Configure SQL Server to store ASP.NET session state

This article demonstrates how to configure Microsoft SQL Server for ASP.NET SQL Server mode session state management.

Original product version:   ASP.NET
Original KB number:   317604

Requirements

The following list outlines the recommended hardware, software, network infrastructure, and service packs that you need:

  • Windows
  • .NET Framework
  • Internet Information Services (IIS)
  • SQL Server

Configure SQL Server for ASP.NET SQL Server session state

The following steps describe how to run the InstallSqlState.sql and the UninstallSqlState.sql script files to configure SQL Server mode session state management.

  1. In SQL Query Analyzer, on the File menu, select Open.

  2. In the Open Query File dialog box, browse to the InstallSqlState.sql script file, and then select Open. By default, InstallSqlState.sql is located in one of the following folders:

    • system drive\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\
    • system drive\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\
  3. After InstallSqlState.sql opens in SQL Query Analyzer, select Execute on the Query menu to run the script.

  4. Before you run the UninstallSqlState.sql script file to uninstall SQL Server mode session state management configuration, you must stop the w3svc process. To do this, follow these steps:

    1. On the Windows Start menu, select Run, type cmd, and then select OK to open a command prompt.
    2. At the command prompt, type net stop w3svc. You receive confirmation that the w3svc process is stopped.
  5. In SQL Query Analyzer, on the File menu, select Open.

  6. In the Open Query File dialog box, browse to the UninstallSqlState.sql script file, and then select Open. By default, UninstallSqlState.sql is located in one of the following folders:

    • system drive\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\
    • system drive\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\
  7. After UninstallSqlState.sql opens in SQL Query Analyzer, select Execute on the Query menu to run the script.

  8. After you uninstall SQL Server mode session state management configuration, you must restart the w3svc service. To restart the w3svc process, type net start w3svc at a command prompt.

Modify the Web.config file of your application

To implement ASP.NET SQL Server mode session state management, you must modify the <sessionState> element of your application's Web.config file as follows:

  1. Set the mode attribute of the <sessionState> element to SQLServer to indicate that session state is stored in SQL Server.

  2. Set the sqlConnectionString attribute to specify the connection string for SQL Server. For example:

    sqlConnectionString="data source=MySQLServer;user id=<username>;password=<strongpassword>"
    

    Note

    The user, <user name>, must have permissions to perform this operation on the database.

The modified <sessionState> element should appear as follows:

<sessionState
    mode="SQLServer"
    sqlConnectionString="data source=127.0.0.1;user id=<username>;password=<strongpassword>"
    cookieless="false"
    timeout="20"
/>

Note

Ensure that you use the correct case when you specify the <sessionState> element and the associated attribute values. This code is case sensitive.

Troubleshooting

  • If you don't stop the w3svc process before you run the UninstallSqlState.sql script file, you receive the following error message:

    Cannot drop the database 'ASPState' because it is currently in use

  • If entries in the ASPStateTempSessions table aren't removed after the related sessions expire, make sure that the SQL Server agent is running. You can implement this functionality through stored procedures that are scheduled through jobs in SQL Server. The SQL Server agent manages these jobs.

  • When you use the default InstallSqlState.sql and UninstallSqlState.sql script files to configure ASP.NET SQL Server mode session state management. These files add the ASPStateTempSessions and the ASPStateTempApplications tables to the tempdb database in SQL Server by default. Furthermore, if you restart SQL Server, you lose the session state data that was stored in the ASPStateTempSessions and the ASPStateTempApplications tables. For more information about how to run alternative scripts to configure persistent SQL Server session state management so that the session data isn't lost when you restart the server.

References

Session State