Session vars in ASP app under IIS6 not sticking

[Jack Black]

Hi, all! Developed a basic ASP web site with MS Access 2k3 as a database
back end. I've developed it on two different Win2k3 servers, and app works
flawlessly on both. However, we just moved it to a client's Win2k3 Server,
and it's not holding any session variables. It IS, however, holding
Application variables, but not session variables. I checked all the usual
things (MS KB, ASPFAQ, etc), but none of them provided any solution. The
only difference I can find between the three servers is that one has the
Enhanced IE Security whosiwhatsis loaded, whereas mine don't.

I've since recreated the website one the target Win2k3 server from scratch,
but still getting the exact same problem.

Help! Any ideas? Thanks!
Jack

 

[Mike Brind]

Hi, all! Developed a basic ASP web site with MS Access 2k3 as a database
back end. I've developed it on two different Win2k3 servers, and app
works flawlessly on both. However, we just moved it to a client's Win2k3
Server, and it's not holding any session variables. It IS, however,
holding Application variables, but not session variables. I checked all
the usual things (MS KB, ASPFAQ, etc), but none of them provided any
solution. The only difference I can find between the three servers is
that one has the Enhanced IE Security whosiwhatsis loaded, whereas mine
don't.

I've since recreated the website one the target Win2k3 server from
scratch, but still getting the exact same problem.

Help! Any ideas? Thanks!

Did you check that Enable Session State is checked on the Options tab under
Application Configuration in IIS?

 

[JackBlack]

Yes, session state is enabled, and the default timeout is 20 minutes. Not
using frames or iframes; not loading webpages across directory or domain
boundaries. All the usual things noted in KB and ASPFAQ have been checked
and determined not to be an issue.

Ideas?
Jack

 

[Anthony Jones]

Hi, all! Developed a basic ASP web site with MS Access 2k3 as a database
back end. I've developed it on two different Win2k3 servers, and app works
flawlessly on both. However, we just moved it to a client's Win2k3 Server,
and it's not holding any session variables. It IS, however, holding
Application variables, but not session variables. I checked all the usual
things (MS KB, ASPFAQ, etc), but none of them provided any solution. The
only difference I can find between the three servers is that one has the
Enhanced IE Security whosiwhatsis loaded, whereas mine don't.

I've since recreated the website one the target Win2k3 server from scratch,
but still getting the exact same problem.

Help! Any ideas? Thanks!
Jack

Are you testing with the same client?
Could it be the client config that is causing the problem?

For example if IE is configured to aggressively reject all cookies in the
internet zone including session cookies then this behaviour would be seen.
The same client could work fine with servers in the intranet zone.

I take it you have gone through the site properties dialog tab by tab and
dialog by dialog (esp the App config box) comparing settings?

Does the application or system event logs contain anything that seems
related?

 

[Jack Black]

Anthony, thanks for replying!

I've tested with three different IE6 clients. The "working" websites
function perfectly fine on all three clients, and the "failing" website does
so on all three clients, so I think that probably rules out client
configuration as an issue, no?

One other bit of information: the "failing" web server is configured to run
in a DMZ with very tight security. Could there be an issue with the website
accessing style sheets from a server outside the DMZ (client's public
website) versus having the style sheets sitting inside the DMZ? Cross
domain page access isn't an issue, because the code works perfectly on
Win2k3 server sitting outside in the public domain; running from this DMZ
server is where we're seeing issues.

Thanks,
Jack