Problem with Session StateServer mode - ASP.NET

StateServer mode stores session state in a process referred to as the ASP.NET state service, which is separate from the ASP.NET worker process or IIS application pool. Using this mode ensures that session state is preserved if the Web application is restarted and also makes session state available to multiple Web servers in a Web farm.

But new users are facing problems with this Session state mode.

First, ensure to use StateServer mode, you must first be sure the ASP.NET state service is running on the server used for the session store. The ASP.NET state service is installed as a service when ASP.NET and the .NET Framework are installed.

The ASP.Net state service is installed at the following location:

systemroot\Microsoft.NET\Framework\versionNumber\aspnet_state.exe

To configure an ASP.NET application to use StateServer mode, in the application's Web.config file do the following:

1. Set the mode attribute of the session state element to StateServer.
2. Set the stateConnectionString attribute to tcpip=serverName:42424.

Example:

<configuration>
  <system.web>
    <sessionState mode="StateServer"
    stateConnectionString="tcpip=SampleStateServer:42424"
    cookieless="false"
    timeout="20"/>
  </system.web>
</configuration>

Problem:

Unable to make the session state request to the session state server. Please ensure that the ASP.NET State service is started and that the client and server ports are the same.

If the server is on a remote machine, please ensure that it accepts remote requests by checking the value of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\aspnet_state\Parameters\AllowRemoteConnection. If the server is on the local machine, and if the before mentioned registry value does not exist or is set to 0, then the state server connection string must use either 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1' as the server name.

Solution:

The main solution is to allow remote connection from the registry.

To allow remote connection:

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\aspnet_state\Parameters\AllowRemoteConnection set value to 1
2. Restart ASP.NetStateService from systemroot\Microsoft.NET\Framework\versionNumber\aspnet_state.exe.

For more information visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178586.aspx