Start Profiling ASP.NET

An ASP.NET application can be profiled using IIS Express, the Internet Information Services web server, or the development web server (WebDev.WebServer). Normally, it is recommended that the IIS Express server be used.

To profile the memory of an ASP.NET process, perform the following steps.

  1. Select the Profile ASP.NET command from the menu or toolbar.

  2. The “Profile ASP.NET” wizard appears.

  3. Select how the ASP.NET application should be launched:

    • Launch using IIS Express

    • Launch using Internet Information Services

    • Launch using WebDev.WebServer

  4. If IIS Express is selected, you can optionally choose an IIS Express configuration file, and then select the web site to profile. If no configuration file is specified, the default IIS Express configuration file will be used.

  5. If the development web server is used, use the Browse button or the Web-site directory drop-down list to define the directory where the web site is located.

  6. In order to automatically start the ASP.NET application, you can select a web page that should be requested when the profiling is started. If you do not want a page to be selected, select *(none)*in the request page drop-down list.

  7. Select the command Start. If the IIS server is used, this will stop the IIS Services (“IIS Admin,” “World Wide Web Publishing,” and any other services that depend on “IIS Admin”). A number of environment variables are set, and then the stopped services are restarted. If IIS Express or the development server is used, a new instance of IISExpress or WebDev.WebServer will be started.

  8. If you want to profile using the default settings, click Start to start the application.

  9. If you want to modify settings, you can use the Next button to modify some common settings.

  10. When you have decided on the settings, click Start to start the application.

  11. If you did not define a page to request, you need to force the start of the ASP.NET process by requesting an ASP.NET page (e.g., an .aspx page) when you get the “Waiting for profiled process to start” message.

  12. When the “Waiting for .NET runtime to be loaded” message has disappeared, you can start collecting heap snapshots.