IIS 5.0 / Win2K issue when virtual directory is a remote share

[cyberia]

I am testing an ASP application using IIS installed on my PC. The ASP scripts are located on a remote file server. I created a virtual directory that points to that remote server.

Unfortunately, IIS somehow caches the application, so if I make a change to the ASP scripts, they are not seen in the browser until I unload the ASP application from my PC's memory.

I unchecked the "Cache ISAPI applications" checkbox, so changes are now seen immediately. However, I often get "The requested resource is in use" error when accessing the application in the browser. According to Microsoft, it is "by design".

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[spyordie007]

yes that is by design because asp is getting unloaded and it cant process the script, I would re-enable ISAPI caching.

The question is why isnt IIS realizing that newer files are available and loading up the new(est) scripts rather than processing the old? What are the effective permissions does the account IIS is running under (most likely IUSER) have over the files on the file server? Does it have read attributes privilages?

 

[cyberia]

Thanks for the reply spyordie. I had to disable ISAPI caching to force IIS check for new scripts. The scripts are located on a Novell file server that is accessed as a UNC share.

I specified my username (instead of IUSR) in the Connect As... dialog. If I specify the IUSR in that dialog, I keep getting password prompts in the browser. I guess this is expected as this IUSR is not known on the network or has read rights to the remote directory.

But why does IIS choose to cache files and never try to check for new versions unless I force an unload? It DOES have rights to access the share through the username I specified in Connect As... settings. Otherwise it would not even load once.

 

[spyordie007]

Just from what I've heard my guess would be that IIS isnt able to read the modify date on the files so it doesnt know to reload them. If that's the case I dont have any suggestions for how to go about fixing them at this point. I would test it but I dont have any Novell file servers...

Just a thought; if you are unable to get IIS to realize that there are updated files I see 2 "better" options that disabling the ISAPI cache:
1. Get the files off your Novell file server and put them somewhere IIS will realize they are new (locally or a Windows file server).
2. Whever you update scripts restart either the website or the w3svc (which will force it to reload it's cache). It doesnt take much time for a batch script to run that does a net stop w3svc, net start w3svc...

Good Luck!

 

[cyberia]

Thanks again spyordie. Your guess does make sense. I will probably go with option 1. Later on when I finalize the look and feel and the frequency of changes decreases, I'll go with option 2.

Thanks.