Repost: IIS does not recognize updates of ASP pages - PLEASE HELP!!

[Jerome Cohen]

This problem is driving us mad, and I saw someone else posting a very
similar problem, again no support from MS!

-----------------------
Win2K/IIS 5.0, web farm load balanced by Local director. same setup on each
web server.

I have an application that is mapped to a network folder, physically located
on a file server , also Win2K.
on each web server, the root level of the application, directly located
under "Default Web Site", is maped liked this: \\fileserver\rootDir . we
have dozens of foldfers under the main folder.

When we update ASP files, some times, some
web servers, continue to server the old version even 1-2 days after the
update, and we have to reset IIS. the mapping has been checked numerous
times, its 100%. the same web server can react to updates on same folder ,
and next time not react.

date-time synched perfectly among file server and all web servers.

important to notice - same web servers host also CFM pages on same physical
folder, mapped by CFM admin on each web server. NEVER had a problem with
ColdFusion not recognizing an update!

 

[Aaron [SQL Server MVP]]

http://www.aspfaq.com/2022

 

[Alok Kumar]

there is an option in IIS to cache pages. I think by default it is set to
cache 200 pages in the memory.
The best thing is to add the code in your page not to cache that page.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">

Alok Kumar

 

[David Wang [Msft]]

This newsgroup is peer support. There are Microsoft employees monitoring the
newsgroup on their own personal time, but from the sheer volume of posts, I
hope you can accept my apology at not being able to answer every single
question. I hope you agree that non-paid support is best-effort.

That point aside:
1. You are complaining about File change notification (which is the
mechanism that ASP uses to figure out if a file has "changed" on disk) over
UNC shares. That whole scenario has a series of scalability/reliability
problems which we've resolved for ASP on IIS6 such that it still caches over
UNC but updates quickly on updates. If you believe you are seeing an IIS
bug/issue, you can contact Microsoft PSS for assistance. There won't be a
charge if it is an IIS bug -- but if you misconfigured... it is only fair to
charge you.

Be sure you have read and understood the following URL regarding usage of
UNC shares with IIS.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/webapp/iis/remstorg.mspx

It talks about IIS6, but general principles apply to IIS5. It also has a
list of IIS4/IIS5 KBs, in particular the following one titled "File Change
Notifications are Lost when Content is on a UNC share" with an associated
QFE which you must contact PSS to obtain:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;281253

I recommend at least contacting PSS and trying QFE 281253, as well as make
sure your UNC scenario is configured correctly. As I've said, UNC on IIS5
has known issues and really wasn't designed to work with it, so I would not
dream that it is as easy as on IIS6.

2. I'm willing to bet that Cold Fusion doesn't have update issues because it
does not cache well. Thus, to do an apples-to-apples comparison against ASP,
turn off ASP's caching. I'm sure you will see ASP not miss any updates,
either, and still perform comparably.

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
This problem is driving us mad, and I saw someone else posting a very
similar problem, again no support from MS!

-----------------------
Win2K/IIS 5.0, web farm load balanced by Local director. same setup on each
web server.

I have an application that is mapped to a network folder, physically located
on a file server , also Win2K.
on each web server, the root level of the application, directly located
under "Default Web Site", is maped liked this: \\fileserver\rootDir . we
have dozens of foldfers under the main folder.

When we update ASP files, some times, some
web servers, continue to server the old version even 1-2 days after the
update, and we have to reset IIS. the mapping has been checked numerous
times, its 100%. the same web server can react to updates on same folder ,
and next time not react.

date-time synched perfectly among file server and all web servers.

important to notice - same web servers host also CFM pages on same physical
folder, mapped by CFM admin on each web server. NEVER had a problem with
ColdFusion not recognizing an update!

 

[Jerome Cohen]

David,

I do agree this is a "best-effort" group. I was venting my frustration, and
I appreciate your help.

We are exploring the fixes and will contact PSS. from a brief glance we
should have all the fixes included since we are running service pack 4, but
we need to take a closer look.

You mentioned we can turn off ASP caching, and "and still perform
comparably" . Are there any stats for this? we are talking about IIS having
to fetch a file from a remote disk for every client request, right?

FYI- I have seen posts from people complaining about the same problem in IIS
6