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Solution with MVC/WebApi and WCF - Authentications

I have been assigned a old project that currently uses a WCF service.
The point is to update (more like starting fresh) the project to use ASP.NET MVC5 and Web API. The problem is that a 3rd party uses the WCF service, and they are probably not willing to make changes to their end of the communication.
The main function of the project is two basic, one is receive data, save it and just show the last status of several subjects and history graphs, and the other is to send data (turn on/off subjects).
My idea was to maintain the WCF Service (receive/send/save data) as is, just add it to new solution which consists of MVC and Web API (read data). They need (I think) to be in the same project, because the final objective is to implement SignalR on the WCF Service, if possible.
The main problem, is that the MVC and WebAPI are going to stay behind Authentication, but the WCF won't. At the moment when I try to test the WCF on the same project, it fails because it asks for a "Log in."
Error: Cannot obtain Metadata from
http://localhost:50598/ServiceTest.svc 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:50598/ServiceTest.svc Metadata contains a
reference that cannot be resolved:
'http://localhost:50598/ServiceTest.svc'. The content type text/html;
charset=utf-8 of the response message does not match the content type
of the binding (application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8). If using a
custom encoder, be sure that the IsContentTypeSupported method is
implemented properly. The first 1024 bytes of the response were: '?
Log in.
Usernamehttp://localhost:50598/ServiceTest.svc The HTML document does not
contain Web service discovery information.
I tried everything that I could find on the web. But couldn't find anything that would work.
My last consisted on fiddling with the web.config:
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<webHttpBinding>
<binding name="UnsecuredBinding">
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentialType="None"/>
</security>
</binding>
</webHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="serviceBehavior">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
<endpointBehaviors>
<behavior name="Management.ServiceAspNetAjaxBehavior">
<webHttp />
</behavior>
</endpointBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true" multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
<services>
<service name="Management.ServiceTest" behaviorConfiguration="serviceBehavior">
<endpoint address="" behaviorConfiguration="Management.ServiceAspNetAjaxBehavior" binding="webHttpBinding" contract="ServiceLibrary.IService" bindingConfiguration="UnsecuredBinding"/>
</service>
</services>
</system.serviceModel>
I also added routes.IgnoreRoute to RouteConfig.cs
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.svc/{*pathInfo}");
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.svc");
and tried to add this to Global.asax
protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HttpApplication context = (HttpApplication)sender;
if (context.Request.Url.ToString().Contains(".svc"))
{
context.Response.SuppressFormsAuthenticationRedirect = true;
}
}
My questions:
If I migrate the WCF methods to WebAPI, will the client need to do any modifications on their end?
If yes, how can I integrate WCF on my MVC/WebAPI project, without being affected by Log In barrier.

In answer to question 1, yes your clients would have to make modifications. WCF is SOAP/XML where as WebApi is REST/JSON(usually) for starters.
As for 2, if the WCF service is working fine, just leave it as it is. You don't need to include it in the project directly, simply use the "Add Service Reference" wizard in Visual Studio to make a client for interacting with it.
As a side note, the error you where experiancing was probably due to using the inbuilt IIS express instance with Visual Studio, which doesn't support running anonymous and authenticated applications at the same time, so your WCF service ended up with authentication enabled.

Configure WCF as Named Pipe hosted on IIS7

I have two different WCF services hosted on IIS7. One is Database Service which is configured to run on namedpipe. The other service hosted on same machine is accessing the first service via named pipe and is configured to run on webhttp.
however when i call the database service from another service i get the following error
"There was no endpoint listening at "net.pipe://localhost/iSPYDBService" that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details."
Database Service Config file Snippet
<system.serviceModel>
<services>
<service name="DBService.Service">
<endpoint address="net.pipe://localhost/iSPYDBService"
binding="netNamedPipeBinding"
contract="DBService.Contracts.IDBService"
bindingConfiguration="Binding1" />
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior>
<!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information, set the values below to false before deployment -->
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="true" />
<!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes, set the value below to true. Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing exception information -->
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<protocolMapping>
<add binding="basicHttpsBinding" scheme="https" />
</protocolMapping>
<bindings>
<netNamedPipeBinding>
<binding name="Binding1"
closeTimeout="00:01:00"
openTimeout="00:01:00"
receiveTimeout="00:10:00"
sendTimeout="00:01:00"
transactionFlow="false"
transferMode="Buffered"
maxBufferPoolSize="524288"
maxBufferSize="65536"
maxConnections="10"
maxReceivedMessageSize="65536">
<security mode="Transport">
<transport protectionLevel="EncryptAndSign" />
</security>
</binding>
</netNamedPipeBinding>
</bindings>
<serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true" multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
The Other Service Calling the Database service via named pipe throws error as mentioned above.
ChannelFactory<DBService.Contracts.IDBService> pipeFactory =
new ChannelFactory<DBService.Contracts.IDBService>(
new NetNamedPipeBinding(),
new EndpointAddress("net.pipe://localhost/iSPYDBService"));
pipeProxy = pipeFactory.CreateChannel();
var categories = pipeProxy.GetCategories();
Both services are hosted on IIS. i have already given the binding for net.pipe in database service and also add "http,net.pipe" in "enabled protocols".

You cannot use IIS Express.
In IIS (full, not express) ... go to your website.
Follow this bread crumb:
WCF Host Web Site > Manage Application > advanced Settings > Enabled Protocols
You probably have "http" or "http,net.tcp" already set.
Add "net.pipe" (with a comma before it)
As seen below. Note, do not add any spaces.
http,net.tcp,net.pipe
The magic is the correct value ("net.pipe") in this case.
You can read more about it here
Could not find a base address that matches scheme net.tcp

The following should help:
Clear the address in the service config like address=""
Edit the bindings of your site in IIS and add or update the site bindings of the net.pipe type and give the "Binding information" a proper name
Update your client config to address="net.pipe://PROPER_NAME/YOUR_SERVICE.svc"
Set the security mode to None for the bindings on both the client and the service end.
Make sure the Windows Features are enabled for Named Pipe Activation for WCF 4.5 or the Non-HTTP Activation for WCF 3.5

IIS Hosted WCF Rest Service keeeps prompting for Windows Auth Credentials

I have a WCF Rest Service that I'm building. The service is hosted in IIS under an SSL. And I have the site in IIS setup to use Windows authentication with Anonymous authentication disabled.
However, when I attempt to navigate to service.svc file in the browser to test the windows authentication I am prompted from my credentials as expected. However, after entering my credentials it continuous to prompt me over and over. And I don't know why or what I'm missing.
If I re-enable Anonymous authentication and navigate to the service.svc file then the wsdl data loads..but from my understanding is no longer using windows authentication at that point.
I have tested this in IE and Firefox and both of them do the same thing.
Here is my web.config
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<webHttpBinding>
<binding name="WebHttpBindingConfig">
<security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
<transport clientCredentialType="Windows" proxyCredentialType="Windows"/>
</security>
</binding>
</webHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="httpEnabled">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="true" />
<serviceCredentials>
<windowsAuthentication allowAnonymousLogons="False" includeWindowsGroups="True"/>
</serviceCredentials>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
<endpointBehaviors>
<behavior name="EndpBehavior">
<webHttp helpEnabled="true"/>
</behavior>
</endpointBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<services>
<service name="myService" behaviorConfiguration="httpEnabled">
<endpoint address="" binding="webHttpBinding" contract="myContract" behaviorConfiguration="EndpBehavior" bindingConfiguration="WebHttpBindingConfig" />
</service>
</services>
Any help figuring this out would be great. If you need any other information please let me know. Thank you.
Problem: Continuous prompt for creds when attempting to view Service.svc in browser.
Expected result: Upon entering valid creds they Service.svc page should load
EDIT:
I was going to post images of the Auth Settings and an example of what it was dong to give a visual, but I don't have enough reputation yet. Sorry.

I figured it out. It ended up being a server configuration issue. I discovered I could load the Service.svc file from a remote machine with valid creds. So after I did some searching I found the following article:
http://warnajith.blogspot.com/2011/06/iis-75-401-unauthorized-access-error.html
The issue was I needed to DisableLoopbackCheck. So after I followed the steps on that page to update the registry it loaded correctly
Note: If you're on a windows 2012 server you do not need to do step 1 in the link provided.
Hope this helps someone else in the future.

Sporadic WCF Service activation error with message - An error occurred while accessing the IIS Metabase

I was haivng a project in which earlier I was hosting only single WCF service. Everything used to work fine. Later, as part of enhancements we have added two more WCF services to the same project with different Interfaces and different SVC files. All three services share same web.config which define the three end points (corresponding to each service).
WCF services for my project are hosted as separate website with its own App Pool and port number. All three of my services share the same App pool.
With this setup when I am deploying application to test servers many times I am getting sporadic error as below and service stops working. Of the three service, one or two at a time gives this error other keeps on working.
System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostingEnvironment+HostingManager/4032828
System.ServiceModel.ServiceActivationException: The service '...svc' cannot be activated due to an exception during compilation. The exception message is: An error occurred while accessing the IIS Metabase.. --->
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException: An error occurred while accessing the IIS Metabase.
at System.ServiceModel.Activation.MetabaseReader..ctor
I enabled svclogs for the webservice and there I am seeing things like
......
AppDomain unloading
To: construct ServiceHost 'myservice1'
From: construct ServiceHost 'myservice1'
To: Open ServiceHost 'myservice1'
From: ServiceHost 'myservice1'
ASP.NET hosted service activated
**Wrote To Eventlog** << Exception at this point for myservice2.
I have tried This options but it doesn't help. I have also searched on net but not finding any other solution that can help.
I am having IIS6 on the test servers.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
UPDATE:
I have observed a pattern. After Idle time, whichever service is hit first gets activated properly, other ones fails. Also, to add to Port part, we are specifically mentioning port on which this service would be running. for my application say the port number is 25000, then no other application on this server is sharing this port number, only my application. So if there are multiple Services, then they are sharing the port, but again the same setup is there for other projects having multiple SVC services and none has ever experienced this issue (as far as I know).
UPDATE 2: Below is the config file. I have typed in the config file but have tried to keep this as accurate as possible. (please ignore case-sensitive things)
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBinding>
<binding name="MyBinding">
<security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
<transport clientCredentialType="Basic" proxyCredentialType="Basic" realm="prod.xxx.net" />
<message clientCredentialType="UserName" algorithmSuite="Default"/>
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<behaviours>
<serviceBehaviours>
<behaviour name="firstServiceBehaviour">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
<serviceCredentials>
<clientCertificate>
<authentication mapClientCertificateToWindowsAccount="true" />
</clientCertificate>
</serviceCredentials>
<dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483646" />
</behaviour>
<behaviours>
<serviceBehaviours>
<behaviour name="secondServiceBehaviour">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
<serviceCredentials>
<clientCertificate>
<authentication mapClientCertificateToWindowsAccount="true" />
</clientCertificate>
</serviceCredentials>
</behaviour>
<behaviours>
<serviceBehaviours>
<behaviour name="thirdServiceBehaviour">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
<serviceCredentials>
<clientCertificate>
<authentication mapClientCertificateToWindowsAccount="true" />
</clientCertificate>
</serviceCredentials>
<dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483646" />
</behaviour>
<services>
<service behaviourConfiguration="firstServiceBehaviour" name="...">
<endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="MyBinding" name="firstServiceEndPoint" contract="IfirstServiceContract" />
</service>
<service behaviourConfiguration="secondServiceBehaviour" name="...">
<endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="MyBinding" name="secondServiceEndPoint" contract="IsecondServiceContract" />
</service>
<service behaviourConfiguration="thirdServiceBehaviour" name="...">
<endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="MyBinding"
name="thirdServiceEndPoint" contract="IthirdServiceContract" />
</service>
</services>
<serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
</System.ServiceModel>

I won't say this as complete answer, but this somewhat helped solve our problem. I still want to know reason / solution to actual cause of the problem. I am mentioning this work around as this might help somebody Temporarily resolve their issues as well who might face similar problem.
As I mentioned the issue was coming only when application was idle for some time. In that case IIS was shutting down (unloading) the application's AppDomain (This is from SVC Logs).
So we created a simple console app that was hitting all the services of our application every 5-10 minutes and was not letting AppDomain to shut down. There is an alternative way for achiving this - Setting IIS configuration to not to unload AppDomain (this was less feisible for us provided the shared infrastructure). This helped us to complete testing.
Then as we moved to load-balanced environments (Testing environments close to production), we suddenly stopped getting the issue and with some analysis we found that the Load-Balancer itself was pinging these services so as to make sure that they are up, and because of this App Domain of these services was never unloading.
So, for now we can say that we are not getting this issue in a load balanced environment, but the question still remains why was it even happening (for non load Balanced environments).

IIS 7.0 Web Service - Works on HTTP (80), Fails with error 404 on HTTPS (443)

IIS 7.0 on Windows 2008
WCF Web Service, .NET 4 from VS 2010
Web service is installed via publishing and I have full admin rights on the server. There are several complicated methods, but there is a simple one that returns the build version. If we can get this one working, I can fix them all - here is my interface:
namespace MyNameSpace
{
[ServiceContract]
public interface WebInterface
{
[OperationContract]
[WebGet]
string GetVersion();
Attempt to connect via HTTP:// and everything works fine!
Attempt to conenct via HTTPS:// I get a 404 file not found.
I can reach the generic "You have created a web service..." page, including full web service path and the C# generic sample code when browsing to the exact same URL's both on HTTP and HTTPS.
In C#, I have read that the certificate can cause trouble, and I have already implemented the delegate overload to approve our server certificate.
I suspect missing one or more entries in the Web.config file, but I don't have a clue where to start. I have tried Google searching and Stack Overflow searching, but I haven't found the correct combination of search terms to help with this particular issue.
Web Config:
<system.serviceModel>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="HttpGetMetadata">
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"/>
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<services>
<service name="LinkService" behaviorConfiguration="HttpGetMetadata">
<endpoint address="" contract="WebInterface" binding="basicHttpBinding" />
</service>
</services>
<serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
</system.serviceModel>
Help Please.

You're using the defaults for basicHttpBinding, and the default security mode for that binding is None. You need to define the binding and set the security mode to Transport in your config. Add a Bindings section to your ServiceModel section, like this:
<serviceModel>
<Bindings>
<basicHttpBinding name="secureBinding">
<security mode="Transport">
<transport clientCredentialType="None" />
</security>
</basicHttpBinding>
</Bindings>
</serviceModel>
Then you need to assign this binding to your endpoint via the bindingConfiguration attribute, like this:
<endpoint address=""
binding="basicHttpBinding"
bindingConfiguration="secureBinding"
contract="WebInterface" />
You'll probably want to enable httpsGetEnabled as well:
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"
httpsGetEnabled="true" />
See BasicBinding with Transport Security (which is what the sample code is based on).
You can also google with terms like "BasicHttpBinding WCF SSL" and stuff like that - lots of examples and information on the web, it's just a matter of using the right words :)
Also, I'm not 100% confident that the transportClientCredential setting is correct for your scenario (it might need to be Certificate), but I've done very little with SSL for WCF.
There may be other issues as well (like how IIS is set up on your machine), but the above is what's needed for the config.