I have a .NET 3.5 web application for which I have implemented a class called CalculationsCounterManager (code below). This class has some shared/static members that manage the creation and incrementing of two custom performance counters that monitor data calls to a SQL Server database. Execution of these data calls drives the creation of the counters if the don’t exist. Of course, everything works fine through the unit tests that are executed through the nUnit GUI for this class. The counters are created and incremented fine.
However, when the same code executes through the ASPNET worker process, the following error message occurs: ‘Requested registry access is not allowed.’. This error happens on line 44 in the CalculationsCounterManager class when a read is done to check if the counter category already exists.
Does anyone know a way to provide enough priveledges to the worker process account in order to allow it to create the counters in a production environment without opening the server up to security problems?
Namespace eA.Analytics.DataLayer.PerformanceMetrics ''' <summary> ''' Manages performance counters for the calculatioins data layer assembly ''' </summary> ''' <remarks>GAJ 09/10/08 - Initial coding and testing</remarks> Public Class CalculationCounterManager Private Shared _AvgRetrieval As PerformanceCounter Private Shared _TotalRequests As PerformanceCounter Private Shared _ManagerInitialized As Boolean Private Shared _SW As Stopwatch ''' <summary> ''' Creates/recreates the perf. counters if they don't exist ''' </summary> ''' <param name='recreate'></param> ''' <remarks></remarks> Public Shared Sub SetupCalculationsCounters(ByVal recreate As Boolean) If PerformanceCounterCategory.Exists(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName) = False Or recreate = True Then Dim AvgCalcsProductRetrieval As New CounterCreationData(CounterSettings.AvgProductRetrievalTimeCounterName, _ CounterSettings.AvgProductRetrievalTimeCounterHelp, _ CounterSettings.AvgProductRetrievalTimeCounterType) Dim TotalCalcsProductRetrievalRequests As New CounterCreationData(CounterSettings.TotalRequestsCounterName, _ CounterSettings.AvgProductRetrievalTimeCounterHelp, _ CounterSettings.TotalRequestsCounterType) Dim CounterData As New CounterCreationDataCollection() ' Add counters to the collection. CounterData.Add(AvgCalcsProductRetrieval) CounterData.Add(TotalCalcsProductRetrievalRequests) If recreate = True Then If PerformanceCounterCategory.Exists(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName) = True Then PerformanceCounterCategory.Delete(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName) End If End If If PerformanceCounterCategory.Exists(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName) = False Then PerformanceCounterCategory.Create(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName, CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsDescription, _ PerformanceCounterCategoryType.SingleInstance, CounterData) End If End If _AvgRetrieval = New PerformanceCounter(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName, CounterSettings.AvgProductRetrievalTimeCounterName, False) _TotalRequests = New PerformanceCounter(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName, CounterSettings.TotalRequestsCounterName, False) _ManagerInitialized = True End Sub Public Shared ReadOnly Property CategoryName() As String Get Return CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName End Get End Property ''' <summary> ''' Determines if the performance counters have been initialized ''' </summary> ''' <value></value> ''' <returns></returns> ''' <remarks></remarks> Public Shared ReadOnly Property ManagerInitializaed() As Boolean Get Return _ManagerInitialized End Get End Property Public Shared ReadOnly Property AvgRetrieval() As PerformanceCounter Get Return _AvgRetrieval End Get End Property Public Shared ReadOnly Property TotalRequests() As PerformanceCounter Get Return _TotalRequests End Get End Property ''' <summary> ''' Initializes the Average Retrieval Time counter by starting a stopwatch ''' </summary> ''' <remarks></remarks> Public Shared Sub BeginIncrementAvgRetrieval() If _SW Is Nothing Then _SW = New Stopwatch End If _SW.Start() End Sub ''' <summary> ''' Increments the Average Retrieval Time counter by stopping the stopwatch and changing the ''' raw value of the perf counter. ''' </summary> ''' <remarks></remarks> Public Shared Sub EndIncrementAvgRetrieval(ByVal resetStopwatch As Boolean, ByVal outputToTrace As Boolean) _SW.Stop() _AvgRetrieval.RawValue = CLng(_SW.ElapsedMilliseconds) If outPutToTrace = True Then Trace.WriteLine(_AvgRetrieval.NextValue.ToString) End If If resetStopwatch = True Then _SW.Reset() End If End Sub ''' <summary> ''' Increments the total requests counter ''' </summary> ''' <remarks></remarks> Public Shared Sub IncrementTotalRequests() _TotalRequests.IncrementBy(1) End Sub Public Shared Sub DeleteAll() If PerformanceCounterCategory.Exists(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName) = True Then PerformanceCounterCategory.Delete(CollectionSettings.CalculationMetricsCollectionName) End If End Sub End Class End Namespace
Yes, it’s not possible. You can’t add privileges to the worker process without opening the server up to potential security / DOS problems in a production environment. An installer (like a MSI) usually runs with elevated permissions, and installs / uninstalls the performance counter categories and counters as well as other locked down objects.
For example, Windows Installer XML (WiX) has support for Performance Counters…