C# Web Service in IIS Stops Connecting to Oracle (via ADO.NET) Over Time

I have a Web Service, written in C#, published on a Windows XT Web Server under IIS, which repeatedly connects to an Oracle 9x database via ADO, processes, disconnects from the database, and exits.

The Web Service is triggered by our Tibco messaging system; in our test environment, it is invoked every ten minutes. The trouble is, it will run for hours -- Connect, Process, Disconnect, Exit -- then, eventually it will fail on the Connect: it will throw an exception while trying to execute the OracleConnection.Open method (if I remember correctly, I don't have the output with me at the moment), and I am not yet getting any specific Oracle error message or number. All connection attempts after that point fail immediately.

If we restart IIS, it returns to normal running (for a while, that is.)

Also, another Web service, which runs serially after the failing one and has been running successfully all this time, will also start failing in its connections to Oracle (once the other Web Service has failed.)

There have been instances where the 2nd Web Service has been the one to initiate the failures, seeming to eliminate one specific Service as the problem.

My question: assuming that the Web Services' Connects (Opens) are all paired with associated Disconnect (Closes), is there something (some resource, perhaps) in IIS or Oracle which can be consumed over time, or iterations? It seems as if the Web Service, although it exits, is running out of something or corrupting something, which can only be repaired by restarting IIS. And the effect appears to be IIS-wide -- at least within the default application space -- since the other process fails (database connects) after the one failure.

Would anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

GHuston Received on Thu Nov 08 2007 - 03:06:36 CET