Using AppFabric Management UI Features

The AppFabric extensions for IIS Manager enable you to perform many application and server management tasks within a single set of UI screens:

• Application configuration. You can configure an application or service within a single configuration dialog box.

• Monitoring. You can monitor the state of your application within a single monitoring dashboard.

• Enumerations. You can enumerate service-related items.

• Control. You can control durable workflow service instances and applications.

Open IIS Manager by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, clicking Windows Server AppFabric, and then clicking Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

Configuration Dialog Box

The AppFabric Configuration dialog box provides a single location for setting many facets of the configuration of a WCF or WF service. This includes setting the service configuration directly, or setting the default configurations of a server, site, application, or virtual directory for the service to inherit. The Configuration dialog box includes a series of tabs that display various groupings of configuration properties, including general configuration, monitoring, workflow persistence, workflow host management, auto-start, throttling, and security. All of these properties apply to configuration at any level, with the exception of auto-start, which is configured only for an application, and monitoring, which is not configured for a virtual directory.

In the Configuration dialog box for a service, you can specify that the service will inherit its configuration from the levels above it, using defaults merged from the server, site, application, and virtual directory. The service configuration settings are overruled by configuration settings at the levels above it that have their configuration specified. These configuration settings are established in Web.config files. The AppFabric Configuration dialog box in the IIS Manager is a front-end for Web.config files. It is much easier and more straightforward to specify the settings in the Configuration dialog box than to make the changes directly in the Web.config file. For more information about Web.config files, see Configuration Process in AppFabric.

You display the Configuration dialog box for a service by selecting the service within a service enumeration in the Features View, and then clicking the Configure command in the Actions pane. You can also right-click the service, point to Manage WCF and WF Services, and then click Configure, or simply double-click the service. You display the Configuration dialog box for a server, site, application, or virtual directory by selecting the appropriate item in the Connections pane, and then clicking the Configure command in the Actions pane (or right-click the selection, point to Manage WCF and WF Services, and then click Configure).

AppFabric Dashboard

The AppFabric Dashboard is a centralized view of monitoring data for WCF and WF services deployed locally or to a farm. The Dashboard displays real-time data on persisted workflow service instances, and historic data on tracked workflow service instances and WCF-based metrics. The Dashboard draws data from both the persistence and monitoring databases. This data enables you to monitor the health of WCF and WF services at a glance, and to drill down into details of status indicators.

You display the AppFabric Dashboard by selecting a server, site, application, or virtual directory in the Connections pane, and then clicking the AppFabric Dashboard icon in the Features View. AppFabric aggregates data for the scope selected.

For more information about the Dashboard, see Dashboard Page.

Enumeration Pages

AppFabric enumeration pages provide tabular lists of service-related items. The items listed can include persisted workflow service instances, tracked workflow service instances, services, service instance endpoints, and tracked events. Depending on the type of item, the list can draw data from the monitoring database, the persistence database, or configuration files.

The AppFabric enumeration list screens provide you with a display pane for the enumeration, a Details pane for further information, and many provide you with a Query pane. For example, the Details pane for a service displays configuration and monitoring data about the service in two tabs: Overview and Monitoring Statistics. The Details pane for other items, such as a persisted WF instance or endpoint, will not display monitoring data. The Query pane enables you to change the parameters of the query in order to display the set of items that you want in the list.

You display an enumeration screen by selecting an item in the Features View, and then clicking a View command in the Actions pane. You can also display a list by selecting the state of a workflow service instance in the Dashboard, which will display a list of all instances that are currently in that state.

Instance and Application Controls

AppFabric enables you to perform a control command on one or more workflow service instances or applications. The instance controls include resume, cancel, terminate, and suspend. The application controls include stop and start.

You execute a control command on a workflow service instance by selecting one or more instances from within an enumeration list in the Feature View, and then clicking the appropriate command in the Actions pane. AppFabric provides a status indicator of the control operation, which enables you to cancel the operation until a certain point, and provides error information for either terminating or non-terminating errors.

You execute a control command on an application by selecting an application in the Connection pane, and then clicking the appropriate stop or start command in the Actions pane, or right-clicking the application, pointing to Manage WCF and WF Services, and then clicking the stop or start command.

  2012-09-12