ASP.NET Site - Firing some code at a specific time

Question

I'm planning on building an ASP.NET web site, which will be on a shared hoster. I don't have an option for a windows service for this. What are my options specific to a web site where I can execute a task, say at 3 AM in the morning? Maybe kicking off a separate thread, or something?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I was just about to do something similar.

What needs to happen is a seperate thread needs to be kicked off from the Global.asax.

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Code that runs on application startup

    }

You will also need to account that the application pool will recycle many times, so make sure it is based on a specific time and that you also have a Database that stores whether it has run or not incase the app pool recycles over the 3am mark, which is highly likely.

You will also need to have some form of keep alive service as if your website goes inactive the app pool won't restart until someone hits it.

Answer 2

We handle this sort of activity in one of two ways:

1) Kick off a thread in global.asax Application_Start that is responsible for executing the activities at the appropriate time.

2) Store a dummy object in the HttpRuntime.Cache with a specified timeout on application startup and have it perform the activities in the CacheItemRemovedCallback.

Answer 3

Seem legit