Host WCF in WAS or IIS7?

Question

We have a server application that has one module installed on a separate server, and want to use WCF for the two modules to communicate with each other. I've narrowed it down to hosting the WCF either in IIS7/WAS or in WAS without IIS. The main purpose of the primary application is actually to serve as a tcp/ip sockets based server that processes some data that comes in. Would IIS7 or WAS be best for this type of project?

If we did go with WAS, would it makes sense to build a console app to host in WAS?

Answer 1

The only reason IIS7 can host non-HTTP services is that it uses WAS to do so. Your choices are not mutually exclusive.

Answer 2

Hosting in IIS7 is WAS - they're not exclusive. What I believe you're asking is should I "self host" or use IIS7.

If you use IIS then you don't need to role your own service host and restarts after crashes will be handled for you.

If you use a self hosted service then you will need to write the program which hosts the service (typically a Windows service if you want something that is always on) and you will need to deal with crashes and restarts manually.

However self hosted programs can be faster (not be a lot, but sometimes that matters - measure it) and will take less memory. WAS can also be constrained by IIS's connection limits (10 under Vista for example) depending on the protocol used.