Can PipeLine Mode and Pool Identity affect an application running with Integrated Security?

Question

My application is built on ASP.NET 2.0 and is hosted on a dedicated server running Windows Server 2008 R2.

From the last few days, my users are complaining that the application starts malfunctioning by picking previous SQL Server connection values. The GridView starts displaying options of a DropDown control and so on. When I restart the SQL Server background service, everything starts working fine. I had a lot of discussion with people and few suggested that it has something to do with the Application Pool.

I looked into the IIS properties to see which application pool is running my application. I found that my application is using Classic Application Pool with Managed Pipeline Mode set to: Classic. The application is also running with Application Pool Identity: LocalSystemAccount.

In the database connection string (in web.config file), I am using Server Name as LocalHost with Integrated Security=SSPI.

I want to know whether the above settings have anything to do with this malfunction.

Do I need to change the Pipeline Mode to Integrated and put the application in a separate pool? Is Integrated Security=SSPI has anything to do with the PipeLine Mode?

Answer 1

Re: Are Pipeline Mode and Integrated Security setting related: No.

Pipeline Mode indicates the way that IIS handles requests. Classic is essentially the IIS6 model, with ASP.NET code running through ISAPI. Integrated brings ASP.NET processing into the main pipeline in a new model for IIS 7.

Integrated Security is determining the authentication your app presents to SQL when making a connection. SSPI I believe means that you will use the account credentials of the App Pool process. Since you are using LocalSystemAccount, it will be the Local System. This would probably present a problem if the SQL Server instance was on a separate machine, but if it is localhost I would imagine it would be trusted.

As to the root of the erratic behavior... I don't have an answer there. The app pool could be getting into a screwy state, but I don't think that state is related to pipeline mode.