Configuration Reference¶
By Luke Latham, Rick Anderson and Sourabh Shirhatti
In ASP.NET Core, the web application is hosted by an external process outside of IIS. The ASP.NET Core Module is an IIS 7.5+ module, which is responsible for process management of ASP.NET Core http listeners and to proxy requests to processes that it manages. This document provides an overview of how to configure the ASP.NET Core Module for shared hosting of ASP.NET Core.
Sections:
Installing the ASP.NET Core Module¶
Install the .NET Core Windows Server Hosting bundle on the server. The bundle will install the .NET Core Runtime, .NET Core Library, and the ASP.NET Core Module.
Configuring the ASP.NET Core Module¶
The ASP.NET Core Module is configured via a site or application web.config file and has its own configuration section within system.webServer - aspNetCore.
Configuration Attributes¶
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| processPath | Required string attribute.
Path to the executable or script that will launch
a process listening for HTTP requests.
Relative paths are supported. If the path
begins with ‘.’, the path is considered to be
relative to the site root.
There is no default value.
|
| arguments | Optional string attribute.
Arguments to the executable or script
specified in processPath.
The default value is an empty string.
|
| startupTimeLimit | Optional integer attribute.
Duration in seconds for which the
the handler will wait for the executable or
script to start a process listening on
the port. If this time limit is exceeded,
the handler will kill the process and attempt to
launch it again startupRetryCount times.
The default value is 120.
|
| shutdownTimeLimit | Optional integer attribute.
Duration in seconds for which the
the handler will wait for the executable or
script to gracefully shutdown when the
app_offline.htm file is detected.
The default value is 10.
|
| 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 handler will stop launching the
process for the remainder of the minute.
The default value is 10.
|
| requestTimeout | Optional timespan attribute.
Specifies the duration for which the
ASP.NET Core Module will wait for a response
from the process listening on
%ASPNETCORE_PORT%.
The default value is “00:02:00”.
|
| stdoutLogEnabled | Optional Boolean attribute.
If true, stdout and stderr for the
process specified in processPath will be
redirected to the file specified in
stdoutLogFile.
The default value is false.
|
| stdoutLogFile | Optional string attribute.
Specifies the relative or absolute file path for
which stdout and stderr from the process
specified in processPath will be logged.
Relative paths are relative to the root of the
site. Any path starting with ‘.’ will be
relative to the site root and all other paths
will be treated as absolute paths.
The default value is
aspnetcore-stdout. |
| forwardWindowsAuthToken | True or False.
If true, the token will be forwarded to the
child process listening on %ASPNETCORE_PORT% as a
header ‘MS-ASPNETCORE-WINAUTHTOKEN’ per request.
It is the responsibility of that process to call
CloseHandle on this token per request.
The default value is false.
|
| disableStartUpErrorPage | True or False.
If true, the 502.5 - Process Failure page
will be supressed and the 502 status code page
configured in your web.config will take
precedence.
The default value is false.
|
Child Elements¶
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| environmentVariables | Configures environmentVariables collection
for the process specified in processPath.
|
| recycleOnFileChange | Specify a list of files to monitor. If any of
these files are updated/deleted, the ASP.NET
Core Module will restart the backend process.
|
ASP.NET Core Module app_offline.htm¶
If you place a file with the name app_offline.htm at the root of a web application directory, the ASP.NET Core Module will attempt to gracefully shut-down the application and stop processing any new incoming requests. If the application is still running after shutdownTimeLimit number of seconds, the ASP.NET Core Module will kill the running process.
While the app_offline.htm file is present, the ASP.NET Core Module will respond to all requests by sending back the contents of the app_offline.htm file. Once the app_offline.htm file is removed, the next request loads the application, which then responds to requests.
ASP.NET Core Module Start-up Error Page¶
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, you will see an HTTP 502.5 status code page. To supress this page and revert to the default IIS 502 status code page, use the disableStartUpErrorPage attribute. Look at the HTTP Errors attribute to override this page with a custom error page.
ASP.NET Core Module configuration examples¶
Log creation and redirection¶
To save logs, you must create the logs directory. The ASP.NET Core Module can redirect stdout and stderr logs to disk by setting the stdoutLogEnabled and stdoutLogFile attributes of the aspNetCore element. Logs are not rotated (unless process recycling/restart occurs). It is the responsibilty of the hoster to limit the disk space the logs consume.
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="true"
stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout">
</aspNetCore>
Setting environment variables¶
The ASP.NET Core Module allows you specify environment variables for the process specified in the processPath setting by specifying them in environmentVariables child attribute to the aspNetCore attribute.
<aspNetCore processPath="dotnet"
arguments=".\MyApp.dll"
stdoutLogEnabled="true"
stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout">
<environmentVariables>
<environmentVariable name="DEMO" value="demo_value" />
</environmentVariables>
</aspNetCore>