CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net-coreweb-applicationsconsole-application
Prajat Padhi
Prajat Padhi

Reputation: 99

Difference between a console application and Web application in asp.net core

I am trying to run a background service which just writes to a file on a specified interval.
There are two methods that I tried
1) Created the project with the Console application template
2) Created the project with Web Application as template

When I run the app from visual Studio, both of them run fine. But when I deploy them to IIS, only the web application version works. It must be noted that there is absolutely no difference between the code of the two projects. I have used the WebHost as a hosting strategy in both the projects as well as well as installed all the dependencies in case of Console application as there are in the Web Application version.

I must also inform that I have used the preloadEnabled="true" option in IIS as IIS needs a web request to start the application.

I am wondering what is the difference between both the project types as the code is the same? I don't want the Web Application template.

Edit 1: I forgot to mention that the service will also need to expose an api endpoint for healthcheck purposes. Will the windows service approach listen for http requests?

I used the following article for implementing my background service. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/architecture/microservices/multi-container-microservice-net-applications/background-tasks-with-ihostedservice

Upvotes: 2

Views: 12054

Answers (2)

Saeid
Saeid

Reputation: 1663

After years of building background services, I learned that Windows services are the best tools to implement these applications. While there are different techniques to keep an IIS application up and running in the background and prevent it from getting recycled, in practice, the applications on IIS are not meant to be executed forever.

If you had an intention to build your app in the cloud, I would have suggested using something like Azure WebJobs or Azure Functions Timer-Triggered functions, but for on-premise, even using something like Hangfire in the web is not sustainable. The worst happens when you need backward compatibility on Windows servers that don't have the "Application Initialization" module.

My suggestion is to move your application to a simple Windows Service if you control your environment. Windows services consume less memory, are easier to manage, and can run forever without getting recycled.

Upvotes: 4

Christopher
Christopher

Reputation: 9804

WebApplications are plain the wrong tools for this.

Being always on and always reachable, WebServers are primary targets for hacking. To compensate for that, they are usually run under the most restrictive user rights you can imagine: Read rights to their programm and this instances content directory. While I do not know why it worked at all, it propably will stop working in Production.

What you wanted to write was eitehr a Service or something executed by the Windows Task Sheduler. Personally I advise for the Task Sheduler as Services have their own set of restrictions. Unless of coruse there is some detail of the requirements that you did not told us.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions