Menu
So, I've read that it is not a good idea to install VS2008 on my test server machine as it changes the run time environment too much. I've never attempted remote debugging with Visual Studio before, so what is the "best" way to get line by line remote debugging of server side web app code. I'd like to be able to set a breakpoint, attach, and start stepping line by line to verify code flow and, you know, debug and stuff :).
I'm sure most of the answers will pertain to ASP.NET code, and I'm interested in that, but my current code base is actually Classic ASP and ISAPI Extensions, so I care about that a little more.
Also, my test server is running in VMWare, I've noticed in the latest VMWare install it mentioning something about debugging support, but I'm unfamiliar with what that means...anyone using it, what does it do for you?
955
Select Configure remote debugging to configure the firewall and start the remote debugger. When configuration is complete, the Remote Debugger window appears. The remote debugger is now waiting for a connection. Use the server name and port number shown to set the remote connection configuration in Visual Studio.
On the development computer, open the Visual Studio project to debug and in its Properties, go in Debugging and select Remote Windows Debugger as the Debugger to launch, put something similar to C:\Share\$(ProjectName).exe in Remote Command, C:\Share in Working Directory, the server name indicated on the Visual Studio ...
One way to debug a web server is by using the wget command-line program. Sometimes when managing a website, things can get messed up. You might remove some stale content and replace it with a redirect to other pages. Later, after making other changes, you find some web pages become entirely inaccessible.
First, this is MUCH easier if both the server and your workstation are on the same domain (the server needs access to connect to your machine). In your C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger\x86 (or x64, or ia64) directory are the files you need to copy to your server. There are different versions between Visual Studio versions, so make sure they match on the client and server side. On the server, fire up msvsmon. It will say something like "Msvsmon started a new server named xxx@yyyy". This is the name you'll use in Visual Studio to connect to this server. You can go into Tools > Options to set the server name and to set the authentication mode (hopefully Windows Authentication) - BTW No Authentication doesn't work for managed code.
On the client side, open up Visual Studio and load the solution you're going to debug. Then go to Debug > Attach to Process. In the "Qualifier" field enter the name of the server as you saw it appear earlier. Click on the Select button and select the type of code you want to debug, then hit OK. Hopefully you'll see a list of the processes on the server that you can attach to (you should also see on the server that the debugging monitor just said you connected). Find the process to attach to (start up the app if necessary). If it's an ASP.NET website, you'd select w3wp.exe, then hit Attach. Set your breakpoints and hopefully you're now remotely debugging the code.
AFAIK - the VMWare option lets you start up code inside of a VM but debug it from your workstation.
129
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
