ASP.NET 5 IIS8 dnx fail

I have a problem with hosting an ASP.NET RC1 application inside IIS.

I've read through similar issues here on the site, aswell as went through official Microsoft documentation, but to no avail. I simply cannot make the app start inside IIS8 which is a must in this scenario, as I need to use it with an SSL certificate, and no relevant logs are shown unfortunately.

App is packaged under dnx-clr-win-x86.1.0.0-rc1-update2

If I try to start it inside my local VS2015, it works flawlessly. If i run the Web.cmd on the server machine from command line, app starts without any problems. However, when I try to run it through IIS, event log catches the following.

Faulting application name: dnx.exe, version: 1.0.0.20309, time stamp: 0x56e05cbb
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.2.9200.21815, time stamp: 0x56eaff87
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x000db583
Faulting process id: 0xae4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d1aba4b38c38e7
Faulting application path: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\approot\runtimes\dnx-clr-win-x86.1.0.0-rc1-update2\bin\dnx.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: f1f534cd-1797-11e6-9404-000d3ab185aa
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

It seems to me like it is using a wrong dnx version, but this shouldn't be possible as i published the app with:

dnu publish --runtime active --no-source

First of all thanks Clint for pushing me in the right direction.

Unfortunately I ended up spinning up a new Windows Server 2012 instance, and installing everything from the grounds up, which seems to work great at this moment. I have probably messed something when initially setting up the server, but it was a test one so no harm is done. I have a few observations for DNX to IIS publishing, which could help others with similar problems or at least mitigate at least some of the problems.

Very important steps:

• If publishing from command line, publish with dnu publish --runtime active. Add --no-source when you are sure you don't need to make any quick changes to make the app work so it compiles into NuGet packages.

• Try to run the app manually by running web.cmd from the publishing folder from command line. If this doesn't work, IIS is least of your problems, and you need to resolve the app startup first.

• Install IIS locally on your development machine, and try to make it first work with that one, which will help you understand which issues are happening to you and how to resolve them on the real web server.

• Use Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Application to catch .NET and HttpPlatformHandler errors during startup

• Enable stdout inside wwwroot/web.config for your solution.

Battling different issues:

1. Various http 4xx and 5xx errors.

• Ensure that Http Handler 1.2 is installed. If you are not sure, check the add / remove programs section in control panel, where version is clearly visible. If using a x64 system, you need to install x64 runtime
• Check that you have unlocked handlers in IIS
• Check that Application pool is set to No Managed code (32 bit app support was not required in my case)

2. I'm not sure I published to a good folder

• Create a folder for your web app inside your wwwroot folder e.g. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\myApplicationName

• Copy publishing files to that folder. Structure should be as follows:

  C:\inetpub\wwwroot\myApplicationName

  • approot
  • logs
  • wwwroot

• Create a new website in IIS and attach it to your application pool that is set to no managed code

• Set the application folder to be C:\inetpub\wwwroot\myApplicationName\wwwroot

3. Event Viewer - DNX Could not write to logs folder

This is an issue with IIS permissions on the logs folder from your publishing artefacts. Right click -> Properties -> Security on the logs folder and Add permissions for the following user.

IIS_IUSRS (permissions: read and execute, list, write)

Once you do this, restart the website, and check if this issue is gone. If Event Viewer is not logging anything, check if there is a file generated in the logs folder where you should get the next troubleshooting hint.

NOTE: If you publish an app update, and you overwrite the logs folder accidentally, you will kill its permissions and this issue will return. After the initial publish, just copy approot and wwwroot, and leave the logs intact to avoid this.

4. Unable to load application or execute command 'Microsoft.AspNet.Server.Kestrel'. Available commands: web

• Try to run a dnu restore before publishing manually
• Ensure that you have published with --runtime active