SUMMARY

ASP.NET applications are configured using a set of XML configuration files named web.config . These configuration files replace the role of the metabase in IIS and enable configuration changes by simply copying new files onto the server. Configuration files can be placed in several places on a Web server. There is always a top-level machine.config file that contains the default settings for all ASP.NET applications deployed on that machine. You can place a web.config file in the root directory of a site that applies to all applications deployed on that site. You can also place web.config files at the top level of a virtual directory or in any subdirectory of an application, and the settings are applied hierarchically, with local configuration files overriding higher-level ones.

In addition to the typical Web application settings, several new elements are available. The appSettings element is useful for storing generic name /value pairs of data for retrieval during application execution. The processModel element gives you very precise control over how the lifetime of the ASP.NET worker process is managed. Finally, you can also create your own configuration sections by authoring a class that implements IConfigurationSectionHandler or by using the provided NameValueFileSectionHandler class.