Static content and ASP.NET SQL sessions

Question

Here's my scenario:

• Using SQL Server sessions (due to web farm)
• customErrors is On using redirect
• There is a membership provider that uses sessions to store user information
• In web.config, there are <location> sections that <allow users="*">. This is used for static content (e.g. images)

Whenever I try to access the error page or even static content, the session tries to start up (probably due to membership provider). If the SQL Server is down, that throws an exception.

Is there any way to prevent the membership provider and/or sessions from trying to initialize when I'm accessing certain folders (i.e. static content)?

Answer 1

It turns out most of my problem is because of differences between IIS6, IIS7, and the development server:

http://www.asp.net/hosting/tutorials/core-differences-between-iis-and-the-asp-net-development-server-cs

In IIS 6, ASP.NET only runs for extensions that are configured under Site properties > Virtual Directory > Configuration > Mappings > Application extensions. For example, .aspx points to aspnet_isapi.dll. Static content will not go through the ASP.NET by default.

In IIS 7, it's similar (under Handler Mappings), however thanks to the new integrated pipeline, in the web.config you can also have static content check for authentication. See Performing Forms-Based Authentication and URL Authentication on Static Files with IIS 7 in the URL above.

Also based on the above URL, in the ASP.NET Development Server (based on Cassini):

Every request that comes into the ASP.NET Development Server, whether for an ASP.NET page, an image, or a JavaScript file, is processed by the ASP.NET runtime.