Question

I would like to use azure caching to store session and output caching data. My webconfig is setup as follows:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
  For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=152368
  -->
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="dataCacheClients" type="Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheClientsSection, Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Core" allowLocation="true" allowDefinition="Everywhere" />
  </configSections>

  <!-- Cache exposes two endpoints: one simple and other SSL endpoint. Choose the appropriate endpoint depending on your security needs. -->
  <dataCacheClients>
    <dataCacheClient name="default">
      <hosts>
        <host name="******" cachePort="22233" />
      </hosts>

      <securityProperties mode="Message">
        <messageSecurity
          authorizationInfo="******">
        </messageSecurity>
      </securityProperties>
    </dataCacheClient>

    <dataCacheClient name="SslEndpoint">
      <hosts>
        <host name="******" cachePort="22243" />
      </hosts>

      <securityProperties mode="Message" sslEnabled="true">
        <messageSecurity
          authorizationInfo="******">
        </messageSecurity>
      </securityProperties>
    </dataCacheClient>

  </dataCacheClients>

  <system.diagnostics>
    <trace>
      <listeners>
        <add type="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitorTraceListener, Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" name="AzureDiagnostics">
          <filter type="" />
        </add>
      </listeners>
    </trace>
  </system.diagnostics>
  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0">
      <assemblies>
        <add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Helpers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
      </assemblies>
    </compilation>
    <httpRuntime executionTimeout="1000" maxRequestLength="1024000" enableVersionHeader="false" />
    <customErrors mode="Off" defaultRedirect="~/Home/PageNotFound" />
    <authentication mode="Forms">
      <forms loginUrl="~/Account/LogOn" timeout="2880" />
    </authentication>
    <pages>
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Helpers" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.WebPages" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
    <profile defaultProvider="DefaultProfileProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultProfileProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultProfileProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </profile>
    <membership defaultProvider="DefaultMembershipProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultMembershipProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </membership>
    <roleManager defaultProvider="DefaultRoleProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultRoleProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </roleManager>

    <!-- If session state needs to be saved in the Caching service, add the following to web.config inside system.web. If SSL is required, then change dataCacheClientName to "SslEndpoint". -->
    <sessionState mode="Custom" customProvider="AppFabricCacheSessionStoreProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="AppFabricCacheSessionStoreProvider"
             type="Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheSessionStateStoreProvider, Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache"
             cacheName="default"
             useBlobMode="true"
             dataCacheClientName="default" />
      </providers>
    </sessionState>

    <!-- If output cache content needs to be saved in the Caching service, add the following to web.config inside system.web. -->
    <caching>
      <outputCache defaultProvider="DistributedCache">
        <providers>
          <add name="DistributedCache"
               type="Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheOutputCacheProvider, Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache"
               cacheName="default"
               dataCacheClientName="default" />
        </providers>
      </outputCache>
    </caching>

  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" />
  </system.webServer>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=******;Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

However I get this error message after I paste in the session and output caching bits:

Type ‘Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.HostNodeDomainConfigurationElementCollection’ is an invalid collection type since it does not have a valid Add method with parameter of type ‘System.Object’.

The bits I pasted in to enable session and output caching:

<!-- If session state needs to be saved in the Caching service, add the following to web.config inside system.web. If SSL is required, then change dataCacheClientName to "SslEndpoint". -->
<sessionState mode="Custom" customProvider="AppFabricCacheSessionStoreProvider">
  <providers>
    <add name="AppFabricCacheSessionStoreProvider"
         type="Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheSessionStateStoreProvider, Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache"
         cacheName="default"
         useBlobMode="true"
         dataCacheClientName="default" />
  </providers>
</sessionState>

<!-- If output cache content needs to be saved in the Caching service, add the following to web.config inside system.web. -->
<caching>
  <outputCache defaultProvider="DistributedCache">
    <providers>
      <add name="DistributedCache"
           type="Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheOutputCacheProvider, Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache"
           cacheName="default"
           dataCacheClientName="default" />
    </providers>
  </outputCache>
</caching>

When I remove those bits and leave it as before with sessionState mode=”InProc” … everything thing works fine. Can anybody see what I am doing wrong?

Regards,
Rob

Answer 1

I found the problem it was because I was using the wrong caching DLLs for Azure Caching in my project.

I download this:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15848

and then the upgrade:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=19925