>Tom wilson wrote:
>> I have an asp.net app running off of a W2003 server.  It's being
>> written in VS2003.  I've encountered a problem where a database record
>> is being updated with the wrong value intermittently.  So I debug the
>> page.
>>
>> I step through the code and the value Session("PersonID") changes
>> right before my eyes for no apprent reason.
>
>That's a symptom of having "maximum number of worker processes" for an
>application pool being more than 1. To have more than 1, you have to use
>out-of-process session state storage. Useful search keyword: aspnet_state.
>
>Andrew
>

>Tom wilson wrote:
>> Yes, that sounds like it.  But I'm having much trouble finding any
>> information on it.  Searches for aspnet_state return hundreds of pages
>> telling me what it does (from the 'is it a worm?' aspect).  I searched
>> for "Maximum number of worker processes".  Google returns 3 hits.
>> There's an excellent page out there that tells me how to change the
>> values but not WHAT I should chnage those values to.  Like:
><snip>
>> Do I change this?  What do I change it to?  What about the other
>> values?  Do I change those and to what?
>
>/Do/ you have "Maximum number of worker processes" set to more than one? You
>might get answers from people more knowledgable in this are than me (not
>difficult) in microsoft.public.inetserver.iis, but here's what I think the
>settings do:
>-------------------------
>Recycling:-
>Recycle worker processes: tear it down and start again just in case it's
>gone messy somewhere. IME, in-process session-state gets destroyed when it
>recycles a worker process.
>
>Memory recycling: well, if it comes to that, either add more RAM or find the
>memory leak. (Talking about memory, if the site seems sluggish, have a look
>under the performance tab in Task Manager. If the total commit charge is
>greater than the total physical memory then it wants more RAM.)
>
>
>Performance:-
>Idle timeout: shut it down after a while so that the next request after that
>takes longer as it has to wake up again. This might also interfere with
>session state (if so, look out for the session state timeout for the web
>site - the setting you get to by right-clicking the web site, then
>Properties->Home Directory tab->Configuration...->Options tab).
>
>
>Request queue limit: reduce DOS attack effect.
>CPU monitoring: what to do if it goes mad for too long.
>
>Web garden: if one worker process gets stuck (see Recycling above), you can
>have another one going so that people can still use the web site. Of course,
>I should have put timeouts around all my requests to other services so it
>didn't get stuck in the first place..
>
>
>Health:-
>Dunno, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
>
>
>Identity:-
>You might want to run the service under a different account from the
>default, like you do with SQL Server etc. I've never tried that.
>----------------------------
>
>This article tells it all w.r.t. session state:-
>http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178586.aspx
>
>Oh - no it doesn't. It doesn't mention that with out-of-process
>session-state you must make sure that everything you store in a Session()
>variable must be <Serializable()> as in
>    <Serializable()> Public Class basketCentral
>        Implements IDisposable   ' keeps it happy
>        ......
>
>And another thing: before wiggling all the bits, manually back up the config
>by right-clicking on the computer in IIS Manager and going through All
>Tasks..., and then back it up again when you've got it working
>satisfactorily. If you have to re-install IIS, only the manually backed up
>configs survive.
>
>HTH
>
>Andrew
>

>Tom wilson wrote:
>
>> I'm yakking away to a co-worker about the problem the nsuddenly out of
>> nowhere, VS stops at a breakpoint.  ???  I closed the browser and
>> haven't clicked on anything.  So I examine the personID.  It's 2259.
>> Not the one I was working with.  So I hit continue.  A moment later,
>> it stops at the same breakpoint by itself and the personID is now
>> 3278.  Continue.  Moments later...
>
>Sounds to me like a Threading issue, with VS stopping on the breakpoints
>in your code as each /executing Thread/ passes through them.
>
>> It's picking up live people using the site! 
>
>"Fun", isn't it?
>
>> How can I debug this application if live people are constantly
>> changing the state of the debugging session?
>
>And, IMHO, this is just one reason why I would never recommend trying to
>"Debug" a live application /even if/ you have some way of limiting
>access to only those individuals that need to be in there at any point
>in time!
>
>However, wouldn't each Client be accessing their /own/ Session data?
>Certainly if there's /any/ possibility of one person seeing data held in
>another person's Session information then I, for one, will /not/ be
>moving to ASP.Net /any/ time soon.
>
>> This is why it's writing the wrong values, the session values seem
>> to be changing at will based on who's logged into the site.
>
>Well, /if/ we're talking about the Session object, that would be the
>case, wouldn't it?
>
>HTH,
>    Phill  W.