Share via

Configure Workflow Persistence Using IIS Manager

  • Article

This topic has procedures that describe how to configure persistence-related settings for a workflow service by using IIS Manager extensions added by AppFabric. You can configure persistence features at the service level for a specific workflow service, or at the server, site, or application level and have the service inherit these settings defined at a higher level. For more information about how configurations work in the IIS hierarchy, see Configuration Process in Windows Server AppFabric.

Important

For detailed descriptions of the fields of dialog boxes that are used to configure persistence features, see Configure Service: Workflow Persistence Tab and Advanced Persistence Settings Dialog Box.

To enable or disable persistence features for a workflow service by using IIS Manager

  1. In the Connections pane (left pane), in the tree view, select the server, site, or application in which the workflow service exists.

  2. In the Workspace pane, in the Features view, double-click Services in the AppFabric section.

  3. Select the workflow service from the Services list and then click Configure in the .NET 4.0 WF and WCF section of the Actions pane to launch the Configure Service dialog box. You can also launch this dialog box by performing the following steps: Right-click the workflow service for which you want to configure persistence in the Services list, and then click Configure on the context menu.

  4. Click the Workflow Persistence tab to enable or disable persisting workflow service instances to a persistence store. Select the SQL Server Workflow Persistence option to enable persisting service instances to a SQL Server database. Select the Custom option to use an instance store other than a SQL Server database or to not use the persistence feature at all.

    When you select SQL Server Workflow Persistence, you must select an instance store definition, which is defined in a configuration file and has a connection string that the provider uses to connect to a SQL Server 2008 persistence database. In addition, you can configure advanced SQL Server persistence features, such as keeping instances in the persistence store after their completion and encoding instance state information using the GZip algorithm, by using the Advanced Persistence Settings dialog box that you can launch by clicking Advanced.

    Tip

    If you do not see any SQL Server instance store in the drop-down list, you will need to create a SQL Server instance store. You can create and initialize a SQL Server instance store by using the Windows Server AppFabric Configuration Wizard as described in Configure Persistence Stores Using the Configuration Wizard or by using Windows PowerShell cmdlets as described in Configure Persistence Stores Using Windows Server AppFabric Cmdlets.

  5. Click Apply to apply the settings. To configure advanced persistence settings, follow the next procedure in this topic.

    See Configure Service: Workflow Persistence Tab for the detailed description of fields in the Workflow Persistence tab of the Configure Service dialog box.

To configure advanced SQL Server persistence settings for a specific workflow service by using IIS Manager

  1. Click Advanced to launch the Advanced Persistence Settings dialog box.

  2. Select or clear the Encode instances (GZip) option to enable or disable encoding instance information to be stored in the persistence database by using the GZip algorithm.

  3. Select or clear Keep instances after completion to enable or disable deleting the state information for instances after instances are completed.

  4. Select a value from the Action on instance locked exception list to specify the action to be taken when a host receives an InstanceLockedException.

  5. Enter a value for the Host lock renewal period, which specifies the duration after which the instance lock expires unless the host renews the lock.

  6. Enter a value for the Runnable instances detection period, which specifies the time period after which the SQL Workflow Instance Store runs a detection task to detect any runnable or activatable workflow instances in the persistence database after the previous detection cycle.

  7. Click OK to apply the settings and close the dialog box.

    See Advanced Persistence Settings Dialog Box for detailed descriptions of fields in the Advanced Persistence Settings dialog box.

To configure default persistence settings at the server, site, or application level by using IIS Manager

  1. In the Connections pane (left pane), in the tree view, select the server, site, or application level at which you want to configure the default workflow persistence settings.

  2. Click Configure in the Manage WCF and WF Services section of the Actions pane to see the Configure WCF and WF for Server, Configure WCF and WF for Site, or Configure WCF and WF for Application dialog box. You can also launch this dialog box by performing the following steps: Right-click the root, Web site, or virtual application node for which you want to configure default values for workflow persistence settings in the tree view, point to Manage WCF and WF Services in the context menu, and then click Configure.

  3. Click the Workflow Persistence tab to enable or disable persisting workflow service instances to a persistence store. Select the SQL Server Workflow Persistence option to enable persisting service instances to a SQL Server database. Select the Custom option to use an instance store other than a SQL Server database or to not use the persistence feature at all.

    When you associate a SQL Server persistence provider with a service, you must specify a connection string for the provider to connect to a SQL Server 2008 or 2005 persistence database. You can configure advanced SQL Server persistence features, such as keeping instances in the persistence store after their completion and encoding instance state information by using the GZip algorithm, by using the Advanced Persistence Settings dialog box that you can launch by clicking Advanced.

  4. Click Apply to apply the settings. To configure advanced persistence settings, follow the previous procedure in this topic.

    See Configure WCF and WF for Server, Site, Application, or Virtual Directory: Workflow Persistence Tab for detailed descriptions of fields in the Workflow Persistence tab of this dialog box.