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I need to know if developing a Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) solution requires IIS installed. I would like to be able do develop a WIF solution using the built-in Visual Studio Development Server (I heard it is called Cassini) if possible.

All of the samples I've downloaded assume that IIS is up and running on the local system.

This blog, Securing WCF Services with Custom WIF STS: A Step-By-Step guide, lists requirements for a WIF example and has IIS as one of the requirements.

I've added the images to allow you to follow easily with the steps.
Pre-requisites:
Visual studio 2010
The development machine has IIS installed (I use Windows 2008 R2)
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF): download it from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17331
Windows Identity Foundation SDK: download it from : http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4451

I also have noted another StackOverflow posting indicating that IIS Express can be used. I have not yet fully investigated IIS Express, however this doesn't answer my basic question.

I can't seem to find any other references anywhere else about this topic. I'd appreciate knowing if anyone has been able to develop a WIF solution implementing a Security Token Service using the standard Visual Studio Development Server alone. Otherwise, I will look into using IIS Express. I am unable to install and use IIS (non-Express) on my system as I don't have local admin access.

Thank you.

Community
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Dan7el
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3 Answers3

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Before .NET 4.5 WIF was a separate package and an additional installation step.

.NET 4.5 makes several important changes and moves WIF into the .NET base class libraries. The move enables WIF to be used by any application regardless of host. There's enough changes that if you are starting new, I recommend upgrading to .NET 4.5 to avoid porting in the future and because the integration does make things easier.

I'm currently running Visual Studio 2012 and testing WIF code in IIS Express and ServiceHost without issues.

I don't have local admin access

This is a big problem. Not having local admin for WIF development may not work. You will need elevated privileges to install tools and test applications.

ErnieL
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  • I did not specify my version of Visual Studio or .NET. I am on .NET 4.0 with Visual Studio 2010. Any confirmation that this works with IIS Express or the Development Server? – Dan7el May 13 '13 at 17:01
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Regardless of version, you shouldn't have any issues running apps with WIF outside IIS. The limitations are more around running SSL. Have you tried? Did you get any errors?

Eugenio Pace
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  • I have not tried it yet. I'm trying to determine how to get the basics working at this point. From what I can see from all the samples, they assume IIS running locally. I'm trying to figure out what options I have regarding whether or not I can run it with Cassini instead. I can't seem to find any documentation supporting this or even how I would implement it. – Dan7el May 13 '13 at 19:49
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As @Eugenio states, one of the issues is around SSL. The other problem is that Cassini uses localhost which means that you need to have a valid localhost certificate if you are thinking of adding this application to something like ADFS. (as opposed to having a certificate for the actual machine name).

Also, to do WIF development, you have to run VS in Admin mode.

rbrayb
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