ASP.NET Cookbook

9.1. Overriding Default HTTP Runtime Parameters in web.config

Problem

You want to change the default HTTP runtime settings for your application, such as the execution timeout setting.

Solution

Modify the web.config file by adding ASP.NET HTTP runtime settings to it.

1. Locate the web.config file in the root directory of your application (or create one if it does not already exist).

2. Add an <httpRuntime> element and set the executionTimeout and other attributes required for your application:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <configuration>
     <system.web>
       <httpRuntime executionTimeout="90" 
                                         maxRequestLength="4096" 
                                         useFullyQualifiedRedirectUrl="false" />   
   
     </system.web>
   </configuration>

Discussion

It can be useful to modify the default HTTP runtime settings in web.config so that users of your application can upload large files, for example. But another, perhaps more important, motivation for this recipe is to demonstrate in a fairly unobtrusive way how you can easily override the predefined settings for your application by adding elements, such as the <httpRuntime> element, to the default web.config file that Visual Studio .NET creates.

The following is a description of the attributes we’ve used with the <httpRuntime> element, which are the most commonly used attributes:

executionTimeout

The executionTimeout attribute of <httpRuntime> defines the maximum amount of time in seconds that a request is allowed to run before it is automatically terminated by ASP.NET. The default value is 90 seconds. ...