IIS 6.0 F1: Application Configuration - Options Tab

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Use this tab to control how Active Server Pages (ASP) run within the currently selected application. Applications that run in Internet Information Services (IIS) can be configured for efficiency by enabling session state and timeout, buffering, parent paths, language, and ASP script timeout.

Note

You can set application configuration properties at the Web site, virtual directory, or directory level.

Enable session state

Select to enable session state.

When session state is enabled, Active Server Pages (ASP) creates a session for each user who accesses an ASP application so that so that you can identify the user across pages in the application. When session state is disabled, ASP does not track users and does not allow an ASP script to store information in the Session object or to use the Session_OnStart or Session_OnEnd events. A session automatically ends if the user has not requested or refreshed a page in an application by the end of the timeout period.

Session timeout

Set the timeout period for all inactive sessions on this system.

Session timeout controls the duration of the user's session, or more accurately, it controls the lifetime of the session object. A script can explicitly end a session by using the Session.Abandon method. Even when session state is enabled for an application, you can disable session state for an individual ASP page by using the <%@ ENABLESESSIONSTATE = False %> directive.

Enable buffering

Select to enable IIS to allow all output that is generated by an ASP page is to be collected before it is sent to the browser. When the page is displayed by the browser, all content is complete. Buffering output enables you to set HTTP headers from anywhere in an ASP script.

When the check box is cleared, output is returned to the browser as the page is processed, giving the page a "painted" image. You can override this option in a script by using the Response.Buffer method in your ASP scripts.

Enable parent paths

Select to allow ASP pages to use relative paths to the parent directory of the current directory (paths using the .. syntax).

If you enable this option, do not give the parent directories execute access because a script could execute an unauthorized program in a parent directory.

Default ASP language

Specify the primary script language for Active Server Pages, the language used to process commands within ASP delimiters (<% and %>).

ASP comes with two Microsoft® ActiveX® script engines: Microsoft Visual Basic® Scripting Edition (VBScript) and Microsoft Jscript® (JScript). The initial value of Default ASP language is VBScript. You can specify the name of any language for which an ActiveX script engine is installed on your server; be sure to use the exact keyword required for your engine as documented by your script engine provider. You can override the default language on an ASP page by using the <%@ LANGUAGE %> directive.

ASP script timeout

Specify the length of time ASP allows a script to run. You can set the timeout period to a value between 1 and 2147483647.

If the script does not finish running by the end of the timeout period, ASP stops the script and writes an event to the Windows event log. You can override this option in an ASP page by using the Server.ScriptTimeout method.

Enable Side by Side assemblies

Side-by-side (SxS) assemblies allow ASP applications to specify which version of a system DLL or classic COM component to use, such as MDAC, MFS, MSVCRT, MSXML, etc. For example, if your ASP application relies on MSXML, version 2.0, you can ensure that your application still uses MSXML, version 2.0 even after service packs are applied to the server. Any new version of MSXML is still installed on the computer, but version 2.0 remains and is used by your application. Configuring SxS assemblies requires that you know the path to the DLL, and that the COM+ manifest file exists in every virtual directory that needs to use the DLL.

Note

Shared DLLs must support SxS assemblies.

Manifest file name

Type the COM+ manifest file name. The COM+ manifest is an XML file that has information about where a DLL is installed. IIS does not verify that the manifest exists.

To view an excerpt from a manifest file, see the IIS 6.0 online documentation on the Microsoft Windows Server TechCenter.

To learn more about Active Server Pages and about configuring applications, see the IIS 6.0 online documentation on the Microsoft Windows Server TechCenter.