It is possible to supervise and enhance the overall health of application pool by making the Windows Process Activation Service (WAS) ping an application pool worker process at specified intervals. Worker process pinging is not the same thing as Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) pinging. Workers process pinging makes use of an internal communication channel between the WAS and the worker protocol.

If the worker process did not return any response, the implication may be that the worker process does not have a string to offer answer to the ping query, or that it is delaying for a few other possible reasons. Based on the outcomes of the ping request, WAS can flag a worker protocol as unhealthy and close it down.

The process pinging is commonly pre-set and enabled by default. You can alter the ping time and the ping response period to be able to access real-time data about the health of application pool without activating false damaging conditions, for instance, instability that can result from an application. This article is applicable for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Vista.

It is very significant for you to know that a few ISAPI extensions, like ASP and ASP.NET, are structured to program signals to the WAS service when to indicate when they are due for recycling due to a lot of different conditions like deadlocks. You should also reflect on the possible effect that recycling will have on the other applications found in the same worker process with the ISAPI extension.

How To Enable Worker Process Pinging For An Application Pool

You can enable worker process pinging with the use of the user interface (UI). You can also carry out the operation by running Appcmd.exe commands in a command-line panel. Alternatively, you can achieve the same result by editing configuration files straight away and through the use of WMI scripts.

Enabling Worker Process Pinging Through User Interface (UI)

To enable worker process pinging through the use of UI follow the steps provided below:

Step 1: Click To Open IIS Manager

The first step in this journey is to open the IIS Manager. To do this, navigate to the page and click open to display the manager.

Step 2: Tap On The Application Pools

Navigate to the Connections panel, broaden the server node and youâ€™ll see in the page that displays the Application Pools, click on that link.

Step 3: Choose The Application Pool You Want To Work With

Navigate to the Applications Pool page and choose the application pool that you want worker process pinging to be enabled on it and tap on the Advanced Settings. Youâ€™ll see this in the Actions pane.

Step 4: Enable or Disable Pinging

To enable pinging for the Pinging Enabled property click on the True. If you want to disable workers process pinging, click on False. After you have chosen your desired choice from any of these two options click OK.

Enabling Workers Process Pinging Through The Command Line

To enable or disable worker process pinging for an app pool with the use of the command line, implement any of the commands below:

**appcmd set apppool /apppool.name:**string /processModel.pingingEnabled:true|false

The option, string, stands for the name of the application pool that you intend to enable or disable pinging on. For instance, to allow worker process pinging for an app pool known as Marketing, key-in the command prompt youâ€™ll see below and hit on ENTER:

appcmd set apppool /apppoolname:Marketing /processModel.pingingEnabled:true

Workers process was configured by default to receive pings after every thirty seconds interval. Also they need to respond to a ping every ninety seconds. If you want to alter the ping time or the time that elapse between one ping and the other, you can configure the /processModel.pingInterval feature, and to alter the time that the application pool is compelled to respond to a ping, you can set up the configure the /processModel.pingResponseTime feature. To set up the ping interval and ping response interval utilize the syntax below:

**appcmd set apppool /apppool.name:**string **/processModel.pingInterval:**timeSpan**/processModel.pingResponseTime:**timeSpan

The option string stands for the name of the application pool that you intend to configure. The option timeSpan stands for the format d.hh:mm:ss, where d stands for the non-compulsory number of days, and hh:mm:ss stands for the number of hours, minutes, and seconds between health supervising pings (in the /processModel.pingInterval feature), and at which time that the worker process is compelled to respond (in the /processModel.pingResponseTime feature).

For instance, to set up the ping interval for forty-five seconds and the ping response time for two minutes for an app pool referred to as Marketing, enter the command prompt below and hit on the ENTER button:

appcmd set apppool /apppool.name:Marketing /processModel.pingInterval:0.00:00:45 /processModel.pingResponseTime:0.00:02:00

Configuration

The process of configuring pinging for workers process influences the configuration elements below:

pingingEnabled attribute of the <processModel> element under <add> under <applicationPools>

To Enable Worker Process Pinging by WMI

Make use of the WMI classes, methods, or attributes below to carry out the procedure:

ApplicationPool.ProcessModel.PingingEnabled property

Conclusion

In this article you have learnt how to enable worker process pinging for an Application Pool in IIS 7. Depending on your preferred method, you can now be able to adjust the setting to suit your requirements. If still can get your head around any of them, do not hesitate to leave your comment and specify your problem. Our strong community will definitely sort out any issue you may be having.