I was on one of our client sites this week and under Host Settings I noticed something odd. I saw that the “Is Web Farm” setting was set to true, the reason this is odd is because I know this particular install is NOT on a web farm as the setting says (shown in the screen shot below). So my next logical step was to jump over to the web.config for the install and turn this off.

Well, as I opened up the web.config and located the “EnableWebFarmSupport” in the appSettings section it was already set to false. At this point, I was puzzled so I decided to reach out to Charles Nurse as I knew DNN Corp. had created a new caching provider offered with DotNetNuke Professional Edition. While this install was using CE, I suspected that the new provider for PE could have required changes in the core itself. Here is what he had to say:

“In 5.1 we modified the “IsWebFarm” detection to detect if there are more than one server in the WebServers table.” Well, it just so happens this particular client we recently upgraded them to 5.1.x from a 4.9.x install which explains why I haven’t noticed this before (as for why we have more than one server in the WebServers table, that is for another blog). Continuing my conversation with Charles, he also informed me of some more details and changes to come. I think it is best to highlight those with a quick bullet list.

• In 5.2 this is modified again.
• In 5.1.x (All versions, all editions), the setting in the web.config means nothing.
• The File Based Caching Provider (shipped with CE and PE) will be switched to, again, rely on the setting in the web.config.
• The Web Request Provider (the one with PE only) will continue to rely on the WebServers table (ie. auto detection).

Thanks to Charles Nurse who saved me some discovery time!