Recycling Settings for an Application Pool <recycling>

Overview

The <recycling> element contains configuration settings that control the conditions that trigger IIS 7 to restart an application pool. You can also control the types of events IIS writes to the event log when the application pool recycles.

You can specify that IIS recycle an application pool at set intervals (such as every 180 minutes), at a specific time each day, or after the application pool receives a certain number of requests. You can also configure the <recycling> element to restart the application pool when the worker process virtual memory and physical memory usage reaches a specific threshold.

You can use the <recycling> element to specify two classes of events to log to the event log when IIS recycles an application pool. The first class contains recycling events that you can configure, such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph. The second class includes run-time recycling events, such as on-demand recycling events, recycling events triggered by configuration changes in the application or applications running in the application pool, or recycling caused by an unhealthy Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) filter or ISAPI extension.

The <recycling> element uses the following attribute and child element to implement these features:

• logEventOnRecycle attribute
• periodicRestart element

Compatibility

Setup

The <applicationPools> collection is included in the default installation of IIS 7.

How To

How to set up periodic recycling for an application pool

1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager:

   • If you are using Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2:

     • On the taskbar, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

   • If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1:

     • Hold down the Windows key, press the letter X, and then click Control Panel.
     • Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

   • If you are using Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2:

     • On the taskbar, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

   • If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7:

     • On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
     • Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

2. In the Connections pane, expand the server name, and then click Application Pools.

3. In the Application Pools pane, select the application pool you want edit.

4. In the Actions pane, click Recycling...
   

5. On the Recycling Conditions page of the Edit Application Pool Recycling Settings Wizard, select at least one of the options in the Fixed Intervals section, type values into the appropriate text boxes, and then click Next.
   

6. (Optional) On the Recycling Events to Log page of the Edit Application Pool Recycling Settings Wizard, select the configurable recycling events and run-time recycling events that you want IIS to send to the event log when they occur, and then click Finish.
   

Configuration

The <recycling> element is configurable at the server level in the ApplicationHost.config file.

Attributes

Child Elements

Configuration Sample

The following configuration sample uses the application pool <add> element to create a new application pool named Contoso. The <recycling> element configures logging for application pool restarts, the <periodicRestart> element configures when the application pool restarts, and the <processModel> element configures the shutdownTimeLimit and startupTimeLimit attributes for shutting down and starting the worker processes in the application pool for 30 seconds each. If these time limits are exceeded, IIS terminates the worker process.

<add name="Contoso">
   <recycling logEventOnRecycle="Schedule">
      <periodicRestart>
         <schedule>
            <clear />
            <add value="03:00:00" />
         </schedule>
      </periodicRestart>
   </recycling>
   <processModel identityType="NetworkService" shutdownTimeLimit="00:00:30" startupTimeLimit="00:00:30" />
</add>

Sample Code

The following code examples add an application pool named Contoso to your IIS 7 server, then set the application pool to daily recycle at 3:00 A.M.

AppCmd.exe

appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/applicationPools /+"[name='Contoso']" /commit:apphost

appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/applicationPools /+"[name='Contoso'].recycling.periodicRestart.schedule.[value='03:00:00']" /commit:apphost

You can also use the following syntax:

appcmd.exe add apppool /name:"Contoso"

appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/applicationPools /+"[name='Contoso'].recycling.periodicRestart.schedule.[value='03:00:00']" /commit:apphost

C#

using System;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Web.Administration;

internal static class Sample
{
   private static void Main()
   {
      using (ServerManager serverManager = new ServerManager())
      {
         Configuration config = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration();
         ConfigurationSection applicationPoolsSection = config.GetSection("system.applicationHost/applicationPools");
         ConfigurationElementCollection applicationPoolsCollection = applicationPoolsSection.GetCollection();
         ConfigurationElement addElement = applicationPoolsCollection.CreateElement("add");
         addElement["name"] = @"Contoso";
         ConfigurationElement recyclingElement = addElement.GetChildElement("recycling");
         ConfigurationElement periodicRestartElement = recyclingElement.GetChildElement("periodicRestart");
         ConfigurationElementCollection scheduleCollection = periodicRestartElement.GetCollection("schedule");
         ConfigurationElement addElement1 = scheduleCollection.CreateElement("add");
         addElement1["value"] = TimeSpan.Parse("03:00:00");
         scheduleCollection.Add(addElement1);
         applicationPoolsCollection.Add(addElement);
         serverManager.CommitChanges();
      }
   }
}

VB.NET

Imports System
Imports System.Text
Imports Microsoft.Web.Administration

Module Sample
   Sub Main()
      Dim serverManager As ServerManager = New ServerManager
      Dim config As Configuration = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration
      Dim applicationPoolsSection As ConfigurationSection = config.GetSection("system.applicationHost/applicationPools")
      Dim applicationPoolsCollection As ConfigurationElementCollection = applicationPoolsSection.GetCollection
      Dim addElement As ConfigurationElement = applicationPoolsCollection.CreateElement("add")
      addElement("name") = "Contoso"
      Dim recyclingElement As ConfigurationElement = addElement.GetChildElement("recycling")
      Dim periodicRestartElement As ConfigurationElement = recyclingElement.GetChildElement("periodicRestart")
      Dim scheduleCollection As ConfigurationElementCollection = periodicRestartElement.GetCollection("schedule")
      Dim addElement1 As ConfigurationElement = scheduleCollection.CreateElement("add")
      addElement1("value") = TimeSpan.Parse("03:00:00")
      scheduleCollection.Add(addElement1)
      applicationPoolsCollection.Add(addElement)
      serverManager.CommitChanges()
   End Sub
End Module

JavaScript

var adminManager = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.ApplicationHost.WritableAdminManager');
adminManager.CommitPath = "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST";
var applicationPoolsSection = adminManager.GetAdminSection("system.applicationHost/applicationPools", "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST");
var applicationPoolsCollection = applicationPoolsSection.Collection;

var addElement = applicationPoolsCollection.CreateNewElement("add");
addElement.Properties.Item("name").Value = "Contoso";
var recyclingElement = addElement.ChildElements.Item("recycling");
var periodicRestartElement = recyclingElement.ChildElements.Item("periodicRestart");
var scheduleCollection = periodicRestartElement.ChildElements.Item("schedule").Collection;
var addElement1 = scheduleCollection.CreateNewElement("add");
addElement1.Properties.Item("value").Value = "03:00:00";
scheduleCollection.AddElement(addElement1);
applicationPoolsCollection.AddElement(addElement);

adminManager.CommitChanges();

VBScript

Set adminManager = createObject("Microsoft.ApplicationHost.WritableAdminManager")
adminManager.CommitPath = "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST"
Set applicationPoolsSection = adminManager.GetAdminSection("system.applicationHost/applicationPools", "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST")
Set applicationPoolsCollection = applicationPoolsSection.Collection

Set addElement = applicationPoolsCollection.CreateNewElement("add")
addElement.Properties.Item("name").Value = "Contoso"
Set recyclingElement = addElement.ChildElements.Item("recycling")
Set periodicRestartElement = recyclingElement.ChildElements.Item("periodicRestart")
Set scheduleCollection = periodicRestartElement.ChildElements.Item("schedule").Collection
Set addElement1 = scheduleCollection.CreateNewElement("add")
addElement1.Properties.Item("value").Value = "03:00:00"
scheduleCollection.AddElement(addElement1)
applicationPoolsCollection.AddElement(addElement)

adminManager.CommitChanges()