Microsoft KB Archive/813368

= Setting metabase property DisableSocketPooling has no effect =

Article ID: 813368

Article Last Modified on 12/3/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Internet Information Services 6.0

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SYMPTOMS
When you start Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, IIS binds to all IP addresses on the server, not just the IP addresses that are assigned to Web sites. This may be true even though you have set the metabase property DisableSocketPooling to True.



CAUSE
To successfully allow applications to use the same port on different IP addresses, you must use a new utility, Httpcfg.exe. Httpcfg.exe is located on the Windows Server 2003 CD in the Support\Tools directory as part of the Support.cab file.



To install Microsoft Windows support tools

 * 1) Insert the Windows Server 2003 CD in the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
 * 2) When the CD opens, click Perform Additional Tasks.
 * 3) Click Browse this CD.
 * 4) Double-click Support.
 * 5) Double-click Tools.
 * 6) Double-click SUPTOOLS.MSI.
 * 7) Click Next, type your information in the Name and Organization boxes, click Next, and then click Next on the following screen.
 * 8) Click Next again to start the installation.
 * 9) Click Finish.

To add an IP address to the IP inclusion list
 Click Start, and then click Run. Type cmd, and then click OK to open a command prompt. Type the following, where  is the IP address you want to add:

httpcfg set iplisten -i xxx.xxx.x.x

When this succeeds, Httpcfg returns the following:

HttpSetServiceConfiguration completed with 0

To view additional status codes, see the Httpcfg help. After the IP address is added, use the following command to list it:

httpcfg query iplisten

Httpcfg returns the following:

IP :xxx.xxx.x.x

 From the command prompt, stop the HTTP service and its dependent services. To do this, type the following string at the command prompt:

net stop http /y

 From the command prompt, restart the HTTP service and it dependent services. To do this, type the following string at the command prompt:

net start w3svc

Note When you start w3svc, all services that were stopped when HTTP was stopped will start.</ol>

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STATUS
This behavior is by design.

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MORE INFORMATION
IIS 5.0 uses the metabase property DisableSocketPooling to allow applications access to the same port over different IP addresses. Setting this value to True permits these applications to exist on the same Microsoft Windows 2000 installation.

Because DisableSocketPooling is defined as a valid property in the IIS 6.0 metabase schema (MBSchema.xml), you can still set this property by using Adsutil.vbs, but this has no effect. The functionality in IIS 6.0 is part of the new kernel level driver HTTP.sys. To configure HTTP.sys, you must use Httpcfg.exe.

In IIS 5.0, the TCP listener is Winsock. Winsock uses sockets and IIS is bound to the performance and scalability of the Winsock API. Socket pooling was introduced to address problems in Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 where resource usage was high with many Web sites using individual IP addresses.

To solve this scalability problem, IIS 5.0 uses socket pooling to allow resources to be shared. Socket pooling permits double or triple the number of sites to be run on a specific server with unique IP addresses. The DisableSocketPooling property is also introduced in IIS 5.0 and is used when another application is installed that requires use of a port that IIS listens on by default (such as port 80).

In IIS 6.0, HTTP.sys is the TCP listener and HTTP.sys does not use the Winsock API. Sockets are not a configurable property. HTTP.sys uses an IP inclusion list. By default, this list is blank and IIS listens on all IP addresses. You can specify the IP addresses IIS will listen on by adding them to the IP inclusion list.

Important The IP inclusion list is read during startup of the HTTP service. If you change the list, you must restart the service.

Note The HTTP service and the HTTP SSL service are different services. The HTTP service does not appear in the services list and must be restarted at a command prompt. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, click Run, and then type cmd to open a command prompt. At the command prompt, type net stop http /y and press ENTER. This stops the HTTP Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) service and the World Wide Web publishing services because they are dependent on the HTTP service.
 * 2) To start the HTTP service, type net start w3svc at the command prompt. This starts the HTTP SSL service and the HTTP service.

After you add IP addresses to the IP inclusion list, you must add each IP address that is used by a Web site. If you bind a Web site to an IP address that is not on the list, the Web site does not start.

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