Multiple endpoints under IIS

Question

I have been trying to add a new endpoint in a service hosted under IIS but haven't been able to figure it out for the past day or so.

This is my understanding:

• you can have multiple endpoints under IIS as long as they have unique addresses.
• you could assign a base address but it will be overridden by the virtual directory setup in IIS.

My virtual directory is http://localhost/WcfCert/

<services>
  <service name="WcfCertServer.Service1" behaviorConfiguration="WcfCertServer.Service1Behavior">
    <endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="WcfCertServer.IService1"/>
    <endpoint address="test" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="WcfCertServer.IService1"/>
    <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
  </service>
</services>

I can bring up the service using http://localhost/wcfcert/service1.svc

but http://localhost/wcfcert/test/service1.svc/test doesn't return anything in IE or the client app

what am I missing here?

Edit:

So i did further testing, and here is what i discovered.

if i start WcfTestClient.exe and add either http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc or http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/mex it will add both the endpoint under that address. so here is my question shouldn't http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc only represent the first endpoint? why adding that address bring up both endpoints?

but if I try to add http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test I get

Error: Cannot obtain Metadata from http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test If this is a Windows (R) Communication Foundation service to which you have access, please check that you have enabled metadata publishing at the specified address. For help enabling metadata publishing, please refer to the MSDN documentation at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=65455.WS-Metadata Exchange Error URI: http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved: 'http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test'. Sendera:BadContextTokenThe message could not be processed. This is most likely because the action 'http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/09/transfer/Get' is incorrect or because the message contains an invalid or expired security context token or because there is a mismatch between bindings. The security context token would be invalid if the service aborted the channel due to inactivity. To prevent the service from aborting idle sessions prematurely increase the Receive timeout on the service endpoint's binding.HTTP GET Error URI: http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test There was an error downloading 'http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test'. The request failed with HTTP status 400: Bad Request.

Answer 1

It would actually be:

http://localhost/wcfcert/service1.svc/test

If you want the URL to be 'http://localhost/wcfcert/test/service1.svc', then you will need to specify the full URL in the address attribute.

Answer 2

I ran into a similar problem recently, and I believe the reason is because the WcfTestClient requires the mex endpoint to query the metadata for the service it is testing.

When you add the service address "http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc" to the WcfTestClient, it actually queries the endpoint "http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/mex" to get the service description.

The error "Cannot obtain Metadata from "http://localhost:1523/Service1.svc/test" is displayed because the WcfTestClient is looking for the "/test/mex" endpoint to get the metadata for the service at "/test".

To fix this, you need to add another endpoint to provide metadata about the service hosted at address "/test":

<endpoint address="/test/mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>

This is the solution that worked for me.