sessionservice Wiki Rss Feed

Updated Wiki: Home

Yanal — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:00:31 GMT

Still 1 billion ASP pages all around the world and still so hard to migrate from Classic ASP to ASP.NET!

"Homelidays Session Service" makes it easier for ASP developers to share the Classic ASP Session State with ASP.NET by storing the Session State into a SQL Server database. Homelidays Session Service eases a step by step migration from ASP to ASP.NET.

Fig1. Session Service global overview

Storing the session state in an external storage (Microsoft SQL Server database):

Eases the migration from classic ASP to ASP.NET allowing a step by step migration;
Allows a Classic ASP site using "Session" to be stateless.

It's developed in C++ for Classic ASP and in C# for ASP.NET.

Homelidays Session Service is massively used on production environement at http://www.homelidays.com.

How does it work?

Install the Homelidays Session Service

Use the Session Service in classic ASP code

Use the Session Service in ASP.NET code

This project is sponsored by

Updated Wiki: Home

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:10:03 GMT

Still 1 billion ASP pages all around the world and still so hard to migrate from Classic ASP to ASP.NET!

Fig1. Session Service global overview

Storing the session state in an external storage (Microsoft SQL Server database):

Eases the migration from classic ASP to ASP.NET allowing a step by step migration;
Allows a Classic ASP site using "Session" to be stateless.

It's developed in C++ for Classic ASP and in C# for ASP.NET.

Homelidays Session Service is massively used on production environement at http://www.homelidays.com.

How does it work?

Install the Homelidays Session Service

Use the Session Service in classic ASP code

Use the Session Service in ASP.NET code

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:16:26 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

In every “top level ASP page” you should include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp. We call a “top level page” any ASP page that is intended to be called by a web browser. Any ASP page that is included into an other page is not a “top level page”.

Please find the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in the installation folder of Homelidays Session Service. The default installation path is “C:\Program Files\Homelidays\SessionService”. Copy and paste it in the folder you want in your Classic ASP code.

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

This file will load the Homelidays Session Service COM component and will provide you the “Session” object with almost the same interface as the Session provided by IIS. As a consequence you do not need to change your existing code. For instance:

Session("KEY_STRING") = "Value"

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session("KEY_TAB") = tab

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Next see how to Use the Session Service in ASP.NET code.

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:15:27 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

Session("KEY_STRING") = "Value"

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session("KEY_TAB") = tab

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Next see how to use the session service in ASP.NET code

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:13:16 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

Session("KEY_STRING") = "Value"

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session("KEY_TAB") = tab

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Next see how to [Use the session service in ASP.NET code]

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:10:35 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

Session("KEY_STRING") = "Value"

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session("KEY_TAB") = tab

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:02:28 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

Session("KEY_STRING") = "Value"

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session("KEY_TAB") = Table

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:01:59 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

Session("KEY_STRING") = "Value"

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session(“KEY_TAB”) = Table

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Updated Wiki: Install the Homelidays Session Service

Yanal — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:43:08 GMT

Download the Homelidays Session Service setup file

Depending if you are target a 32 bits or a 64 bits Windows operating system, download the Homelidays Session Service from http://sessionservice.codeplex.com/releases.

Install the setup by following the wizard

Double click on the setup.exe file and follow the wizard:

Change the connection string

For ASP configure the ADO connection string

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\AspSessionServiceConfig.xml file and edit you connection string.

The file should looks like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Partitions>
    <Partition>
        <ConnectionString>Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Data Source=.\;Initial Catalog=tempdb;</ConnectionString>
        <Login>sa</Login>
        <Password>123456</Password>
    </Partition>
</Partitions>

By default for performance reason we choose to use the tempdb database as it is a memory database.

The database schema will be created by the Session Service automatically so the database user should have the right to execute “CREATE TABLE” statements.

Integrated security has not been tested yet so I don't know if it works.

For ASP.NET configure the ADO.NET connection string

In the installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service), edit the AspSessionServiceConfigAdo.Net.xml and configure your connection string.

The file should looks like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Partitions>
    <Partition>
        <ConnectionString>Data Source=.\;Initial Catalog=tempdb;</ConnectionString>
        <Login>sa</Login>
        <Password>123456</Password>
    </Partition>
</Partitions>

Integrated security has not been tested yet so I don't know if it works.

Install the SQL job that clears expired session

A SQL job should be install to clear expired session every minute.

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\01 Job.sql file and set:

The job owner name (@owner_login_name);
The database name (@database_name).

Run the script to install the job.

Make sure the Sql Agent is started (and ensure he is configured to automatically start at boot time ;-).

Add some more writes as long as issue #933 is not resolved

The installation folder need some more writes so that Session Service COM component (used for Classic ASP) can write its logs.

The account that runs the Classic ASP application pool needs to have write access to the Session Service installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service).

IISReset

You may need to perform an IISReset before using the Homelidays Session Service.

Use the session service in classic ASP code

Use the session service in ASP.NET code

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in ASP.NET code

Yanal — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:22:30 GMT

Add references

You should add references in your ASP.NET web application to:

The Homelidays.Web.SessionService.dll whose location is in the Global Assembly Cache;
The log4net.dll (the assembly could be found in the installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service).

Configure the Homelidays.Web.SessionService assembly

The assembly needs an appSettings whose key is SessionServiceConfigDirectory to set its configuration folder (i.e. the folder where the AspSessionServiceConfigAdo.Net.xml is located) so that it can get its connection string.
This location is typically the installation folder but can be any folder where your application has read access.
To do it simply add the following appSettings in the Web.Config of your web application.

Inherit the SessionPage

Any .aspx page should inherit the Homelidays.Web.SessionService.SessionPage class that inherit System.Web.UI.Page.

Homelidays.Web.SessionService.SessionPage expose an AspSession member that allow you to access the ASP session.

Your code behind should looks like :

using Homelidays.Web.SessionService;

public partial class SessionService_Test : SessionPage
{
   protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.AspSession["DotNetIntValue"] = 12;
        foreach (var item in this.AspSession)
        {
            LContentSess.Text += "Key : " + item.Key + " Value : " + item.Value + "<br/>";
        }

        if (((int)this.AspSession["DotNetIntValue"]) == 12)
        {
            Response.Write("blabla");
        }
    }
}

If the session is need in an .ashx page you will need to take inspiration from the Homelidays.Web.SessionService.SessionPage to access the Homelidays Session Service your self (not a big deal).

Updated Wiki: Use the session service in classic ASP code

Yanal — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:21:53 GMT

When we design the Homelidays Session Service, our target was to limit as much as possible the changes that needs to be done in existing ASP pages.

So to use Homelidays Session Service in your ASP code you should:

Disable the IIS session state provided by IIS so that the “Session” object is no more instantiate by IIS ;
Include the HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp file in every ASP top level page to instantiate Homelidays custom “Session” object.
This new “Session” object has nearly the same interfaces as the IIS one so you won’t need to change your existing code.

Disable IIS Session State

By default IIS instantiate the Session object. So we will first disable this mechanism as we intend to replace the IIS Session object by ours.

On IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0

Open the internet Information Service dialog you can find in administrative tools

Right click your web site and click “Properties” and select the “Home Directory” tab

Click the “Configuration” button, select the “Option” tab and uncheck the “Enable session state” option

On IIS 7.x

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and in the left panel select your web site.

In the middle panel double click on ASP.

Include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in ASP top level pages

So the first t two lines of your code should looks like:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

Requirements are:

You would need to handle manually every case when a file is directly called by users and also included in other ASP page;
HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp should never be included twice. An error will occurs if you include twice the file;
You should include HomelidaysSessionServiceInit.asp in any top level page even if the page do not use the Session variable.

Session("KEY_STRING") = “Value”

Session(“KEY_INT”) = 12

Dim tab(3,2,1)
tab(0,0,0) = "A"
tab(0,1,0) = "B"
tab(0,2,0) = "C"
tab(1,0,0) = "D"
tab(1,1,0) = "E"
tab(1,2,0) = "F"
tab(2,0,0) = "G"
tab(2,1,0) = "H"

Session(“KEY_TAB”) = Table

You can only store classic ASP base types and Scripting.Dictionary COM object in the Homelidays Session Service.

Updated Wiki: Install the Homelidays Session Service

yanal — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:19:48 GMT

Download the Homelidays Session Service setup file

Depending if you are target a 32 bits or a 64 bits Windows operating system, download the Homelidays Session Service from http://sessionservice.codeplex.com/releases.

Install the setup by following the wizard

Double click on the setup.exe file and follow the wizard:

Change the connection string

For ASP configure the ADO connection string

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\AspSessionServiceConfig.xml file and edit you connection string.

The file should looks like:

By default for performance reason we choose to use the tempdb database as it is a memory database.

The database schema will be created by the Session Service automatically so the database user should have the right to execute “CREATE TABLE” statements.

For ASP.NET configure the ADO.NET connection string

In the installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service), edit the AspSessionServiceConfigAdo.Net.xml and configure your connection string.

The file should looks like:

Install the SQL job that clears expired session

A SQL job should be install to clear expired session every minute.

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\01 Job.sql file and set:

The job owner name (@owner_login_name);
The database name (@database_name).

Run the script to install the job.

Make sure the Sql Agent is started (and ensure he is configured to automatically start at boot time ;-).

Add some more writes as long as issue #933 is not resolved

The installation folder need some more writes so that Session Service COM component (used for Classic ASP) can write its logs.

The account that runs the Classic ASP application pool needs to have write access to the Session Service installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service).

IISReset

You may need to perform an IISReset before using the Homelidays Session Service.

Use the session service in classic ASP code

Use the session service in ASP.NET code

Updated Wiki: Install the Homelidays Session Service

yanal — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:19:20 GMT

Download the Homelidays Session Service setup file

Depending if you are target a 32 bits or a 64 bits Windows operating system, download the Homelidays Session Service from http://sessionservice.codeplex.com/releases.

Install the setup by following the wizard

Double click on the setup.exe file and follow the wizard:

Change the connection string

For ASP configure the ADO connection string

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\AspSessionServiceConfig.xml file and edit you connection string.

The file should looks like:

By default for performance reason we choose to use the tempdb database as it is a memory database.

The database schema will be created by the Session Service automatically so the database user should have the right to execute “CREATE TABLE” statements.

For ASP.NET configure the ADO.NET connection string

In the installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service), edit the AspSessionServiceConfigAdo.Net.xml and configure your connection string.

The file should looks like:

Install the SQL job that clears expired session

A SQL job should be install to clear expired session every minute.

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\01 Job.sql file and set:

The job owner name (@owner_login_name);
The database name (@database_name).

Run the script to install the job.

Make sure the Sql Agent is started (and ensure he is configured to automatically start at boot time ;-).

IISReset

You may need to perform an IISReset before using the Homelidays Session Service.

Use the session service in classic ASP code

Use the session service in ASP.NET code

Add some more writes as long as issue #933 is not resolved

The installation folder need some more writes so that Session Service COM component (used for Classic ASP) can write its logs.

The account that runs the Classic ASP application pool needs to have write access to the Session Service installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service).

Updated Wiki: Install the Homelidays Session Service

Yanal — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:11:40 GMT

Download the Homelidays Session Service setup file

Depending if you are target a 32 bits or a 64 bits Windows operating system, download the Homelidays Session Service from http://sessionservice.codeplex.com/releases.

Install the setup by following the wizard

Double click on the setup.exe file and follow the wizard:

Change the connection string

For ASP configure the ADO connection string

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\AspSessionServiceConfig.xml file and edit you connection string.

The file should looks like:

By default for performance reason we choose to use the tempdb database as it is a memory database.

The database schema will be created by the Session Service automatically so the database user should have the right to execute “CREATE TABLE” statements.

For ASP.NET configure the ADO.NET connection string

In the installation folder (C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service), edit the AspSessionServiceConfigAdo.Net.xml and configure your connection string.

The file should looks like:

Install the SQL job that clears expired session

A SQL job should be install to clear expired session every minute.

Open the C:\Program Files\Homelidays\Session Service\01 Job.sql file and set:

The job owner name (@owner_login_name);
The database name (@database_name).

Run the script to install the job.

Make sure the Sql Agent is started (and ensure he is configured to automatically start at boot time ;-).

IISReset

You may need to perform an IISReset before using the Homelidays Session Service.

Use the session service in classic ASP code

Use the session service in ASP.NET code

Updated Wiki: Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems

Yanal — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:03:01 GMT

Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems.

This problem is referenced at Microsoft:
KB2517589: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2517589)
Connect ticket: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/646313/ado-programs-no-longer-work-on-customer-computers-after-recompiled-on-a-windows-7-sp1-machine#tabs
The problem appear becasue Windows 7/2008 sp1 inlcudes KB983246: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983246

Solution:

Compile Session service on pre Windows 7 sp1 computer to deploy it on down-level operating.

Updated Wiki: Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems

Yanal — Tue, 03 May 2011 09:32:33 GMT

Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems.

This problem is referenced at Microsoft:
KB2517589: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2517589)
Connect ticket: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/646313/ado-programs-no-longer-work-on-customer-computers-after-recompiled-on-a-windows-7-sp1-machine#tabs
The problem appear becasue Windows 7/2008 sp1 inlcudes KB983246: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983246

Solution:

Compile Session service on pre Windows 7 sp1 computer to deploy it on down-level operating.

As I don't have a pre Windows 7 sp1 I can release Homelidays Session Service for:

Windows XP x64
Windows 2003 x64
Windows Vista x64
Windows 2008 x64
Windws 7 pre service pack 1
Windows 2008 R2 pre service pack 1

Updated Wiki: Documentation

Yanal — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:32:00 GMT

So you want to use the Homelidays Session Service

How does the Homelidays Session Service work?

Install the Homelidays Session Service

Use the Session Service in classic ASP code

Use the Session Service in ASP.NET code

So you want to hack the Homelidays Session Service

Install your development environment

Compile the source code

Test Homelidays Session Service (non regression tests)

Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems

Updated Wiki: Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems

Yanal — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:21:16 GMT

Session Service compiled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 2008 R2 sp1 does not work on down-level operating systems.

This problem is referenced at Microsoft:
*KB2517589: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2517589)
*Connect ticket: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/646313/ado-programs-no-longer-work-on-customer-computers-after-recompiled-on-a-windows-7-sp1-machine#tabs

Solution:

Compile Session service on pre windows 7 sp1 computer to deploy it on down-level operating.

Updated Wiki: Tests of the Homelidays Session Service

Yanal — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:08:23 GMT

Set up the test environment

SQL Server Trace

The SQL Server Trace is used to make sure that the right requests are sent to the database at the right moment.

To set up a trace, start the profiler by clicking : Start Menu –> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 –> Performance Tools –> SQL Server Profiler

Start a new trace: File –> New Trace…

Fig1. SQL Server connection

Click the “Events Selection” tab. Tick Trace RPC:Completed and SQL:BatchCompleted events and tick “Show all columns”:

Fig2. Events Selection in Microsoft SQL Profiler

Click on the “Column Filter” button. Add a filter to trace only the tempdb database by adding a filter

Fig3. Add the “DatabaseName” filter

A Web browser

Internet Explorer or Firefox can be both used to do the tests.

Run Fiddler 2.3.1.0

Fiddler is an HTTP network profiler. We will use Fiddler to make sure that the session cookie is correctly set.

You can run Fiddler from Firefox: Tools –> “Monitor with Fiddler” –> “Launch Fiddler Now”. Make sure that traffic is sent to Fiddler in the bottom right of Firefox window)

You can also run Fiddler form Internet Explorer: Alt + Click on Tools –> “Fiddler 2”

Fig4. Fiddler an HTTP Debugging proxy

Unit tests

The .Net assembly has unit tests written with MBunit 2.4. All tests should pass.

In order to run unit test:

Compile Homelidays.Web.SessionService.Tests project of SessionService.sln in Release mode.
Launch the SessionService.mbunit project and click “Run”

Fig5. MBunit.GUI passing all Homelidays Session Service tests.

Single threaded test

Actions (Do not wait more than 1 minute between two actions)	Expected on the Browser	Expected on the SQL Trace (Tags of Requests that should be seen)	Expected on the HTTP protocol (Fiddler)
Restart the SQL Server database in order to destroy the tempdb database
iisreset
Clear cookies
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	No error should occur	CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Session] /20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Response : Set-Cookie: Yacht=SessionId=<a guid wihout dashes>; path=/
Restart the SQL Server database in order to destroy the tempdb database
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	An error should happen : error '80004005'	/20100722-190015-YFA/ CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Session] /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert
Clear cookies
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Response : Set-Cookie: Yacht=SessionId=<a guid wihout dashes>; path=/
Call /SessionService/Test.aspx	No error should occur 17 lines	CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Session] /6123A967-9D20-41a6-BED0-64A82D69D783/ /4080907D-4E44-41e6-A036-4B7CB41146D5/ /CC70CCEA-9D49-49b9-B207-EFBBA29F093D/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/Test.aspx a second time	No error should occur 18 lines A new line should appear with dotnetdecimal	/6123A967-9D20-41a6-BED0-64A82D69D783/ /4080907D-4E44-41e6-A036-4B7CB41146D5/ /CC70CCEA-9D49-49b9-B207-EFBBA29F093D/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestMultiDimTable.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestNoSessionAccess.asp	No error should occur	/20101123-194816-YFA/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestNoSessionAccess.aspx	No error should occur	/07614B4A-4224-492e-88DE-656DB7F876F3/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestReadSess.asp	No error should occur You should see the content of the session	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestRemoveAll.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestReadSess.asp	No error should occur Session should be empty	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestScriptingDictionary.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestSessionAbandon.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190014-YFA/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestReadSess.asp	No error should occur Session should be empty	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
SessionService/TestScriptingDictionary.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestSessionAbandon.aspx	No error should occur	/4080907D-4E44-41e6-A036-4B7CB41146D5/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth

Multithreaded test

“On Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager” make sure that your test site has “server side debug” disabled.

Fig6. For multithreaded tests server side debugging should be disabled

TestConsoleApplication

TestConsoleApplication is a C++ testing application console that test the session service layers of the COM component (Classic ASP) in a multithreaded environment. Each layer is tested in one or many test functions.

The _tmain function is the entry point of the application. To enable a test function comment/uncomment the desired test. Each test will run indefinitely so you will have to kill the TestConsoleApplication.exe process to stop it.

For non regression testing, each test should be launched in Release mode during a few minutes (let’s say 5 minutes). No crashes should occurs and the memory (“Working Set” in the Windows Task Manager) should not grow indefinitely.

LoggerTest: Testing of logging function. This test write a dummy log file on the hard drive. (5 minutes of test will generate a 1.5 Gbytes of dummy log in C:\Projects\SessionService\Dev\TestConsoleApplication).
SerializerTest: Testing of the serialization.
DeserializerTest: Testing of the deserialization.
DeserializerSerialiserTest: Test that deserialization followed by a serialization produce the same result as what was initially provided to the deserialization layer.
PartitionResolverTest: Testing of the partition resolver layer.
SessionPersistenceTest: Testing of the persistence layer that test the data access layer (ADO).

LoadTester

LoadTester is a C# testing application that act as a web browser. It will run many threads that will call test pages from http://sessionservice.my.homelidays.com. Each test runs indefinitely so you will have to kill the LoadTester.exe process to stop it.

For non regression testing each test should be ran in Release during a few minutes (5 minutes). No crashes should occurs and the memory of the w3wp.exe that host sessionservice.my.homelidays.com should not grow indefinitely.

To choose the desired test change the test_type variable in the main function in Program.cs:

TestType test_type = TestType.ScriptingDictionary

TestType.ScriptingDictionary: Testing of /SessionService/TestScriptingDictionary.asp in a multithreaded environment.
TestType.ValueType: Testing of the /SessionService/Test.asp and /SessionService/TestNoSessionAccess.asp in a multithreaded environment.

TestType.ValueTypeAndIisSession do not test the Homelidays session service and has been developed for dev purpose at a very early stage of the project. You do not need to run it.

Updated Wiki: Tests of the Homelidays Session Service

Yanal — Mon, 02 May 2011 10:13:52 GMT

Set up the test environment

SQL Server Trace

The SQL Server Trace is used to make sure that the right requests are sent to the database at the right moment.

To set up a trace, start the profiler by clicking : Start Menu –> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 –> Performance Tools –> SQL Server Profiler

Start a new trace: File –> New Trace…

Fig1. SQL Server connection

Click the “Events Selection” tab. Tick Trace RPC:Completed and SQL:BatchCompleted events and tick “Show all columns”:

Fig2. Events Selection in Microsoft SQL Profiler

Click on the “Column Filter” button. Add a filter to trace only the tempdb database by adding a filter

Fig3. Add the “DatabaseName” filter

A Web browser

Internet Explorer or Firefox can be both used to do the tests.

Run Fiddler 2.3.1.0

Fiddler is an HTTP network profiler. We will use Fiddler to make sure that the session cookie is correctly set.

You can run Fiddler from Firefox: Tools –> “Monitor with Fiddler” –> “Launch Fiddler Now”. Make sure that traffic is sent to Fiddler in the bottom right of Firefox window)

You can also run Fiddler form Internet Explorer: Alt + Click on Tools –> “Fiddler 2”

Fig4. Fiddler an HTTP Debugging proxy

Unit tests

The .Net assembly has unit tests written with MBunit 2.4. All tests should pass.

In order to run unit test:

Compile Homelidays.Web.SessionService.Tests project of SessionService.sln in Release mode.
Launch the SessionService.mbunit project and click “Run”

Fig5. MBunit.GUI passing all Homelidays Session Service tests.

Single threaded test

Actions (Do not wait more than 1 minute between two actions)	Expected on the Browser	Expected on the SQL Trace (Tags of Requests that should be seen)	Expected on the HTTP protocol (Fiddler)
Restart the SQL Server database in order to destroy the tempdb database
iisreset
Clear cookies
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	No error should occur	CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Session] /20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Response : Set-Cookie: Yacht=SessionId=<a guid wihout dashes>; path=/
Restart the SQL Server database in order to destroy the tempdb database
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	An error should happen : error '80004005'	/20100722-190015-YFA/ CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Session] /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert
Clear cookies
Call /SessionService/Test.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Response : Set-Cookie: Yacht=SessionId=<a guid wihout dashes>; path=/
Call /SessionService/Test.aspx	No error should occur 17 lines	/6123A967-9D20-41a6-BED0-64A82D69D783/ /4080907D-4E44-41e6-A036-4B7CB41146D5/ /CC70CCEA-9D49-49b9-B207-EFBBA29F093D/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/Test.aspx a second time	No error should occur 18 lines A new line should appear with dotnetdecimal	/6123A967-9D20-41a6-BED0-64A82D69D783/ /4080907D-4E44-41e6-A036-4B7CB41146D5/ /CC70CCEA-9D49-49b9-B207-EFBBA29F093D/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestMultiDimTable.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestNoSessionAccess.asp	No error should occur	/20101123-194816-YFA/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestNoSessionAccess.aspx	No error should occur	/07614B4A-4224-492e-88DE-656DB7F876F3/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestReadSess.asp	No error should occur You should see the content of the session	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
Call /SessionService/TestRemoveAll.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestReadSess.asp	No error should occur Session should be empty	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestScriptingDictionary.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestSessionAbandon.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190014-YFA/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestReadSess.asp	No error should occur Session should be empty	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
SessionService/TestScriptingDictionary.asp	No error should occur	/20100722-190015-YFA/ /20100722-190016-YFA/ + Insert	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth
/SessionService/TestSessionAbandon.aspx	No error should occur	/4080907D-4E44-41e6-A036-4B7CB41146D5/	Request : Yacht cookie should be there with the session Id as above Response : nothing about Yacth

Multithreaded test

“On Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager” make sure that your test site has “server side debug” disabled.

Fig6. For multithreaded tests server side debugging should be disabled

TestConsoleApplication

LoggerTest: Testing of logging function. This test write a dummy log file on the hard drive. (5 minutes of test will generate a 1.5 Gbytes of dummy log in C:\Projects\SessionService\Dev\TestConsoleApplication).
SerializerTest: Testing of the serialization.
DeserializerTest: Testing of the deserialization.
DeserializerSerialiserTest: Test that deserialization followed by a serialization produce the same result as what was initially provided to the deserialization layer.
PartitionResolverTest: Testing of the partition resolver layer.
SessionPersistenceTest: Testing of the persistence layer that test the data access layer (ADO).

LoadTester

To choose the desired test change the test_type variable in the main function in Program.cs:

TestType test_type = TestType.ScriptingDictionary

TestType.ScriptingDictionary: Testing of /SessionService/TestScriptingDictionary.asp in a multithreaded environment.
TestType.ValueType: Testing of the /SessionService/Test.asp and /SessionService/TestNoSessionAccess.asp in a multithreaded environment.

TestType.ValueTypeAndIisSession do not test the Homelidays session service and has been developed for dev purpose at a very early stage of the project. You do not need to run it.