Programming WCF Services, 3rd Edition

Per-Session Services

WCF can maintain a logical session between a client and a particular service instance. When the client creates a new proxy to a service configured as a sessionful service, the client gets a new dedicated service instance that is independent of all other instances of the same service. That instance will typically remain in service until the client no longer needs it. This activation mode (sometimes also referred to as the private-session mode) is very much like the classic client/server model: each private session uniquely binds a proxy and its set of client- and service-side channels to a particular service instance, or, more specifically, to its context. It follows that a transport session is required for the private-session instantiation mode, as discussed later in this section.

Because the service instance remains in memory throughout the session, it can maintain state in memory, and the programming model is very much like that of the classic client/server model. Consequently, it suffers from the same scalability and transaction issues as the classic client/server model. A service configured for private sessions cannot typically support more than a few dozen (or perhaps up to one or two hundred) outstanding clients, due to the cost associated with each such dedicated service instance.

Note

The client session is per service endpoint per proxy. If the client creates another proxy to the same or a different endpoint, that second proxy will be associated with a ...