ASP.NET in a Nutshell

Chapter 8. ASP.NET Configuration

When working with ASP.NET, you’ll be called on to configure an ASP.NET application. One major advantage that ASP.NET has over classic ASP is that most of the important configuration options for ASP.NET applications are stored in configuration files that reside in the web application directory. This makes it considerably easier to migrate an application from one server to another or to replicate an application across a Web Form, since the application’s configuration information will be copied along with the Web Forms, code-behind classes, and assemblies that make up the application.

Understanding Configuration Files

In ASP.NET, configuration information is stored in one of two files: machine.config or web.config . There is only one machine.config file per machine; it contains the default configuration information for every web application, as well as other application types, on the machine. This information includes Windows Forms applications, remoting settings, and other network settings. You should use extreme caution when editing machine.config to avoid accidentally making changes that break other applications. It’s probably a good idea to back up the machine.config file before editing it, in case you need to restore the original settings.

web.config is an optional configuration file that is stored with each web application. If an application contains a web.config file, the file takes precedence over machine.config (i.e., the settings in web.config ...