Entries from August 1, 2007 - September 1, 2007
In SQL Server, does WorkflowGen require the use of the SA user to connect to the WorkflowGen database?
WorkflowGen requires the use of an SQL Server user (using SQL Server Authentication). You can use any user defined in SQL Server as long as that user has been granted DATAREADER and DATAWRITER rights to the WorkflowGen database. This is the user that is specified in the database connection string found in the "General" tab of the configuration panel.
Please contact your Database Administrator for more information regarding creating this user.
What permissions does WorkflowGen require on folders
Please refer to the section "Folder Security" of the Technical Documentation for more information:
For greater security, NT authorizations to application folders can be configured for the users of WorkflowGen.
The objective is to restrict security settings on certain WorkflowGen files and folders.
To download the Technical Document click Here
Slow .NET applications
Summary
On occasion .NET applications (such as the WorkflowGen web site or any applications created within WorkflowGen using .NET) may appear to slow down, sometimes for an extended period of time. This is caused by the .NET recompilation process under certain circumstances as described below.
Reproduction
This issue can be reproduced by doing a “cold boot” of the web server to simulate a “first load” scenario of the .NET applications.
- Reset IIS (using the iisreset command)
- Delete the files located in the directory:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files
- Start/launch a .NET application (like WorkflowGen) and then launch a web form
The application is only rendered/displayed once all the files have been regenerated in the “Temporary ASP .NET Files” directory.
Isolation
Deleting the files in the “Temporary ASP .NET Files” directory forces the .NET Framework to recompile the web applications.
Once the applications are recompiled, the loading of web applications returns to normal (until the next time that they need to be recompiled). Recompiling the web applications may be long.
It has been noted that the time to recompile these files is longer than when an antivirus scanner scans/rescans the newly generated files in the “Temporary ASP .NET Files” directory, which also adds more time to the web application load times.
Solution(s)
The recompilation of the .NET applications will occur if the service is restarted, the application pool is recycled, the worker process is stopped or a modification is done to the application source files.
To identify the impact that the antivirus scan will have on the performance of the recompilation, you will need to follow the steps above to reproduce the issue after stopping the antivirus software. If the performance returns to normal, we can only recommend to contact the software vendor or to modify the scan properties to analyse the “Temporary ASP .NET Files” directory in a different manner (or not at all).
If the performance is not affected and is at an acceptable level, we suggest that the following steps be followed:
- By default, IIS will stop any worker process of an application pool after 20 minutes of inactivity. We suggest deactivating this option. Please refer to:
- By default, IIS will recycle the application pools every 1740 minutes. This option may also be deactivated. In this light, we would suggest creating an application pool dedicated for WorkflowGen. Please refer to:
- It is possible to force the .NET applications to recompile after they have been modified to avoid long wait times after a “cold boot”. To force the recompilation, you must execute the following lines using the aspnet_comiler.exe program.
- %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\aspnet_compiler.exe -v "/wfgen" 1
- %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\aspnet_compiler.exe -v "/wfgen/WfApps/WebApps/eFormASPX" 1
- %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\aspnet_compiler.exe –v "/wfgen/WfApps/WebForms/MyWebForm" 1
1 The virtual path is case sensitive
Examples
a. C:\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe -v "/wfgen" 2
b. C:\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe -v "/wfgen/WfApps/WebApps/eFormASPX" 2
c. C:\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe -v "/wfgen/WfApps/WebForms/tracabilite_credits" 2
2 The virtual path is case sensitive
Security error when connecting to WorkflowGen
Issue:
I get a security error when connecting to the WorkflowGen user portal or administration module after completing the installation and configuration.
Cause:
If you currently login to Windows using your domain account (E.g. User1) and try to connect to WorkflowGen using Windows Integrated Authentication, WorkflowGen will try to authenticate "User1" and search for a user named "User1" in its database. Since this is a new installation, this user won't exist because it has not been created yet.
By default, there is only one account which you can login to WorkflowGen with after the installation ("wfgen_admin").
Solution 1:
- Logon to Windows using the wfgen_admin account.
- Connect to the administration module.
- You can create the user "User1" in Directory / Users manually or perform a directory synchronization to your company Active Directory.
- Logoff and logon again to Windows using your domain account once the user ("User1") has been created.
- You should now have access to the WorkflowGen application.
Solution 2:
- Switch the WorkflowGen website authentication to Basic authentication.
- Logon to WorkflowGen with the wfgen_admin account.
- You can create the user "User1" in Directory / Users manually or perform a directory synchronization to your company Active Directory.
- Switch the WorkflowGen web site back to Windows Integrated Authentication.
- You should now have access to the WorkflowGen application.
Setup: WorkflowGen web site is not functionnal
Issue:
I have created the WorkflowGen web site in IIS but still could not connect to the WorkflowGen application.
Possible causes:
1. The WorkflowGen web site home directory is not pointing to the correct local path.
2. The WorkflowGen web site is using an invalid port number or the port is blocked by the firewall for incoming requests.
Solutions:
1. The WorkflowGen web site home directory local path should be DRIVE:\Inetpub\wwwroot
2. Check if the port is not already used by another application or blocked by the firewall.