Different Types of Hosting WCF application and there advantages

Question

There are different types of Hosting can be done.

1. windows process activation services (WAS)

2. IIS

3. Self hosting

4. Hosting in a Windows service

is there advantage of using one over another? which one is preferable?

Answer 1

This and this can help. But basically:

1) IIS now using WAS

2) IIS hosting. Pros: generally no hosting code required, easy to maintain, IIS infrastructure (security, sessions, site integration etc). Cons: 'passive' services, require IIS.

3) Self hosting. Pros: easy debugging. Cons: no infrastructure, req. custom hosting code, interactive usage (generally speaking).

4) Hosting in a Windows service. Pros: for 'active', long running services, services infrastructure (start/stop/pause, unattended (non interactive) execution, dependencies, mmc etc), relatively easy to manage. Cons: req. custom hosting code, relatively hard to debug (vs IIS hosting).