Configuring ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a flexible set of tools and web development technologies that allows you to employ a number of applications based on ASP.NET framework. Plesk supports both 1.1.x and 2.0.x versions of the .NET framework.

To change the version of .NET framework:

1. On your home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click ASP.NET in the Hosting group.
3. Click Change Version in the Tools group. If this button is absent, only one version of .NET framework is available. You can see the version number in the Framework Version field.
4. Select the required version number and click OK.
5. Click OK to save changes.

Alternatively, on your home page you can click the domain name you need, then click Setup and select the .NET framework version in the Microsoft ASP.NET support drop-down menu.

Most ASP.NET configuration settings that commonly need to be customized in order for ASP.NET applications to function in a desirable way can be edited through Plesk.

To configure ASP.NET on your domain:

1. On your home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click ASP.NET in the Hosting group.
3. Set up the strings that determine database connection data for ASP.NET applications which use databases. This option is available only for ASP.NET 2.0.x.
   • To add a string, enter the required data into the Name and Connection Parameters input fields and click next to them.
   • To remove a string, click next to it.

     Note. When you open the ASP.NET configuration page for the first time, sample connection parameters with common constructions are displayed. You can then delete them and specify your own strings.

4. Set up custom error messages that will be returned by ASP.NET applications in the Custom Error Settings field:
   • To set the custom error messages mode, select an appropriate option from the Custom error mode menu:

     On - custom error messages are enabled.

     Off - custom error messages are disabled and detailed errors are to be shown.

     RemoteOnly - custom error messages are displayed only to remote clients, and ASP.NET errors are shown to the local host.

   • To add a new custom error message (which will be applied unless the Off mode was selected), enter the values in the Status Code and Redirect URL fields, and click .

     Status Code defines the HTTP status code resulting in redirection to the error page.

     Redirect URL defines the web address of the error page presenting information about the error to the client.

   • To remove a custom error message from the list, click next to it.
5. Configure compilation settings in the Compilation and Debugging field:
   • To determine the programming language to be used as default in dynamic compilation files, choose an entry from Page default language list.
   • To enable compiling retail binaries, leave the Enable debugging checkbox empty.
   • To enable compiling debug binaries, select the Enable debugging checkbox. In this case, the source code fragments containing error will be shown in a diagnostic page message.

     Note. When running applications in debug mode, a memory and/or performance overhead occurs. It is recommended to use debugging when testing an application and to disable it before deploying the application into production scenario.

6. Configure encoding settings for ASP.NET applications in the Globalization Settings section:
   • To set an adopted encoding of all incoming requests, enter an encoding value into the Request encoding field (default is utf-8).
   • To set an adopted encoding of all responses, enter an encoding value into the Response encoding field (default is utf-8).
   • To set an encoding which must be used by default for parsing of .aspx, .asmx, and .asax files, enter an encoding value into the File encoding field (default is Windows-1252).
   • To set a culture which must be used by default for processing incoming web requests, select an appropriate item from the Culture list.
   • To set a culture which must be used by default when processing searches for a locale-dependent resource, select an appropriate item from the UI Culture list.
7. Set a code access security trust level for ASP.NET applications in the Code Access Security field.

   CAS trust level is a security zone to which applications execution is assigned, defining what server resources the applications will have access to.

   Note. When an assembly is assigned a trust level that is too low, it does not function correctly. For more information on the permissions levels see http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetsec/html/THCMCh09.asp?frame=true#c09618429_010.

8. Enable the usage of the auxiliary scripts in the Script Library Settings field. This option is available only for ASP.NET 1.1.x.
   • If you need to use auxiliary scripts (specifically, scripts implementing objects for validating input data), provide the settings for .NET framework script library.

     Enter the path beginning with the domain root directory preceded by the forward slash into the Path to Microsoft script library field,

     or

     Click the folder icon next to the Path to Microsoft script library field and browse for the required location.

   • To initiate the auto-installation of files containing the scripts to the specified location, select the Install checkbox. If the files already exist there, they will be rewritten.

     Note. Specifying the script library settings is necessary if the validation web controls are used on your web site.

9. Set client session parameters in the Session Settings field:
   • To set up the default authentication mode for applications, select an appropriate item from the Authentication mode list.

     Note. Windows authentication mode should be selected if any form of IIS authentication is used.

   • To set up time that a session can idle before it is abandoned, enter appropriate number minutes into the Session timeout field.
10. Ñlick OK to apply all changes.

Note: Plesk supports separate configurations for different versions of the .NET framework (1.1.x and 2.0.x).

To restore the default ASP.NET configuration:

1. On your home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click ASP.NET in the Hosting group.
3. Click Set to Default.
4. Confirm the restoring and click OK.

In order to provide running ASP.NET applications which use different .NET framework version within one domain, Plesk allows setting up the framework version per web directory where the applications are deployed.

To choose the version of .NET framework for a web directory:

1. On your home page, click the domain name you need.
2. Click Web Directories in the Hosting group.
3. Enter the required web directory and click ASP.NET in the Tools group.
4. Select the required .NET framework version and adjust other settings as necessary.
5. Click OK.