This fails and you check the logs @ C:\Users\<your user>\AppData\Local\Temp\RS_SP_<a number>.log

What you see is something like this:

...

Total number of configuration settings run: 2
Total number of successful configuration settings: 1
Total number of unsuccessful configuration settings: 1
Successfully stopped the configuration of SharePoint Products.
Configuration of SharePoint Products failed.  Configuration must be performed before you use SharePoint Products.  For further details, see the diagnostic log located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\LOGS\PSCDiagnostics_3_3_2015_16_51_12_997_108052037.log and the application event log.

2015-03-03 16:51:35:
2015-03-03 16:51:35: Install error: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\bin\psconfig.exe return error code: -1
2015-03-03 16:51:35: Error details: System.Exception: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\bin\psconfig.exe return error code: -1
   at RSCustomAction.BaseProcessLaunch.LaunchCommand(String fileName, String arguments, Boolean ignoreExitCode)
   at RSCustomAction.PsconfigCommands.CopyAppBinContents()
   at RSCustomAction.RSFeatureSetup.Install(Boolean repair, Int32 addRetries)
2015-03-03 16:51:35: Uninstalling Report Server feature.
2015-03-03 16:51:35: Stopping W3SVC service.

...

I do not know why but this error is caused by having comments in one or more of your web.config files.
So, the solution is remove any comments in the web.config files and rerun the installer.

Web.config files are here: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\<port number>

Comments are surrounded by <!-- -->

So, for example:

<!-- this is a comment-->

"We're sorry. We ran into a problem completing your request. Please try that again in a few minutes"

and the corresponding w3wp.exe process went down. I managed to reproduce this here and found the solution.
Basically this was down to a permission issue in the registry. Steps to see the issue and the solution below.

:: Removed "READ" permissions on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\15.0 (in this case for the WSS_WPG group).
:: Did an IISReset to make sure all was properly reset and then tried to open a *.xlsx file. This produced the following:

# In the browser:

"We're sorry. We ran into a problem completing your request. Please try that again in a few minutes"

# In the ULS logs:

<date><time>   w3wp.exe (0x2D30)        0x1958      Excel Services Application            Web Front End            acbd        Critical   
Unable to reach Excel Calculation Services http://<servername>/e1413656e1ac4e948a91e26d5913011c/ExcelService*.asmx. [Session:  User: <account>]       

<date><time>   w3wp.exe (0x2D30)        0x1958      Excel Services Application            Web Front End            accf        Medium     
ServerSession.ProcessWebException: A Web exception during ExecuteWebMethod has occurred for server: http://<servername>/e1413656e1ac4e948a91e26d5913011c/ExcelService*.asmx, method:
GetHealthScore, ex: System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable.    
 at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()    
 at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory`1.HttpRequestChannel.HttpChannelRequest.WaitForReply(TimeSpan timeout), response: 'System.Net.HttpWebResponse', status ProtocolError, user name: <account>.           

<date><time>   w3wp.exe (0x2D30)        0x1958      Excel Services Application            Web Front End            acco        Critical   
There was an error in communicating with Excel Calculation Services http://<servername>/e1413656e1ac4e948a91e26d5913011c/ExcelService*.asmx exception: The remote server returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable. [Session:  User: <account>].

# In Process Monitor (https://technet.microsoft.com/sv-se/sysinternals/bb896645):

# In Event Viewer:

Faulting application name: w3wp.exe, version: 8.5.9600.16384, time stamp: 0x5215df96
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0x80131623
Fault offset: 0x00007ffada0caf23
Faulting process id: 0x11e8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d03a1b81cbbc8c
Faulting application path: c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: d0141935-a60e-11e4-80d1-00155d3a280a
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
...

An internal error occurred.
   at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.OpenSubKey(String name, Boolean writable)
   at Microsoft.Win32.Registry.GetValue(String keyName, String valueName, Object defaultValue)
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.MossHost.MossHost.get_HostBinaryPath()
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServerApp.Initialize()
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Diagnostics.FirstChanceHandler.ExceptionFilter(Boolean fRethrowException, TryBlock tryBlock, FilterBlock filter, CatchBlock catchBlock, FinallyBlock finallyBlock)
...

Application: w3wp.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The application requested process termination through System.Environment.FailFast(string message).
Message:
Stack:
   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String)
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.HelperMethods.HandleShutdown(System.Exception, Boolean)
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Diagnostics.FirstChanceHandler.ExceptionFilter(Boolean, TryBlock, FilterBlock, CatchBlock, FinallyBlock)
   at Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.ExceptionReporting.ReportOnExceptionTag(UInt32, Category, System.String, Boolean, Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.TryBlock, Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.CatchBlock, Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.FinallyBlock)
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServerApp..ctor()
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServerApp..cctor()
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServiceBase.SafeSetContext()
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServiceBase.BeginProcessOperation(Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.CommandParameter, Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.WebMethodBehaviorAttribute, Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.WebMethodType, System.AsyncCallback, System.Object, Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Operations.UserOperation)
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServiceBase.BeginProcessOperation(Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.CommandParameter, Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.WebMethodType, System.AsyncCallback, System.Object, Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Operations.UserOperation)
   at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.ExcelServiceSoap.BeginGetHealthScore(System.AsyncCallback, System.Object)
...

:: Adding back the READ permission on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\15.0 (in this case for the WSS_WPG group) allows the *.xlsx to open again.

So if you come across the issue/errors shown above then make sure that the process account have the correct permissions in the registry.

The other day I got a case where customer was trying to install the Application Initialization feature on a Windows 2012 / IIS 8.0 machine. 

IIS 8.0 Application Initialization
http://www.iis.net/learn/get-started/whats-new-in-iis-8/iis-80-application-initialization

However, this failed for customer. And it showed that it failed for me too.
When attempting to install it from the Server Manager, the error looked like this: 

When attempting to install it from a PowerShell command prompt, the error looked like this: 

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\Windows\system32> Import-Module ServerManager
PS C:\Windows\system32> Add-WindowsFeature Web-AppInit
Add-WindowsFeature : The request to add or remove features on the specified server failed.
Installation of one or more roles, role services, or features failed. Error: 0x800f0922
At line:1 char:1
+ Add-WindowsFeature Web-AppInit
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (@{Vhd=; Credent...Name=localhost}:PSObject) [Install-WindowsFeature], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DISMAPI_Error__Failed_To_Enable_Updates,Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager.Commands.AddWindowsFeatureCommand
Success Restart Needed Exit Code      Feature Result

------- -------------- ---------      --------------
False   No             Failed         {}

When researching on this, I didn’t find much (hence this post).
When investigating the IIS.log I noticed that there were some Accessed Denied (0x80070005)

[<date time>] [ ***** IIS 8.0 Component Based Setup ***** ]
[<date time>] "C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\iissetup.exe" /launch C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe reset config -section:system.webServer/applicationInitialization
[<date time>] Launching command C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe, with params C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe reset config -section:system.webServer/applicationInitialization
[<date time>] < !!FAIL!! > LaunchCommand result=0x80070005
[<date time>] [ End of IIS 8.0 Component Based Setup ]

Some further testing showed that I (and customer) had Shared Configuration enabled on the machine.
And, in short, the installer runs with an identity that normally do not have access to the share where the shared configuration applicationhost.config is located.
And, equally short, the solution here was to disable Shared Configuration during the installation of the Application Initialization feature.

So if you see the error above when installing the Application Initialization feature then check if Shared Configuration is enabled.
If yes, disable Shared Configuration, perform an IISReset, run the “Add-WindowsFeature Web-AppInit” command from PowerShell (or install it from the Server Manager).

Hope this helps.

Installing IIS Modules in Shared Configuration Environments
http://www.iis.net/learn/manage/provisioning-and-managing-iis/installing-iis-modules-in-shared-configuration-environments  

You have chosen to use Basic Authentication on your web application.

You know that you have the correct username and password but still you (and/or your users) keeps getting the login window and after a few attempts to insert your credentials you will get the:

401 - Unauthorized: Access is denied due to invalid credentials.

You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

One common reason for this is that (by mistake or intentionally) the Basic Authentication has the “defaultLogonDomain” property set.

What happens when “defaultLogonDomain” is used and the user enters only their UserName is that IIS will prefix or add the domain name in “defaultLogonDomain” to the username.

If the user do not belong to that domain (a typical scenario is that the setup is that a user account is created on the IIS machine and as such do not belong to a domain, only to the machine) that user will naturally not be authorized to IIS.

This is explained and described here:

Configure Basic Authentication (IIS 7)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772009(v=WS.10).aspx  

"Users who do not provide a domain when they log on to your site are authenticated against this domain."

Basic Authentication <basicAuthentication>

http://www.iis.net/configreference/system.webserver/security/authentication/basicauthentication

So, in short, if you create a user that is local to the IIS machine and you use this account with BasicAuthentication and have the “defaultLogonDomain” set, then that domain will be prefixed to the user name.

So the username will be DOMAIN\USERNAME rather than USERNAME only.

To demonstrate with an example.

Create a local user on the IIS machine. In this example: MyLocalUser

Create an application on IIS and set Basic Authentication only for that application.

...

<system.webServer>

            <security>

                <authentication>

                    <basicAuthentication enabled="true" />

...

Test the application, you should now be prompted for the username and password. This should work fine.

Now set the “defaultLogonDomain” to, for example, FakeDomain.

This can be done by selecting “Edit…” when Basic Authentication is selected in the Authentication section in IIS Manger or in the .config files.

It will look like this:

…

        <system.webServer>

            <security>

                <authentication>

                    <basicAuthentication enabled="true" realm="" defaultLogonDomain="FakeDomain" />

…

Try to login again using the username, MyLocalUser, only and you should get the 401. This is because we are now logging in as FakeDomain\MyLocalUser.

Try to login again using the machine name (or the domain the user belongs to) like so, <your machine name>\MyLocalUser, and you should get in.

In the IIS logs, you may have something like this for the failed login:

#Fields: date time s-ip cs-method cs-uri-stem cs-uri-query s-port cs-username c-ip cs(User-Agent) sc-status sc-substatus sc-win32-status sc-bytes cs-bytes time-taken

...

<date> <time> <serverip> GET <application>/Default.aspx - 80 MyLocalUser <clientip> <useragent> 401 1 1326 ...

...

We know that 401.1 = Logon failed ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943891/en-us ) and if checking the sc-win32-status (1326):

C:\Windows\system32>net helpmsg 1326

Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.

So in summary.

If you are using Basic Authentication and “defaultLogonDomain” is set then the user has to be part of that domain if no domain name is used when logging in.

Or if the user is not part of the domain in the “defaultLogonDomain”, then the domain that the user belongs to needs to be prefixed (domain\username) when logging in.

Hope this helps.

The scenario is this.

You are in IIS Manager for IIS 6.0 and you are changing the ASP.Net version for your application (Application, Properties, the ASP.Net tab, ASP.Net version).

You hit Apply or OK and you get the hourglass and then you wait. The site may also become unavailable until you restart the web server or do an IISReset.

When you check the Application Event logs, you will see this error:

Event Type:     Error

Event Source:   ASP.NET 2.0.50727.0

Event Category:None

Event ID:       1024

…

Description:

Failed while restarting W3SVC.  Error code: 0x8007041d

So. What is going on?

Using the err.exe tool (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=985 ) gives a hint:

C:\ERR>err 0x8007041d

# as an HRESULT: Severity: FAILURE (1), Facility: 0x7, Code 0x41d

...

  ERROR_SERVICE_REQUEST_TIMEOUT                                 winerror.h

# The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

So something did not respond or start in a given amount of time.

In this case the following happens. When you change the ASP.Net version the entire W3SVC process restarts. The timeout for this is 60 seconds.

This also means that the associated application pool must be shut down. And the “Shutdown time limit” is 90 seconds.

This time is given so that, for example, connections to databases can be closed, resources to be freed etc.

So in a case where the application pool have not stopped within the given time (90 seconds by default) we will hit the W3SVC timeout limit (60 seconds by default) and

we will get the behavior and message in the application event logs.

The recommendation would be to not change ASP.Net version on production machines except during maintenance or when the usage is low so that the application pool

can be stopped within the given time. Or you could reduce the time given to the Application pool to shut down (i.e. less than the 60 second W3SVC timeout limit).

Now, why the application pool takes so long to stop is a different story J
There could be many reasons why it can’t shut down in time. One is described in Tess blog below. But to get the individual cause the specific application pool must be investigated.

ASP.NET tab forces restart of W3SVC

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jorman/archive/2006/04/14/576605.aspx

ASP.NET hang/slowness on startup

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tess/archive/2008/01/17/asp-net-hang-slowness-on-startup.aspx

Cases and questions somehow seems to come in bulk.

Lately I have had several cases on FTP connections that uses EPSV or PASV.

And there has been some confusion on how this works and what ports are being used. So below is, hopefully, an understandable explanation.

The network traces is taken on Windows 2012 running IIS 8.

Below the sender is always on the left side, the receiver is on the right.

Frame #         Src IP          Src Port        Dst IP          Dst Port        Proto           Desc

Here we see that the client has initiated the connection to the FTP service. I.e. the client uses, for example, Internet Explorer, to go to the URL: ftp://<the ftp server>.

This initiates the 3 way handshake between the client (on random port, 50209 in this case) and the control channel port on the server (which is 21 by default).

741             <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       TCP                TCP:Flags=......S., SrcPort=50209, DstPort=FTP control(21), PayloadLen=0, ...

743             <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A..S., SrcPort=FTP control(21), DstPort=50209, PayloadLen=0, ...

744             <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=50209, DstPort=FTP control(21), PayloadLen=0, ...

The server then, from port 21, tells the client that we are on the FTP service and that the user have logged in.

All FTP command communication between the client and server occurs on port 21 on the server side.

745             <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '220  Microsoft FTP Service'

749             <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '230  User logged in.'

Now, here we see that the client tells the server that the client wants to use EPSV (extended passive mode).

This request is sent from client’s port (50209) to the command channel port (21).

The server then responds that it wants the data transfer connection to occur port 34347. The server selects one of its ephemeral port and it just happens to be 34347 in this case.

It could however be any other port that the servers sees fit to use.

754             <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       FTP                FTP:Request from Port 50209, 'EPSV'

755             <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '229  Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||34347|)'

The first thing that now happens is that the client establishes a new connection between itself and the server for the data transfer communications.

The client now uses its port 50214 on its side. And as seen above, it has been informed that the server wants the client to connect to the server on port 34347.

So we now have a new 3 way handshake between these ports.

757             <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  TCP                TCP:Flags=......S., SrcPort=50214, DstPort=34347, PayloadLen=0, ...

758             <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A..S., SrcPort=34347, DstPort=50214, PayloadLen=0, ...

759             <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=50214, DstPort=34347, PayloadLen=0, ...

Once this is done, we can see that the client sends a LIST command (a DIR) to get a list of files available on the server side.

This is a command, so this happens on server port 21.

760             <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       FTP                FTP:Request from Port 50209, 'LIST'

761             <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '125  Data connection already open; Transfer starting.'

The data is now transferred between server (on port 34347) and the client (on port 50214).

Once the data is transferred, the server is finishing the connection. This happens with the 4 way handshake.

This starts with the server sending an ACK-FIN (frame 763) over the data transfer connection and then sends a message to the client over the command channel (frame 764).

The client ACKs the servers FIN (frame 765) and the 226 message sent by server (frame 766).

The client then sends its own ACK-FIN (frame 767) to the server which then ACKs (frame 768) that. And the connection is now closed.

763             <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...F, SrcPort=34347, DstPort=50214, PayloadLen=0, ...

764             <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '226  Transfer complete.'

765             <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=50214, DstPort=34347, PayloadLen=0, ...

766             <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=50209, DstPort=FTP control(21), PayloadLen=0, ...

767             <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...F, SrcPort=50214, DstPort=34347, PayloadLen=0, ...

768             <server side>   34347 (0x862B)  <client side>   50214 (0xC426)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=34347, DstPort=50214, PayloadLen=0, ...

Later on, we have a new EPSV command coming in, this time the server selects a different port that it wants the data transfer communication to occur on (34348).

Again, this information is sent on the command channel to the client.

1407            <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       FTP                FTP:Request from Port 50209, 'EPSV'

1408            <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '229  Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||34348|)'

The client then performs a new 3-way handshake between these ports.

1410            <client side>   50215 (0xC427)  <server side>   34348 (0x862C)  TCP                TCP:Flags=......S., SrcPort=50215, DstPort=34348, PayloadLen=0, ...

1411            <server side>   34348 (0x862C)  <client side>   50215 (0xC427)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A..S., SrcPort=34348, DstPort=50215, PayloadLen=0, ...

1412            <client side>   50215 (0xC427)  <server side>   34348 (0x862C)  TCP                TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=50215, DstPort=34348, PayloadLen=0, ...

And then we see the request from the client to download (RETR) a particulare file (FtpFile.txt here).

1413            <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       FTP                FTP:Request from Port 50209,'SIZE /FtpFile.txt'

1414            <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '213  1763790'

1415            <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       FTP                FTP:Request from Port 50209,'RETR /FtpFile.txt'

1416            <server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP                FTP:Response to Port 50209, '125  Data connection already open; Transfer starting.'

And then the above is repeated until the FTP session is over.

So, why is this of interest? Well, if the connection is ACTIVE rather than PASSIVE it means that the server will do the data transfer on port 20 (server side).

In the scenario above the server decides on the fly what port to use for the data connection. This then means that the client may have a firewall that is blocking outbound connections on this port.

In the scenario above, it would possibly mean that the client is allowing outbound traffic on the known FTP command channel port (21). So we can establish a connection and the user can login and so on.

But as soon as the client performs any data transfer action (a DIR or LIST command for example) we may have a situation where the port provided by the server for the data transfer (port 34347 and 34348 in the example above)

is blocked in the firewall. This would then mean that the server sends the response to the client over the command port (21) and then just waits until it times out since no data is coming in over the network.

So, if you have situation where you can connect and login to your FTP server but not transfer or list any data, then the first thing to do is to verify that there is nothing blocking on the port

that the server chooses to use for the data transfer. If so, you should see (in the example above) that the server sends the port to use (34347 in frame 755) but no SYN coming in from client (frame 757).

One last thing, if the client uses PASV rather than EPSV then the FTP:Response containing the port to use will look different.

EPSV:

<server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   50209 (0xC421)  FTP             FTP:Response to Port 50209, '229  Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||34347|)'

PASV:

<client side>   49707 (0xC22B)  <server side>   21 (0x15)       FTP             FTP:Request from Port 49707, 'PASV'

<server side>   21 (0x15)       <client side>   49707 (0xC22B)  FTP             FTP:Response to Port 49707, '227  Entering Passive Mode (10,166,56,104,130,242).'

<client side>   49708 (0xC22C)  <server side>   33522 (0x82F2)  TCP             TCP:Flags=......S., SrcPort=49708, DstPort=33522, PayloadLen=0, ...

<server side>   33522 (0x82F2)  <client side>   49708 (0xC22C)  TCP             TCP:Flags=...A..S., SrcPort=33522, DstPort=49708, PayloadLen=0, ...

<client side>   49708 (0xC22C)  <server side>   33522 (0x82F2)  TCP             TCP:Flags=...A...., SrcPort=49708, DstPort=33522, PayloadLen=0, ...

EPSV sends the port number in 'clear text' PASV sends it in the format of (10,166,56,104,130,242).

However, do not despair. The math is simple. Take the second to last number (130) and multiply it with 256 and add the last number (242) and you will have the port number.

In this case ((130 * 256) + 242) = 33522. And the 3-way handshake will occur on this port.

Hope the above helps.

Information About the IIS File Transmission Protocol (FTP) Service

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283679

Opening connection (3-way handshake)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_way_handshake#Connection_establishment

Closing connection (4-way handshake)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_Control_Protocol#Connection_termination

I had a case the other day where customer was using WebClient and the DownloadFileAsync method.

Customer then issued 10 concurrent calls to the DownloadFileAsync method and expected all the files to be downloaded at the same time.

However, only 2 files were concurrently downloading. 10 files were created on disk but only 2 were downloading.

When one file download was complete. The next would start and so on until all 10 files were downloaded.

I did some research but found no good explanation or documentation on why this happened or how to fix this.

So, here is the why and the how. I will do this with an example.

First place 10 files that will be downloaded on web server.

In my case I’ve simply called them File1.txt, File2.txt, etc. up to File10.txt and put them in a “Files” directory.

Create a new Windows Form Application and drop a button on it.

In the code behind, use the following code:

    publicpartialclassForm1 : Form

    {

        public Form1()

        {

            InitializeComponent();

        }

        privatevoid button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            // Setting up source and destination

            // and creating a list of the file source and destination.

            string src = "http://<your web server>/Files/File";

            string dst = @"C:\Temp\Files\File";

            string extension = ".txt";

            List<FileItem> files = newList<FileItem>();

            for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)

            {

                files.Add(newFileItem { Source = newUri(src + i.ToString() + extension), Destination = dst + i.ToString() + extension });

            }

            // Just iterated through the list to issue 10 concurrent async file downloads

            foreach (FileItem fi in files)

            {

                WebClient client = newWebClient();

                client.DownloadFileAsync(fi.Source, fi.Destination);

            }

        }

        classFileItem

        {

            publicUri Source { get; set; }

            publicString Destination { get; set; }

        }

    }

Now create the destination directory (C:\Temp\Files\ in this case) if you haven’t do so yet.

Run the Win Form application but do not hit the button yet.

Open the destination directory in windows explorer (should be empty) and hit the button.

It should now looks as follows. All files are created but only 2 are downloading at the same time. The rest of the files have a size of 0.

Once one file is downloaded, another one will be downloading until all 10 are downloaded.

So, what we want is to have all 10 files to download concurrently. Not only 2.

The reason for only 2 files being downloaded concurrently is that this is the default number for outgoing connections in the System.Net / <connectionManagement> / maxconnection setting.

Since you only have 2 outgoing connections. There will be only 2 file downloads allowed at the same time. Async or not.

See more here:

<connectionManagement>

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fb6y0fyc.aspx

The solution is simply to up this number to, in this example, 10.

This is done like this in the example above.

Open the App.config file for the project and add the maxconnection setting like so:

<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding="utf-8" ?>

<configuration>

    <system.net>

      <connectionManagement>

        <addaddress = "*"maxconnection = "10" />

      </connectionManagement>

    </system.net>

</configuration>

In this case we allow 10 outgoing connections to any address (*). The Maxconnection value can be different for different endpoints. See the example in the documentation.

Now empty the destination directory and rerun the application. You should now have all 10 files downloading at the same time.

Hope this helps.

A short post on how to test your Windows Store apps on your Surface RT.

This is not so hard but it took me a little while to find out how to do this so I thought I’d share this.

The ‘problem’ is that you need a developer license on the target machine. This you will be administered when, for example, creating a new app in Visual Studio.

However, you can’t run Visual Studio on Surface RT, so this needs to be done another way. And it is useful to test your applications on portable devices in order to test sensors, GPS etc.

So here is how you do it.

. Select your project in Visual Studio. Right click and select “Store” -> “Create App Packages…”

. Select “No” in the “Do you want to build packages to upload to the Windows Store?”

. Configure ARM as the target. Take note (or change) of the location for the output location and select “Create”.

. Now you will have the App package created at the output location. Copy the whole “AppPackages” directory to the Surface RT.

You can still not run it. First you need to install you developer license on the Surface RT.

. On the Surface RT, start a PowerShell command prompt as administrator.

. Run the following command and follow the instructions:

Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration

See more about this here:

“Get a developer license (Windows Store apps)”

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh974578.aspx

. Once this is done, you have the developer license on the Surface RT. So simply navigate to the “AppPackages” directory that you copied over earlier.

Right click the .ps1 file that was generated for you (typically something like “Add-AppDevPackage.ps1”) and select “Run with PowerShell”.

. And we’re done! You should now have your app on your Surface RT’s start page. Ready for testing.

Once you have the developer license on the Surface RT there is no need to reinstall it for each time you want to test your application.

The license will only be valid on the machine for finite time. After this the app will not run and you will have to reinstall the developer license on the Surface.

That is, if you have not finished your app and published it to the store J

There may be other ways to do this, but this is how I do it and it is simple enough.

A short demo on how to create/use CascadingDropDown from the “AjaxControlToolkit”.

For this demo I will use the world of football since this lends itself well to cascading drop downs.

A country has leagues, a league has teams and teams have players, players have statistics etc.

So let’s get to it.

. First create a new “ASP.Net Empty Web Site” in Visual Studio called AjaxCDDDemo

. Install the “AjaxControlToolkit” via NuGet by right clicking the project and selecting “Manage NuGet Packages” and search online for “AjaxControlToolkit” and hit install.

. Then we need a web service that feeds the drop down.
From: http://www.asp.net/ajaxLibrary/AjaxControlToolkitSampleSite/CascadingDropDown/CascadingDropDown.aspx

“All the logic about the contents of the set of DropDownList controls lives on the server in a web service. This web service can use any suitable method for storing and looking up the relevant data.”

So add a new Web Service called “FootballService.asmx" (using C# in this example) to the project.

. Then you need to uncomment the [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService] attribute above the class definition.

. You can load data from a database or any other storage. I will use three lists (Countries, Leagues, Teams) in this example. You can add more lists (Players for each team etc.) if you wish.

Full code for the web service:

using AjaxControlToolkit;

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.Services;

///<summary>

/// Summary description for FootballService

///</summary>

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]

[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]

// To allow this Web Service to be called from script, using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the following line.

[System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService]

publicclassFootballService : System.Web.Services.WebService {

    public FootballService () {

        //Uncomment the following line if using designed components

        //InitializeComponent();

        FillLists();

    }

    List<Country> countries = newList<Country>();

    List<League> leagues = newList<League>();

    List<Team> teams = newList<Team>();

    privatevoid FillLists()

    {

        // Adding some countries.

        countries.Add(newCountry { Id = 1, Name = "England" });

        countries.Add(newCountry { Id = 2, Name = "Sweden" });

        countries.Add(newCountry { Id = 3, Name = "Spain" });

        // Adding some leagues with the Id of the country they belong to.

        leagues.Add(newLeague { Id = 1, Name = "Premier League", CountryId = 1 });

        leagues.Add(newLeague { Id = 2, Name = "Championship", CountryId = 1 });

        leagues.Add(newLeague { Id = 3, Name = "Superettan", CountryId = 2 });

        leagues.Add(newLeague { Id = 4, Name = "Allsvenskan", CountryId = 2 });

        // Adding some teams with the Id of the league they belong to.

        teams.Add(newTeam { Id = 1, Name = "Manchester United", LeagueId = 1 });

        teams.Add(newTeam { Id = 2, Name = "Arsenal", LeagueId = 1 });

        teams.Add(newTeam { Id = 3, Name = "Crystal Palace", LeagueId = 2 });

        teams.Add(newTeam { Id = 4, Name = "Watford", LeagueId = 2 });

        teams.Add(newTeam { Id = 5, Name = "Hammarby", LeagueId = 3 });

    }

    // *** INFO ***

    // The JavaScript code coming from the CascadingDropDown extender calls a web service method.

    // This method is expected to return an array of type CascadingDropDownNameValue[].

    // For the CascadingDropDownNameValue contructor the first argument is the list entry text. The second argument is the value

    [WebMethod]

    publicCascadingDropDownNameValue[] GetCountries(string knownCategoryValues, string category)

    {

        // Here we simply create a new list of CascadingDropDownNameValue.

        // We then fill the list will all countries from the list containing the countries and returns this as an array.

        List<CascadingDropDownNameValue> l = newList<CascadingDropDownNameValue>();

        var x = from c in countries select c;

        foreach (Country country in x)

        {

            l.Add(newCascadingDropDownNameValue(country.Name, country.Id.ToString()));

        }

        return l.ToArray();

    }

    [WebMethod]

    publicCascadingDropDownNameValue[] GetLeagues(string knownCategoryValues, string category)

    {

        // Here we create a new list of CascadingDropDownNameValue.

        // We then fill the list will all Leagues that has the provided countryId from the list containing the leagues.

        // First we need to determine the value selected in the first dropdown (countryId in this case).

        // There is helper method for this, ParseKnownCategoryValuesString.

        // We also need to validate this data. This is the "Category" in the web page.

        // One validated, we have the id in the countryId variable.

        int countryId;

        System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary kv = CascadingDropDown.ParseKnownCategoryValuesString(knownCategoryValues);

        if (!kv.ContainsKey("Country") || !Int32.TryParse(kv["Country"], out countryId))

        {

            thrownewArgumentException("Couldn't find Country.");

        };

        // We then fill the list will all leauges from the list containing the leagues where the countryId matches the incoming countryId.

        List<CascadingDropDownNameValue> l = newList<CascadingDropDownNameValue>();

        var x = from le in leagues where le.CountryId == countryId select le;

        foreach (League league in x)

        {

            l.Add(newCascadingDropDownNameValue(league.Name, league.Id.ToString()));

        }

        return l.ToArray();

    }

    [WebMethod]

    publicCascadingDropDownNameValue[] GetTeams(string knownCategoryValues, string category)

    {

        // This method does the same as the GetLeagues but takes the leagueId and select the teams based on that.

        int leagueId;

        System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary kv = CascadingDropDown.ParseKnownCategoryValuesString(knownCategoryValues);

        if (!kv.ContainsKey("League") || !Int32.TryParse(kv["League"], out leagueId))

        {

            thrownewArgumentException("Couldn't find League.");

        };

        List<CascadingDropDownNameValue> l = newList<CascadingDropDownNameValue>();

        var x = from t in teams where t.LeagueId == leagueId select t;

        foreach (Team team in x)

        {

            l.Add(newCascadingDropDownNameValue(team.Name, team.Id.ToString()));

        }

        return l.ToArray();

    }

    #region Classes

    // We have some countries.

    // Each country has some leagues and each league have some teams so the leagues

    // have an Id for the country it belongs to and the teams have an id for the league they belong to.

    publicclassCountry

    {

        publicint Id { get; set; }

        publicstring Name { get; set; }

    }

    publicclassLeague

    {

        publicint Id { get; set; }

        publicstring Name { get; set; }

        publicint CountryId { get; set; }

    }

    publicclassTeam

    {

        publicint Id { get; set; }

        publicstring Name { get; set; }

        publicint LeagueId { get; set; }

    }

    #endregion

}

. Now we have the web service that will deliver the data. So time to create the page that will hold the CascadingDropDown controls.

So add a new Web Form (Default.aspx) to the project.

. Full code for the web page:

<%@PageLanguage="C#"AutoEventWireup="true"CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs"Inherits="_Default"%>

<!DOCTYPEhtml>

<htmlxmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<headrunat="server">

    <title></title>

</head>

<body>

    <formid="form1"runat="server">

    <div>

        <%--We need the ScriptManager somewhere on the page (within the Form element)--%>

        <asp:ScriptManagerID="asm"runat="server"/>

        <%--Set up the DropDownlist that will be used. --%>

        <asp:DropDownListid="ddl_Countries"runat="server"/>

        <asp:DropDownListid="ddl_Leagues"runat="server"/>

        <asp:DropDownListid="ddl_Teams"runat="server"/>

        <ajaxToolkit:CascadingDropDown

            ID="ccdCountries"

            runat="server"

            ServicePath="FootballService.asmx"

            ServiceMethod="GetCountries"

            TargetControlID="ddl_Countries"

            Category="Country"/>

        <ajaxToolkit:CascadingDropDown

            ID="ccdLeagues"

            runat="server"

            ServicePath="FootballService.asmx"

            ServiceMethod="GetLeagues"

            TargetControlID="ddl_Leagues"

            ParentControlID="ddl_Countries"

            Category="League"

            EmptyText="No leagues for this country."/>

        <ajaxToolkit:CascadingDropDown

            ID="ccdTeams"

            runat="server"           

            ServicePath="FootballService.asmx"

            ServiceMethod="GetTeams"

            TargetControlID="ddl_Teams"

            ParentControlID="ddl_Leagues"

            Category="Team"

            EmptyText="No teams for this league."/>

<%--    Quick explanation.

        . The ServicePath points to the backing WebService.

        . The ServiceMethod points to the method in the backing WebService that will return the data.

        . The TargetControlID points to the dropdownlist to populate.

        . The ParentControlID points to the parent dropdownlist that controls the content of this list.

        . The Category is the information passed to the web method.

        . The EmptyText is shown when there is no data.

        . There are some more properties as well.--%>

    </div>

    </form>

</body>

</html>

Now you should be able to run the page and see how the dropdowns are populated based on the values of the parent control.

Hope this helps.

Filling a List Using CascadingDropDown(C#)

http://www.asp.net/web-forms/tutorials/ajax-control-toolkit/cascadingdropdown/filling-a-list-using-cascadingdropdown-cs

I recently had a case where customer was setting up a web farm using the Web Farm Framework (WFF).

Customer could setup the controller and deploy the primary server.

However, when attempting to deploy a secondary server into the farm, it failed with the following:

Failed to upload assembly 'Microsoft.Web.PlatformInstaller, Version=3.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' on remote agent.

So I did what you do when you get cases like this. Research. But I couldn’t come up with anything, so hence this post.

It showed that the error in this case came from the fact that the receiving machine, i.e. the one that would act as host for the secondary server did not have .Net installed.

Each computer that will participate in a server farm needs to (amongst other things) have the .NET Framework 2.0 or later installed.

Once installed, the secondary server could be deployed.

Some references:

Setting up a Server Farm with the Web Farm Framework 2.0 for IIS 7

http://www.iis.net/learn/web-hosting/microsoft-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis-7/setting-up-a-server-farm-with-the-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis  

System and Platform Requirements for the Web Farm Framework 2.0 for IIS 7

http://www.iis.net/learn/web-hosting/microsoft-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis-7/system-and-platform-requirements-for-the-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis  

Creating a Server Farm with the Web Farm Framework

http://www.asp.net/web-forms/tutorials/deployment/configuring-server-environments-for-web-deployment/creating-a-server-farm-with-the-web-farm-framework  

Overview of the Web Farm Framework 2.0 for IIS 7

http://www.iis.net/learn/web-hosting/microsoft-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis-7/overview-of-the-web-farm-framework-20-for-iis  

HTH