constantly re-uploading (unchanged) DLL as site breaks (1.1)

[Kevin D.]

I have a web application that continues to "break" on me after a random
amount of time. There doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason, just out of
nowhere some of my error handling kicks in and users are displayed one of my
"friendly" error messages (or a friendly error page).

I am also sent an email when an error occurs but due to my newbie-ness I am
not sending myself enough details (I am working to fix this).

The strange part is that ALL I have ever done to resolve these errors is
open up VS 2003, re-build the solution, and upload the "new" DLL. I say
"new" because I don't actually make any changes to any of the codebehind
files. Once I do this, I refresh the application in my browser and the
errors disappear.

Any ideas on what could be happening?

* I should also note that the web application is hosted on a different
network than the database. My client opened up their firewall and gave me a
DB connection string to use from my hosting network. They have their own
proprietary tool that lets them make updates to their DB (MS Sql). My
thoughts are that they are changing something in the database that is
triggering an error in my web app. But why do I need to re-upload/refresh
the compiled codebehind files?

Many thanks in advance!

- Kevin

[Ray Booysen]

Kevin D. wrote:

I have a web application that continues to "break" on me after a random
amount of time. There doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason, just out of
nowhere some of my error handling kicks in and users are displayed one of my
"friendly" error messages (or a friendly error page).

I am also sent an email when an error occurs but due to my newbie-ness I am
not sending myself enough details (I am working to fix this).

The strange part is that ALL I have ever done to resolve these errors is
open up VS 2003, re-build the solution, and upload the "new" DLL. I say
"new" because I don't actually make any changes to any of the codebehind
files. Once I do this, I refresh the application in my browser and the
errors disappear.

Any ideas on what could be happening?

* I should also note that the web application is hosted on a different
network than the database. My client opened up their firewall and gave me a
DB connection string to use from my hosting network. They have their own
proprietary tool that lets them make updates to their DB (MS Sql). My
thoughts are that they are changing something in the database that is
triggering an error in my web app. But why do I need to re-upload/refresh
the compiled codebehind files?

Many thanks in advance!

- Kevin

Are you sure that uploading the dll doesn't just cause the app to
recycle? If so, then uploading the dll isn't solving the problem,
restarting it is.

Although all you are doing is treating the symptom but I can't see how
an new compile would sort out these issues.

--
Ray Booysen
rj********@rjb.za.net

[Kevin D.]

"Ray Booysen" <rj***********@rjb.za.net> wrote in message
news:u5**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Kevin D. wrote:

I have a web application that continues to "break" on me after a random
amount of time. There doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason, just out
of nowhere some of my error handling kicks in and users are displayed one
of my "friendly" error messages (or a friendly error page).

I am also sent an email when an error occurs but due to my newbie-ness I
am not sending myself enough details (I am working to fix this).

The strange part is that ALL I have ever done to resolve these errors is
open up VS 2003, re-build the solution, and upload the "new" DLL. I say
"new" because I don't actually make any changes to any of the codebehind
files. Once I do this, I refresh the application in my browser and the
errors disappear.

Any ideas on what could be happening?

* I should also note that the web application is hosted on a different
network than the database. My client opened up their firewall and gave me
a DB connection string to use from my hosting network. They have their
own proprietary tool that lets them make updates to their DB (MS Sql). My
thoughts are that they are changing something in the database that is
triggering an error in my web app. But why do I need to re-upload/refresh
the compiled codebehind files?

Many thanks in advance!

- Kevin

Are you sure that uploading the dll doesn't just cause the app to recycle?
If so, then uploading the dll isn't solving the problem, restarting it is.

Although all you are doing is treating the symptom but I can't see how an
new compile would sort out these issues.

--
Ray Booysen
rj********@rjb.za.net

Thanks for the quick response...

I'm sure it's an application recycle/restart, as you mentioned. I'm just not
aware of any other way to do this other than to re-compile and upload the
dll. So, what can cause the app to require a restart? That sounds like it
would have to be a pretty harsh error to me...

- Kevin

[Ray Booysen]

Hey Kevin

Sorry, but I can't give any insight if you don't give any more
information. It does sound like something is definitely up with your
app. What do you mean by "break"? What exceptions are throwing?

Can you run the application on a dev machine, turn off friendly errors
and try to reproduce the error?

You can force an application restart by touching the web.config file.

I hope this helps

Kind Regards
Ray

Kevin D. wrote:

"Ray Booysen" <rj***********@rjb.za.net> wrote in message
news:u5**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Kevin D. wrote:

I have a web application that continues to "break" on me after a random
amount of time. There doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason, just out
of nowhere some of my error handling kicks in and users are displayed one
of my "friendly" error messages (or a friendly error page).

I am also sent an email when an error occurs but due to my newbie-ness I
am not sending myself enough details (I am working to fix this).

The strange part is that ALL I have ever done to resolve these errors is
open up VS 2003, re-build the solution, and upload the "new" DLL. I say
"new" because I don't actually make any changes to any of the codebehind
files. Once I do this, I refresh the application in my browser and the
errors disappear.

Any ideas on what could be happening?

* I should also note that the web application is hosted on a different
network than the database. My client opened up their firewall and gave me
a DB connection string to use from my hosting network. They have their
own proprietary tool that lets them make updates to their DB (MS Sql). My
thoughts are that they are changing something in the database that is
triggering an error in my web app. But why do I need to re-upload/refresh
the compiled codebehind files?

Many thanks in advance!

- Kevin

Are you sure that uploading the dll doesn't just cause the app to recycle?
If so, then uploading the dll isn't solving the problem, restarting it is.

Although all you are doing is treating the symptom but I can't see how an
new compile would sort out these issues.

--
Ray Booysen
rj********@rjb.za.net

Thanks for the quick response...

I'm sure it's an application recycle/restart, as you mentioned. I'm just not
aware of any other way to do this other than to re-compile and upload the
dll. So, what can cause the app to require a restart? That sounds like it
would have to be a pretty harsh error to me...

- Kevin

--
Ray Booysen
rj********@rjb.za.net

[Kevin D.]

"Ray Booysen" <rj***********@rjb.za.net> wrote in message
news:uL**************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

Hey Kevin

Sorry, but I can't give any insight if you don't give any more
information. It does sound like something is definitely up with your app.
What do you mean by "break"? What exceptions are throwing?

Can you run the application on a dev machine, turn off friendly errors and
try to reproduce the error?

You can force an application restart by touching the web.config file.

I hope this helps

Kind Regards
Ray

Unfortunately my dev setup of this app isn't helpful in this instance since
the database I'm connecting to will only allow me to connect from the hosted
web server's IP (I suppose I could try to spoof my dev server's http header
information but that sounds too involved).

I (hopefully) enabled some additional details to be emailed to me the next
time an error occurs. I will be able to perform some more troubleshooting at
that time.

Thanks for your assistance and for the tip on how to restart the app in the
future.

- Kevin