Possible to change name of trace.axd in web.config file?

[who be dat?]

Hello all. I'm writing an application that is writing trace information
that can be viewed in trace.axd. I would like to rename this and use a
different name specific to my application. I know the name of this is set in
machine.config. I was hoping it would be possible to change this in
web.config. I got it to work, kind of. Good news is I can change the name in
my web.config file. Bad news is that trace.axd still works meaning I can
access the log file by using two different names, the one I created in
web.config and trace.axd . There is a bit of a problem with this though.
When I click on a link to view trace results in my custom axd webpage, the
links are actually to the trace.axd webpage instead of using the name I
supplied in web.config file.

Any ideas how I can do this or is it even possible? The reason why I want
to do this is because I'm writing a web app I'd like to release to the
public upon completion. I write some error messages out to the trace log to
help with diagnosing problems. Thing is, the trace information could
compromise some security I'm implementing. I'd like to rename the trace
webpage in web.config. That way, when someone installs this on a webhosting
service, they can rename the webpage to whatever they want to and keep it
secret thereby helping a bit in the area of security.



Chris Smith

 

[Scott M.]

The trace log (trace.axd) is a virtual file. It is created in memory only
and does not exist physically on your hard drive. As such, you probably
won't be able to get much farther than you are right now. It would be
easier to simply write to your application's own log file for users to view
or that your application can read and display.

 

[Joe Kaplan \(MVP - ADSI\)]

That said, you should be able to change the name of trace.axd in the
machine.config file to a different name and the HttpHandler it maps to will
answer to that name instead. Note that if you change the extension, you
must make sure that the new extension maps to an extension that ASP.NET
handles. You can change that via the IIS MMC.

Joe K.

 

[who be dat?]

Yeah, I'm aware trace.axd is a virual file.Thanks for the suggestion. I
suppose I could just create such a file. Doesn't sound like it would be big
deal. I'm just at a loss to explain why this can't be done though.
Machine.config provides teh name of trace.axd and such, seems like you
should be able to change it. However, I suppose it's possible Microsft
didn't intend for this to be changed on a per application basis. Thanks
again.

Chris Smith

 

[who be dat?]

Yeah, I think you can change the name of trace.axd to something else. Sure
would be nice if you could do it on a per application basis. I'll probably
do what the other guy said and write necessary information out to a log file
I will create. Thanks!!

Chris Smith

 

[Joe Kaplan \(MVP - ADSI\)]

You can change it on a per application basis. It is just an HttpHandler.
Just clear it out in the config of each application and then re-add it with
whatever name you want. Check out the configuration reference for the
httpHandlers section.

In terms of doing instrumentation stuff in your web application, you might
want to consider looking at things like Log4Net
http://logging.apache.org/log4net/ or Microsoft's Logging Application Block.
Both provide more full-featured logging and instrumentation frameworks for
your application.

Joe K.