Upgrade to ASP.NET 3.x

Question

I am currently aware that ASP.NET 2.0 is out and about and that there are 3.x versions of the .Net Framwork.

Is it possible to upgrade my ASP.NET web server to version 3.x of the .Net Framwork?

Answer 1

Sure, download the 3.5 redistributable, install it on the servre, and you're good to go. .NET versions can be installed side-by-side, so it won't disrupt any "legacy" apps.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

Answer 2

Hi Karl,

I have tried this, however, when selecting which version of the .Net framwork to use in IIS (the ASP.NET Tab), only version 1.1 and 2.0 show.

Is there a work around?

Answer 3

The version you are selecting in IIS is the version of the CLR to use. There are only two versions of the CLR. The .NET Framework 3.5 runs on CLR 2.0

Answer 4

@Ch00k, so if I install 3.5 and have IIS setup to use 2.0. I will be able to use 3.5 features?

Answer 5

Unfortunately, the statement .NET versions can be installed side-by-side, so it won't disrupt any "legacy" apps isn't entirely true. If you install 3.5, it requires 2.0 SP1, which can disrupt legacy applications that uses 2.0 and connects to Oracle database servers.

Answer 6

if I install 3.5 and have IIS setup to use 2.0. I will be able to use 3.5 features?

Yes, that is correct. You have IIS set to 2.0 for both 2.0 and 3.5 sites, as they both run on the same CLR. 3.5 uses a different compile method than 2.0. This is declared in the web.config for the site. See this post for more details on this. But the setup in IIS for both 3.5 and 2.0 ASP.net sites is identical.

Answer 7

The new framework is .Net 3.5, you'll have a new assembly System.Core, + a few more if you use features like Linq

.Net 3.5 comes with the new C#3.0 compiler

ASP.Net is still version 2.0

Lovely and confusing isn't it ;-)

You should upgrade the .Net framework on the server to .Net 3.5 SP1, but you're still going to be running ASP.Net 2.0

Answer 8

GateKiller,

.NET 3.0 and .NET 3.5 did not change the version of the CLR, so "using ASP.NET 3.5" is a more complicated thing that it sounds like it should be at first. In essence, you're still running on the 2.0 CLR, but you're using the C# 3.0 compiler and linking against the 3.5 libraries. It means adding a bunch of stuff to your Web.config file to become an ASP.NET 3.5 project.

Scott Hanselman has an awesome blog post covering the details:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToSetAnIISApplicationOrAppPoolToUseASPNET35RatherThan20.aspx