can't enable net.tcp port sharing - vb.net

Question

I'm doing my dev work on a Window 7 x64 machine, deploying to a Windows 2008 x32 server. At the moment I'm adding WCF services to some internal apps so that we can build smaller clients using net.tcp bindings that report to the user what the server is doing without running multiple instances of the server. To cut back on how much administration the apps will require, I tried enabling port sharing on my first server app. I'm using the app to self-host the WCF service so they can be easily moved from one server to another if necessary. Here's the code starting the server:
Dim _service_host As ServiceHost
Dim active_server_address As Uri = New UriBuilder("net.tcp", "localhost", CInt(My.Settings.ServerPort)).Uri
_service_host = New ServiceHost(GetType(UpdateServiceOps), active_server_address)
_service_host.AddServiceEndpoint(GetType(IUpdateService), New NetTcpBinding With {.Name = "endpoint_tcp"}, "MiddlewareEndpoint")
_service_host.Description.Behaviors.Add(New ServiceMetadataBehavior)
_service_host.AddServiceEndpoint(GetType(IMetadataExchange), MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexTcpBinding, "mex")
_service_host.Open()
That works great. When I change it to what's below, however, I get an error. Here's the code:
Dim _service_host As ServiceHost
Dim active_server_address As Uri = New UriBuilder("net.tcp", "localhost", CInt(My.Settings.ServerPort)).Uri
_service_host = New ServiceHost(GetType(UpdateServiceOps), active_server_address)
_service_host.AddServiceEndpoint(GetType(IUpdateService), New NetTcpBinding With {.Name = "endpoint_tcp", .PortSharingEnabled = True}, "MiddlewareEndpoint")
_service_host.Description.Behaviors.Add(New ServiceMetadataBehavior)
_service_host.AddServiceEndpoint(GetType(IMetadataExchange), MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexTcpBinding, "mex")
_service_host.Open()
I get the following error when I put a breakpoint at the last line: Unable to automatically step into the server. Connecting to the server machine 'nettcpportsharing' failed. The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found. The Try...Catch block housing that code says the exception type is AddressAlreadyInUseException...but when I run netstat I don't see anything else listening on that address. There's no occurrence of 'nettcpportsharing' anywhere in my solution. I've checked to make sure that the Net.Tcp Port Sharing service is started. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I think this may be a permissions issue. Please see the associated article which explains how to configure the port sharing service to support self-hosted services.
(For production purposes I would strongly recommend using IIS Hosting with WAS anyway - it makes management of the services much cleaner and you get dynamic startup/shutdown for free.)