Can anyone tell me the purpose of this HttpModule? It’s showing up on my HttpModuleCollection list, but I don’t know what’s it’s for.
System.ServiceModel.Activation.HttpModule
I can’t find any documentation on it.
Answers:
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Method 1
System.ServiceModel.Activation.HttpModule come from because you installed “Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1” / “Windows Communication Foundation HTTP Activation” feature. If you don’t need the feature you can uninstall it of remove the module from your web.config. The less unused modules you load the more quickly run your web application.
If you install this feature after the installation of .NET 4 framework on your server you can receive problems described in http://blogs.iis.net/webtopics/archive/2010/04/28/system-typeloadexception-for-system-servicemodel-activation-httpmodule-in-asp-net-4.aspx.
In general an HTTP module is called on every request in response to the BeginRequest() and EndRequest() events. As a result, the module runs before and after a request is processed. In the section “How HTTP Modules Work” on http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb398986(v=VS.100).aspx you can read more about HTTP modules.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms227673.aspx describes how to create a Custom HTTP Module. Some small custom modules can be really helpful. For example, you can read in How to remove the “.svc” extension in RESTful WCF service? a code example (which originate from the book “RESTful .NET”, Chapter 5, page 96) “Removing the .SVC Extension from WCF REST URLs”. In http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/570695.aspx you can read how to do the same with respect of “IIS 7 Rewrite Module”.
The general information about HTTP module is not a part of your question, but I inserted it to better understanding what Activation.HttpModule do, and what other more useful modules you can use or write yourself.
Method 2
This module is what allows WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) services to work (starting in .net Framework 3.0).
You can safely ignore it and it shouldn’t cause trouble. If you really want to get rid of it, you can remove it from your root web.config file (e.g. in
WindowsMicrosoft.NETFrameworkv4.0.30319Configweb.config). But I suggest leaving it there just in case you need WCF at some point.
Method 3
A http module is a .net assembly that is called every time your web application gets a request. This is the standard one that asp.net provides that connects your .net web application code to the IIS web infrastructure.
HTTP Modules
An HTTP module is an assembly that is
called on every request that is made
to your application. HTTP modules are
called as part of the request pipeline
and have access to life-cycle events
throughout the request. HTTP modules
therefore let you examine incoming
requests and take action based on the
request. They also let you examine the
outgoing response and modify it.In IIS 6.0, the ASP.NET request
pipeline is separate from the Web
server request pipeline. In IIS 7.0,
the ASP.NET request pipeline and the
Web server request pipeline can be
integrated into a common request
pipeline. In IIS 7.0, this is referred
to as Integrated mode. The unified
pipeline has several benefits for
ASP.NET developers. For example, it
lets managed-code modules receive
pipeline notifications for all
requests, even if the requests are not
for ASP.NET resources. However, if you
want, you can run IIS 7.0 in Classic
mode, which emulates ASP.NET running
in IIS 6.0. For more information, see
ASP.NET Application Life Cycle
Overview for IIS 7.0.ASP.NET HTTP modules are like ISAPI
filters because they are invoked for
all requests. However, they are
written in managed code and are fully
integrated with the life cycle of an
ASP.NET application. You can put
custom module source code in the
App_Code folder of your application,
or you can put compiled custom modules
as assemblies in the Bin folder of an
application.ASP.NET uses modules to implement
various application features, which
includes forms authentication,
caching, session state, and client
script services. In each case, when
those services are enabled, the module
is called as part of a request and
performs tasks that are outside the
scope of any single page request.
Modules can consume application events
and can raise events that can be
handled in the Global.asax file. For
more information about application
events, see ASP.NET Application Life
Cycle Overview for IIS 5.0 and 6.0 and
ASP.NET Application Life Cycle
Overview for IIS 7.0.
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