System.Web.Configuration Namespace

---

.NET Framework version 2.0

Defines the configuration settings that control the key generation and algorithms that are used in encryption, decryption, and media access control ( MAC ) operations in Windows Forms authentication, view-state validation, and session-state application isolation. This class cannot be inherited.

MachineKeySection Class Members

Show Inherited Members

Constructors Visibility Constructor Parameters public MachineKeySection ( )   Properties Visibility Name Value Type Accessibility public ApplicationName String [ Get , Set ] public CompatibilityMode MachineKeyCompatibilityMode [ Get , Set ] public DataProtectorType String [ Get , Set ] public Decryption String [ Get , Set ] public DecryptionKey String [ Get , Set ] public Validation MachineKeyValidation [ Get , Set ] public ValidationAlgorithm String [ Get , Set ] public ValidationKey String [ Get , Set ]   Methods Visibility Name Parameters Return Type protected Reset ( ConfigurationElement parentElement ) Void protected SetReadOnly ( ) Void

The MachineKeySection class provides a way to programmatically access and modify the machineKey section of a configuration file.

The MachineKey section can be configured at the machine ( Machine.config ) or application ( Web.config ) level and controls the keys and algorithms that are used for Windows Forms authentication, view-state validation, and session-state application isolation. In order for any of these features to work across a network of Web servers ( a Web farm ), the MachineKey attributes must be configured explicitly and identically with a valid key value. The "AutoGenerate" value does not work for Web farms, because it relies on a cryptographically random secret, which is persisted using machine-local protection and will not be coherent across more than one computer.

Notes to Implementers: If it is required to specify keys in this configuration section, as is often required in Web-farm scenarios, we recommend that you encrypt this section by using protected configuration.

This example demonstrates how to specify values declaratively for several attributes of the machineKey section, which can also be accessed as members of the MachineKeySection class.

The following configuration file example shows how to specify values declaratively for the machineKey section.

<system.web>
   <machineKey validationKey="AutoGenerate,IsolateApps"
      decryptionKey="AutoGenerate,IsolateApps"
      validation="SHA1"/>
</system.web>

ASP.NET Configuration   <machineKey> Section

Suggested Reading