AppFabric for WCF services on Windows Server 2008 R2

4
votes

we are currently on windows server 2008 R2, IIS 7.5 and we are going to open some of our data via WCF services.

To do that, we are planing to host our services on IIS but I heard that it is not a good idea for WCF services.

The problem with the WAS is that it is general purpose hosting engine. it's actually unaware that it's actually hosting a WCF service or a website (as far as I know)

I heard that we can install an extension to the WAS called the Windows Server AppFabric.

  1. does anybody have any experience on AppFabric?
  2. should my app have to use so called 'Service Bus' to use AppFabric?
  3. should I go ahead and definitely install it?
  4. at most basic level, how and where can I install it? does it require any licence?

Thanks in advance.

2
wcfwindows-server-2008iis-7.5appfabricwindows-server-2008-r2

2 Answers

3
votes

I don't think IIS us a bad idea - many developers use IIS to host their WCF services. IMHO you'd only use what you need, so if all you need is a hosting framework, then IIS is a very good option for WCF services. It is (almost) unaware that it's hosting a WCF service, but that in the majority of the cases isn't an issue.

Windows Server AppFabric as it's currently released provides three capabilities: a distributed caching system (so if you need to scale out your service you can use this cache to share state among the nodes); a packaging / deployment interface (in which you can package a project and deploy it a little easier in IIS); and a management / monitoring interface (where you can monitor the instances of WCF and Workflow services which are running in your machine).

Answers to your questions:

  1. Yes, some people have experience with it :)
  2. No, the application doesn't have to use it. You'd only use the ServiceBus if you need its functionality (relay)
  3. Only if you need it. If you don't need caching or the monitoring capabilities, for example, then I'd say you don't need it. I've found in the past that the least number of components I have in my system, the less likely it is to break.
  4. Go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/ee695849.aspx. And AFAIK you don't need any license, but you can check on the download page to see if it has more information.
0
votes

There is no real common reason why not to host a service in IIS/WAS.

If you want to absolutely, totally 100% make sure that your service is continuously running some process, such as a continuous loop or polling monitor, and if any interruption no matter how brief is a major issue, then you'd want to look at alternative hosts.

Win Server AppFabric is most useful for WF Service hosting and caching. Note however that Win Server AppFabric + Win Server Service Bus 1.0 represents the first steps in convergence between the Azure platform and the Windows Server private platform.... In other words, whichever of the two ways you choose, that's what is going to be earning your bread and butter in 5 years time.