Option 1: Use a wildcard mapping for aspnet_isapi.dll

This tells IIS 6 to process all requests using ASP.NET, so routing is always invoked, and there’s no problem. It’s dead easy to set up: open IIS manager, right-click your app, go to Properties, then Home Directory tab, then click Configuration. Under Wildcard application maps, click Insert (not Add, which is confusingly just above),  then enter C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_isapi.dll for “Executable”, and uncheck Verify that file exists.

Done! Routing now just behaves as it always did in VS2008’s built-in server.

Unfortunately, this also tells IIS to use ASP.NET to serve all requests, including for static files. It will work, because ASP.NET has a built-in DefaultHttpHandler that does it, but depending on what you do during the request, it might use StaticFileHandler to serve the request. StaticFileHandler is much less efficient than IIS natively. You see, it always reads the files from disk for every request, not caching them in memory. It doesn’t send Cache-Control headers that you might have configured in IIS, so browsers won’t cache it properly. It doesn’t do HTTP compression. However, if you can avoid interfering with the request, DefaultHttpHandler will pass control back to IIS for native processing, which is much better.

For small intranet applications, wildcard mappings are probably the best choice. Yes, it impacts performance slightly, but that might not be a problem for you. Perhaps you have better things to worry about.

For larger public internet applications, you may need a solution that delivers better performance.

Option 2: Put .aspx in all your route entries’ URL patterns

If you don’t mind having .aspx in your URLs, just go through your routing config, adding .aspx before a forward-slash in each pattern. For example, use {controller}.aspx/{action}/{id} or myapp.aspx/{controller}/{action}/{id}. Don’t put .aspx inside the curly-bracket parameter names, or into the ‘default’ values, because it isn’t really part of the controller name - it’s just in the URL to satisfy IIS.

Now your application will be invoked just like a traditional ASP.NET app. IIS still handles static files. This is probably the easiest solution in shared hosting scenarios. Unfortunately, you’ve spoiled your otherwise clean URL schema.

Option 3: Use a custom filename extension in all your patterns

This is the same as the above, except substituting something like .mvc instead of .aspx. It doesn’t really create any advantage, other than showing off that you’re using ASP.NET MVC.

Just update your route entries as described above, except putting .mvc instead of .aspx. Next, register a new ISAPI mapping: Open IIS manager, right-click your app, go to Properties, then Home Directory tab, then click Configuration. On the Mappings tab, click Add, then enter C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_isapi.dll for “Executable”, .mvc (or whatever extension you’re using) for “Extension”, and uncheck Verify that file exists. Leave Script engine checked (unless your app has Execute permission) and leave All verbs selected unless you specifically want to filter HTTP methods.

That’s it - you’re now using a custom extension. Unfortunately, it’s still a bit of an eyesore on your otherwise clean URL schema.

Option 4: Use URL rewriting

This is a trick to make IIS think there’s a filename extension in the URL, even though there isn’t. It’s the hardest solution to implement, but the only one that gives totally clean URLs without any significant drain on performance.

We are adapting the technique slightly so as to avoid needing to change our routing configuration in any way. Here’s how it works for us:

1. As an extensionless request arrives, we have a 3rd-party ISAPI filter that rewrites the request to add a known extension: .aspx.

2. IIS sees the extension, and maps it to aspnet_isapi.dll, and hence into ASP.NET

3. Before routing sees the request, we have an Application_BeginRequest() handler that rewrites the URL back to its original, extensionless form

4. Routing sees the extensionless URL and behaves normally.

Since the URL gets un-rewritten in step 3, you don’t have to do anything funny to make outbound URL generation work.

Bonus Option 5: Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 and IIS 7

Of course, it’s much easier with IIS 7, because it natively supports .NET IHttpModules, so by default you’ll have UrlRoutingModule plugged right into the server, and you don’t have to do anything weird to make it work perfectly.

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