在服务器上的后台进程中运行进程

Question

Hi I have a website that I need to work on. Where once a process is started by the user it needs to run until certain conditions are met from live temperature data. It could take days before the process is completed. So once process is started it needs to run continuously on the server. I have no idea how to go about it. I read about background worker processes but I am not sure if I am on right track. I want to accomplish this using asp.net and C# if possible. Can anyone put me on right track? Thanks

Answer 1

ASP.NET is not a good choice for implementing such long running background workers, because the worker process is recycled once in a while to minimize the effect of memory leaks (depends on the configuration, might be very often).
However, you can implement a Windows Service that runs on the server and is independent of the web application. The web application and the Windows Service can communicate through WCF (or the database) for instance.
Of course, installing a service on a web server might be prohibited for security reasons, so you should check this before.
An alternative that is more lightweight in comparison to a Windows Service is to create a Console application and run it periodically through a scheduler, if that also meets your requirements.

Answer 2

Make windows service for running the background processes and doing the dirty work. IIS can get restarted/app pool recycled and that will prevent your task from completing. When user start process in web (UI part) use interprocess communication (tcp or named pipes) to tell the windows service about it.

Answer 3

you can use Threads: http://msdn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/ms173178%28v=vs.90%29.aspx

They are made to treat several operations in the same time.