Cumulative update package 5 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server

INTRODUCTION

Cumulative update package 5 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server is available. This update package resolves several issues for the caching and hosting services that are provided in AppFabric 1.1. For more information about these issues, go to the "More Information" section of this article.

This cumulative update includes all the features and fixes that were included in earlier cumulative updates for AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server. For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2800726: Cumulative Update 4 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server
2787717: Cumulative Update 3 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server
2716015: Cumulative Update 2 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server
2671763: Cumulative Update 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server

More Information

Issues that are fixed in this update

Hosting issue

Consider the following scenario:

You have AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server installed on a Windows Server 2012-based computer.
There are no idle or suspended instances together with monitoring or persistence enabled on the computer.
You open the AppFabric Dashboard page in the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager extensions in Windows Server AppFabric.

In this scenario, you receive the following error message:

Error(s) occurred while gathering data for the AppFabric Dashboard. Review details for additional information.
Unable to cast object of type 'System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject' to type 'Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Management.Data.GroupByInfo'.

Caching issues

Issue 1:

Assume that you have an application that uses the AppFabric Session Store Provider for ASP.NET. The application inserts objects into the ASP.NET session store that are not serialized and deserialized. In this situation, the session is locked by the provider for future page requests. All requests for the same session state are stuck in the queue until the session item expires.

Resolution

After you apply this hotfix, the session will be unlocked when an error occurs in serialization or deserialization.

Issue 1.1:

Assume that you have an application that uses the AppFabric Cache. The application puts objects into the AppFabric Cache that are not deserialized. In this situation, when you call the GetAndLock method on the un-deserialized item for the first time, you will receive a deserialization exception. However, the item is still locked, and it will not be unlocked.

Resolution

After you apply this hotfix, the item will not be locked when you receive the deserialization exception.

Issue 2:

Assume that you have an application that uses the AppFabric Session Store Provider for ASP.NET. Although you have some time-out values that are defined in code, all objects in the cache will time out at the application-level time-out value that is defined in the configuration file. For example, this occurs when you define a time-out value to HttpContext.Current.Session.Timeout.

Resolution

After you apply this hotfix, when useBlobMode equals false in the GranularSessionStore cache, AppFabric Session Store Provider will respect the time-out values that are defined in code.

Note When useBlobMode equals true in the BlobSessionStoreProvider cache, AppFabric Session Store Provider will continue to have the existing behavior of not respecting time-out values that are defined in code.

Issue 3:

Assume that you have Microsoft AppFabric 1.1. for Windows Server installed on a computer that is running x86-based Windows 8. When you execute a New-Cache Windows PowerShell cmdlet, you receive the following error message:

New-Cache : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-Cache
+ ~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [New-Cache], NullReferenceException+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.NullReferenceException,Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Commands.NewCacheCommand

Known issues

When you uninstall any cumulative updates for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1, you may encounter a dialog box that states "The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable." In this situation, the cumulative update will not be uninstalled. To work around this issue, follow these steps:

Download Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server from here.
Open the Command Prompt, and then run the .exe together with the '/?' option. For example, run WindowServerAppFabricSetup_x86.exe /?.
Leave theAppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server Setup Wizard dialog box that has many setup commands open when it appears.
Use Windows Explorer to move to the root folder of the boot drive. You should see a newly created temporary folder that has a randomly generated name, such as "C:\ced4e5c208fd0a43edc4a195edfe47."
Copy that temporary directory to a new location, such as to "c:\appfabrictempfiles."
Close the AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server Setup Wizard dialog box.
When you now try to uninstall the cumulative update and are prompted for the location of the MSI, you can point it to the "packages" subfolder in the copy of the temporary directory that you created (such as to "c:\appfabrictempfiles\packages"), and the uninstallation should be successful.

How to obtain cumulative update package 5 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server

Download information

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Download the package now.

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

This update can be applied on Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2.

AppFabric can be installed on the following operating systems:

Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP2

AppFabric can be installed for development and testing on the following operating systems:

Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista SP2

Supported Architectures

32-bit (x86)
64-bit (x64)

Privilege Requirements

Before you apply this cumulative update, you must have administrative credentials on the computer where you install the software.

Prerequisites

To apply this cumulative update package, you must have AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server installed. Additionally, you must have the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 installed.

Restart requirement

You may have to restart the computer after you apply this cumulative update package.

File information

The English version of this cumulative update package has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.