Differences/special requirements for running on the webfarm versus a "normal" web server:
When a shared web server can’t handle the load of your website due to high volume traffic or you require
that your website is always available, a shared webfarm that uses multiple
servers can provide high availability and scalability. We use a load balancing
switch to distribute your website requests across all active nodes via the
round-robin method.
Each node within our shared webfarm serves up website content from a single NAS server (network attached
storage). When content is updated, all nodes in the webfarm are immediately
updated.
Other differences between our shared web servers and the shared Webfarm include; FrontPage extensions to
publishing content are not supported on the shared Webfarm, for .NET based
applications, we provide a ‘session-state’ server, and ‘custom’ COM+ components
are not supported.
Components:
If your website uses a third party component, be aware that we do not install custom COM+ components on
the webfarm. All components are required to be .NET based and support ‘xcopy’
deployment. This means that the webfarm doesn’t support many of the components
offered on our shared hosting plan (listed below) and we will not install any
COM+ components on the webfarm. The webfarm is targeted for those who use
classic ASP and ASP.NET based applications but special consideration needs to be
made for Classic ASP sites because of the lack of COM+ support.
Supported Webfarm Components:
- ASPNet
- POP3
- RichTextBox
- ASPNetMenu
- ASPNetEmail
- ASPNetPOP3
- RichDataPicker
- IP*Works! v6 .NET Edition
- ISAPI RewriteURL
Non-supported Webfarm Components:
- VeriSign PayFlow Component
- IEWeb Controls
- MobileWeb Controls
- IP*Works!
- ASPEmail
- RichSlider
- IBiz QuickBooks Integrator V3 .Net Edition
- IBiz E-Payment Integrator V2 .Net Edition
- List Nanny
- DbCombo
- ASPMail
- ASPUpload 3.0
- ASPTear
- Classic ASP HexGadget Component
- Microsoft Index Server
Session State Management:
We provide a state server that can be used for .NET based applications. To utilize this shared session
state server on the webfarm, all ‘session-based’ settings should be commented
out or removed from your web.config file so that they can inherit the settings
that we have set in the machine.config file.
For sites using Classic ASP, please request that we configure your webfarm with sticky-sessions.
Do you provide ISAPI Rewrite on the webfarm?
How do I send email on the webfarm from my application?
How do I ensure my application will continue to
function properly if ORCS Web fails over to the backup content server?
Do you have redundant or Failover SQL Servers available?
Do you provide a redundant Session Server solution on the shared webfarm?
How do I transfer my files?
What does ‘sticky-session’ mean?
Do I have my own Application pool?
Can I upload content to a specific directory via my website?
Can I move from an ORCS Web shared hosting plan to a webfarm plan?
What are the major differences between ‘shared’ and ‘shared webfarm’ hosting plan?
How many page views can I handle on a webfarm account?
Can I deploy a mixture of classic asp and .NET based web pages on my website?
Can I have one or more virtual directories marked as their own application?
Why am I am getting the following ViewState error: "The View State is invalid
for this page and might be corrupted"?
Will having a DNN or Community Server sites on the webfarm function properly?
How many SSL Certificates are needed?
What is the maximum size can I allow for uploading files in my website?
Do you provide ISAPI Rewrite on the webfarm?
Yes,
click here for an article that explains this in detail.
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How do I send email on the webfarm from my application?
Use ‘localhost’ in your code when defining a server to send email.This uses the built-in IIS SMTP
server to send your email.
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How do I ensure my application will continue
to function properly if ORCS Web fails over to the backup content server?
It is best to use Server.MapPath(".") for ASP or ASP.NET or Request.PhysicalApplicationPath() in
ASP.NET for any path related functions. Because this is dynamically generated,
it will work on either content server. Please avoid the use of hard coding the
site’s physical path in your application.
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Do you have redundant or Failover SQL Servers available?
No, we do not provide a shared clustered or failover SQL Server cluster. The webfarm package offers 200
MB of space on a shared SQL Server. Performance is very good and the
possibility of failure is minimal. However clients can move to a dedicated plan
for higher
availability.
Click here to view our dedicated plans.
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Do you provide a redundant Session Server solution on the shared webfarm?
We use ScaleOut Session server (
http://www.scaleoutsoftware.com/products/sessionServer/). This provides a highly available solution for Session Objects. To implement ScaleOut on your site, you need to add settings to your .NET web.config. ScaleOut supports .NET 1.1 and 2.0 applications.
For .NET 2.0 sites
--------------------
Add the following sessionState section to your <system.web> directive.
<system.web>
<!--.....existing settings.-->
<sessionState mode="Custom" customProvider="SossStoreProvider" cookieless="UseCookies" timeout="20" regenerateExpiredSessionId="false">
<providers>
<add name="SossStoreProvider" type="Soss.Web.SossStoreProvider, soss_storeprovider, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=a1ec0b86f746a476" />
</providers>
</sessionState>
</system.web>
For .NET 1.1 sites
--------------------
Within the <system.web> directive, set your <sessionState /> to the following:
<sessionState mode="InProc" cookieless="false" timeout="20" />
Add the following httpModule to your <httpModules>:
<httpModules>
<add name="ScaleOutStateModule" type="Soss.Web.StateModule, soss_aspnet, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=a1ec0b86f746a476" />
</httpModules>
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How do I transfer my files?
Clients upload their website content to one content server via FTP.
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What does ‘sticky-session’ mean?
Sticky-session is a way of maintaining a persistent connection to a specific webfarm node until the client
session ends. So when a client connects to a website, the load-balancer starts
a session on a specific node; as long as the client is connected, all requests
are sent back to that node. This will be required if you are using Classic ASP
and are using session variables.
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Do I have my own Application pool?
Yes, every website is isolated and contained within an application pool. This ensures they do not
share memory or security permissions with any other site.
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Can I upload content to a specific directory via my website?
Yes, you can have the functionality to upload images and/or files via your website.
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Can I move from an ORCS Web shared hosting plan to a webfarm plan?
Yes, we would setup your website ahead of time and provide you an IP Address to upload and test your site
before switching over to the webfarm.
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What are the major differences between ‘shared’ and ‘shared
webfarm’ hosting plan?
- Our shared hosting plan offers 3rd party components.
- Our shared hosting plan is confined to one web server.
- The shared webfarm doesn’t allow the use of FrontPage Server Extensions.
- The shared webfarm offers redundancy and scalability for higher end sites.
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How many page views can I handle on a webfarm account?
This can vary widely depending on how the application is coded. We have clients that average tens of
thousands of users and hundreds of thousands page views everyday.
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Can I deploy a mixture of classic asp and .NET based web pages on my website?
Yes, there is no problem doing this.
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Can I have one or more virtual directories marked
as their own application?
Yes.
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Why am I am getting the following ViewState error:
"The View State is invalid for this page and might be corrupted"?
We have the machine key set the same on all webfarm nodes to ensure viewstate is handled properly regardless
of which node handles ASP.NET requests.
Possible reasons for ViewState errors are:
- The site was changed while testing. If this happens, reload the first page and start again.
- Server.Transfer is being used in code. If this is the case consider setting
EnableViewStateMac = "False". Note that there are security considerations to
disabling ViewStateMac so use this with caution.
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Will having a DNN or Community Server sites on the webfarm function
properly?
Yes, both of these products will work perfectly on the webfarm.
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How many SSL Certificates are needed?
A website will only need to purchase one SSL certificate that will be used on all webfarm nodes.
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What is the maximum size can I allow for uploading files
in my website?
They can upload any size over FTP as long as the total fits within their space allotment. Space can be
increased by making a request to
webteam@orcsweb.com.
Over HTTP, it's the same as on shared servers. ASP.NET defaults are set at 4MB
but can be increased if requested.
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