TCP Activation

Article
12/10/2009

This sample demonstrates hosting a service that uses Windows Process Activation Services (WAS) to activate a service that communicates over the net.tcp protocol. This sample is based on the Getting Started Sample.

Note

The WCF samples may already be installed on your machine. Check this (default) directory before continuing: <InstallDrive>:\Samples\WCFWFCardspaceIf this directory doesn’t exist, click the download sample link at the top of this page. Note that this will download and install all of the WF, WCF, and CardSpace samples, you will only have to do this once. The sample is located in the following directory <InstallDrive>:\Samples\WCFWFCardSpace\WCF\Basic\Service\Hosting\WASHost\TcpActivation.

Note

The setup procedure and build instructions for this sample are located at the end of this topic.

The sample consists of a client console program (.exe) and a service library (.dll) hosted in a worker process activated by WAS. Client activity is visible in the console window.

The service implements a contract that defines a request-reply communication pattern. The contract is defined by the ICalculator interface, which exposes math operations (Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide), as shown in the following sample code:

[ServiceContract(Namespace="http://Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples")]
public interface ICalculator
{
    [OperationContract]
    double Add(double n1, double n2);
    [OperationContract]
    double Subtract(double n1, double n2);
    [OperationContract]
    double Multiply(double n1, double n2);
    [OperationContract]
    double Divide(double n1, double n2);
}

The service implementation calculates and returns the appropriate result:

// Service class that implements the service contract.
public class CalculatorService : ICalculator
{
    public double Add(double n1, double n2)
    {
        return n1 + n2;
    }
    public double Subtract(double n1, double n2)
    {
        return n1 - n2;
    }
    public double Multiply(double n1, double n2)
    {
        return n1 * n2;
    }
    public double Divide(double n1, double n2)
    {
        return n1 / n2;
    }
}

The sample uses a variant of the net.tcp binding with TCP port sharing enabled and security turned off. If you want to use a secured TCP binding, change the server's security mode to the desired setting and re-run Svcutil.exe on the client to generate an update client configuration file.

The following sample shows the configuration for the service:

<system.serviceModel>

    <services>
      <service name="Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples.CalculatorService"
               behaviorConfiguration="CalculatorServiceBehavior">
        <!-- This endpoint is exposed at the base address provided by host: net.tcp://localhost/servicemodelsamples/service.svc  -->
        <endpoint binding="netTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="PortSharingBinding"
          contract="Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples.ICalculator" />
        <!-- the mex endpoint is explosed at net.tcp://localhost/servicemodelsamples/service.svc/mex -->
        <endpoint address="mex"
                  binding="mexTcpBinding"
                  contract="IMetadataExchange" />
      </service>
    </services>
    <bindings>
      <netTcpBinding>
        <binding name="PortSharingBinding" portSharingEnabled="true">
          <security mode="None" />
        </binding>
      </netTcpBinding>
    </bindings>

    <!--For debugging purposes set the includeExceptionDetailInFaults attribute to true-->
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="CalculatorServiceBehavior">
          <serviceMetadata />
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="False" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>

  </system.serviceModel>

The client's endpoint is configured as shown in the following sample code:

    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <netTcpBinding>
              <binding name="NetTcpBinding_ICalculator">
                <security mode="None"/>
              </binding>
            </netTcpBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
            <endpoint address="net.tcp://localhost/servicemodelsamples/service.svc"
                binding="netTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="NetTcpBinding_ICalculator"
                contract="Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples.ICalculator" name="NetTcpBinding_ICalculator" />
        </client>
    </system.serviceModel>

When you run the sample, the operation requests and responses are displayed in the client console window. Press ENTER in the client window to shut down the client.

    Add(100,15.99) = 115.99
    Subtract(145,76.54) = 68.46
    Multiply(9,81.25) = 731.25
    Divide(22,7) = 3.14285714285714

    Press <ENTER> to terminate client.

To set up, build, and run the sample

Be sure you have performed the One-Time Set Up Procedure for the Windows Communication Foundation Samples.

In addition, you must install the WCF non-HTTP activation components:
1. From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
2. Select Programs and Features.
3. Click Turn Windows Components on or Off.
4. Expand the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 node and check the Windows Communication Foundation Non-HTTP Activation feature.
Configure WAS to support TCP activation.

As a convenience, the following two steps are implemented in a batch file called AddNetTcpSiteBinding.cmd located in the sample directory.
1. To support net.tcp activation, the default Web site must first be bound to a net.tcp port. This can be done using Appcmd.exe, which is installed with the Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS) management toolset. From an administrator-level command prompt, run the following command:
```
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set site "Default Web Site" -+bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',bindingInformation='808:*']
```
  Note: This command is a single line of text. This command adds a net.tcp site binding to the default Web site listening on TCP port 808 with any hostname.
2. Although all applications within a site share a common net.tcp binding, each application can enable net.tcp support individually. To enable net.tcp for the /servicemodelsamples application, run the following command from an administrator-level command prompt:
```
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set app 
"Default Web Site/servicemodelsamples" /enabledProtocols:http,net.tcp
```
  Note
  
  This command is a single line of text. This command enables the /servicemodelsamples application to be accessed using both https://localhost/servicemodelsamples and net.tcp://localhost/servicemodelsamples.
To build the C# or Visual Basic .NET edition of the solution, follow the instructions in Building the Windows Communication Foundation Samples.
To run the sample in a single- or cross-machine configuration, follow the instructions in Running the Windows Communication Foundation Samples.

Remove the net.tcp site binding you added for this sample.

As a convenience, the following two steps are implemented in a batch file called RemoveNetTcpSiteBinding.cmd located in the sample directory.
1. Remove net.tcp from the list of enabled protocols by running the following command from an administrator-level command prompt:
```
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set app 
"Default Web Site/servicemodelsamples" /enabledProtocols:http
```
  Note
  
  This command must be entered as a single line of text.
2. Remove the net.tcp site binding by running the following command from an administrator-level command prompt:
```
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set site "Default Web Site" 
--bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',bindingInformation='808:*']
```
  Note
  
  This command must be entered as a single line of text.

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TCP Activation

To set up, build, and run the sample

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