ASP.NET Application Life Cycle Overview for IIS 7.0

A request in IIS 7.0 Integrated mode passes through stages that are like the stages of requests for ASP.NET resources in IIS 6.0. However, in IIS 7.0, these stages include several additional application events, such as the MapRequestHandler, LogRequest, and PostLogRequest events.

The main difference in processing stages between IIS 7.0 and IIS 6.0 is in how ASP.NET is integrated with the IIS server. In IIS 6.0, there are two request processing pipelines. One pipeline is for native-code ISAPI filters and extension components. The other pipeline is for managed-code application components such as ASP.NET. In IIS 7.0, the ASP.NET runtime is integrated with the Web server so that there is one unified request processing pipeline for all requests. For ASP.NET developers, the benefits of the integrated pipeline are as follows:

• The integrated pipeline raises all the events that are exposed by the HttpApplication object, which enables existing ASP.NET HTTP modules to work in IIS 7.0 Integrated mode.

• Both native-code and managed-code modules can be configured at the Web server, Web site, or Web application level. This includes the built-in ASP.NET managed-code modules for session state, forms authentication, profiles, and role management. Furthermore, managed-code modules can be enabled or disabled for all requests, regardless of whether the request is for an ASP.NET resource like an .aspx file.

• Managed-code modules can be invoked at any stage in the pipeline. This includes before any server processing occurs for the request, after all server processing has occurred, or anywhere in between.

• You can register and enable or disable modules through an application’s Web.config file.

The following illustration shows the configuration of an application's request pipeline. The example includes the following:

• The Anonymous native-code module and the Forms managed-code module (which corresponds to FormsAuthenticationModule). These modules are configured, and they are invoked during the Authentication stage of the request.

• The Basic native-code module and the Windows managed-code module (which corresponds to WindowsAuthenticationModule). They are shown, but they are not configured for the application.

• The Execute handler stage, where the handler (a module scoped to a URL) is invoked to construct the response. For .aspx files, the PageHandlerFactory handler is used to respond to the request. For static files, the native-code StaticFileModule module responds to the request.

• The Trace native-code module. This is shown, but it is not configured for the application.

• The Custom module managed-code class. It is invoked during the Log request stage.