Where is ASP.NET 3.5 on IIS ?
Most people on installing .NET 3.5 on the server "expect" an entry for
v3.5 under the ASP.NET version Tab in IIS manager. And not finding that
entry start panicking. If you have been one of those read on. The more
tech savvy folks try to run aspnet_regiis -i from the v3.5 framework
folder... but even that is missing.
That brings us to the questions:
What exactly is ASP.NET 3.5 ?
Take a look at the v3.5 framework folder you will
not find
most of the files needed for ASP.NET to run like aspnet_isapi.dll /
aspnet_filter.dll / aspnet_regiis.exe / aspnet_regsql.exe...
The reason being .NET 3.5 is not a stand alone framework like v2.0 or
v1.1 . It is just an extension of the 2.0 framework. The extension
provides developers with new language features like Anonymous Types,
Extension Methods, Lambda Expressions and of course LINQ .... and AJAX
is now integrated ... also you have a few new ASP.NET controls
<asp:ListView>, <asp:LinqDataSource>, <asp:DataPager>
Will I get ASP.NET version 3.5 under the ASP.NET tab in IIS 6.0 ?
No. Because as far as IIS is concerned nothing has changed. The
aspnet_isapi.dll from the version 2.0 folder will still handle the
requests and there is no new ISAPI dll specific to version 3.5. So you
don't have to change any Script Mappings in IIS ...just leave the web
application pointing to v2.0 under the ASP.NET Tab. And this brings us
to the next question
What exactly is the extension ?
For that if you have Visual Studio 2008 go ahead and create a Website
targeting the .NET 3.5 framework. Then go to the Property Pages of the
Website and select References. You will find an entry like this:
And those four assembly references provide the new features of v3.5.
Here is a 10,000 ft view of the functionality implemented in these
assemblies
System.Core - Provides namespaces like System.Linq, System.IO
System.Data.DataSetExtensions - LINQ to DataSet
System.Web.Extensions - AJAX
System.Xml.Linq - New XML API.. supports LINQ to XML
Do I have to configure anything manually ?
No. When you install the .NET 3.5 redistributable on the server it
installs these assemblies in the GAC. And any website that refers to
these assemblies can fetch them from the GAC so you do not have to
configure anything manually. All you need to do is publish the content
to a web application that is marked with ASP.NET v2.0
And now you should be thinking
The new language features should require a new compiler. How exactly is the new compiler used ?
The answer is your web.config file. When you create an ASP.NET 3.5
website in Visual Studio 2008 an entry is made in the web.config
something like
<system.codedom>
<compilers>
<compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" warningLevel="4"
type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System,
Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
<providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/>
<providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/>
</compiler>
The new features do require a new compiler to be used and the web.config tells .NET that the v3.5 compiler has to be used.
What about IIS 7.0 ?
IIS 7.0 is no different.
Mario Alberto Arce, from http://blogs.msdn.com/vijaysk/archive/2008/03/20/running-asp-net-3-5-on-iis.aspx