IIS Application Pool

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

An Internet Information Services (IIS) application pool is a grouping of URLs that is routed to one or more worker processes. Because application pools define a set of Web applications that share one or more worker processes, they provide a convenient way to administer a set of Web sites and applications and their corresponding worker processes. Process boundaries separate each worker process; therefore, a Web site or application in one application pool will not be affected by application problems in other application pools. Application pools significantly increase both the reliability and manageability of a Web infrastructure.

Managed Entities

The following is a list of the managed entities that are included in this managed entity:

Name	Description
IIS Worker Process	An Internet Information Services (IIS) worker process is a windows process (w3wp.exe) which runs Web applications, and is responsible for handling requests sent to a Web Server for a specific application pool.

Aspects

The following is a list of all aspects that are part of this managed entity:

Name	Description
IIS Application Pool Availability	Web sites and Web applications depend on the availability of Internet Information Services (IIS) application pools. IIS application pools in turn depend on the Windows Process Activation Service (WAS). If WAS is not running or errors occur during the startup or shutdown of an application pool, Web sites and Web applications may not be available.
IIS Application Pool Configuration	To ensure Web site and Web application isolation, Internet Information Services (IIS) application pools must be configured to have unique names and correctly configured identities. If errors occur during the configuration of an application pool, the application pool may not be available to serve the Web sites and Web applications that are assigned to it.
IIS Application Pool Recycling	Internet Information Services (IIS) application pools can be periodically recycled to avoid unstable states that can lead to application crashes, hangs, or memory leaks. By default, application pool recycling is overlapped, which means that the worker process that is to be shut down is kept running until after a new worker process is started. After a new worker process starts, new requests are passed to it. The old worker process shuts down after it finishes processing its existing requests, or after a configured time-out, whichever comes first. This way of recycling ensures uninterrupted service to clients. However, if an application in the application pool cannot run more than one instance of itself at a time, overlapping rotation can be disabled.

Related Management Information

Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0