AppFabric Configuration Issues: .NET 4, net.pipe, and Role Services
The following requirements can affect installation and configuration of Windows Server AppFabric.
A .NET 4 application pool is required
To manage an application with AppFabric, a .NET Framework 4 application pool must be selected for the application. AppFabric is built on .NET Framework 4.
To set the application pool for an application, right-click the application that you have deployed, point to Manage Application, and then click Advanced Settings. Click the Application Pool, select ASP.Net 4, and then click OK twice.
When an application is deployed to a website, it inherits the application pool that is set for the website. If you change the application pool for a website after an application has been deployed to it, the application pool for the application will not change. To set the application pool for the application’s site, right-click the site that you have deployed an application to, point to Manage Web Site, and then click Advanced Settings. Click the Application Pool, select ASP.Net 4, and then click OK twice.
The net.pipe protocol must be enabled for durable workflow application management
To manage a durable workflow application with AppFabric, the net.pipe binding must be configured for the website containing that application, and the net.pipe protocol must be enabled for the application. This is required because the Workflow Management Service (WMS), which works with the workflow persistence store to provide reliability and instance control, communicates with the Workflow Control standard endpoint of workflow services via the net.pipe protocol.
If the net.pipe protocol is not set for a durable workflow application, when you attempt to configure the application, you will receive the following error message: “Workflow persistence is not fully functional because the net.pipe protocol is missing from the application’s list of enabled protocols.” To enable the net.pipe protocol for an application, right-click the application, point to Manage Application, and then click Advanced Settings. Add “,net.pipe” to “http” in the Enabled Protocols line (with no space between “http” and the comma), and then click OK.
If you are configuring a website for a group of durable workflow applications, you can enable the protocol for the site, and it will be inherited by all the applications that will then be added to the site. To enable the net.pipe protocol for a site, right-click the site, point to Manage Application, and then click Advanced Settings. Add “,net.pipe” to “http” in the Enabled Protocols line (with no space between “http” and the comma), and then click OK.
If net.pipe binding is not set for a website that contains a durable workflow application, when you attempt to configure the application, you will receive the following error message: “Workflow persistence is not functional because the net.pipe binding is not enabled for this web site.” To enable the net.pipe binding for a site, right-click the site in the Connections pane of IIS Manager, click Edit Bindings, and add net.pipe with binding information of “*”.
Domain policies around role services can affect AppFabric installation and configuration
When you install Windows Server AppFabric, the role services required by that installation are automatically installed by the installation wizard, based on the feature selections in the AppFabric installation wizard. If you do not have permissions to enable the roles, or if domain rules do not permit a role service or feature to be installed, installation can fail. For example, the Windows Update service could be disabled in a domain because of a domain policy. That would be a problem because Windows Server AppFabric is an update to Windows, so the update service must be enabled for AppFabric to be installed.
If installation fails, check the installation log to see if the failure might be related to a role service that could not be enabled. If so, visit the Roles page of the Server Manager to determine which required role might not be installed. The following table lists the role services for the Application Server role that must be installed when a particular AppFabric feature is to be installed on Windows Server 2008 R2:
| Role Service | Required for Hosting Services | Required for Caching Services | Required for Cache Client | Required for Hosting Administration | Required for Cache Administration |
| .NET Framework 3.5.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AppFabric | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Server (IIS) Support | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| COM+ Network Access | No | No | No | No | No |
| Windows Process Activation Service Support | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| HTTP Activation | No | No | No | No | No |
| Message Queuing Activation | No | No | No | No | No |
| TCP Activation | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Named Pipes Activation | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Distributed Transactions | No | No | No | No | No |