---
title: Activation and hosting
summary: Marker files, codebehind mapping, host inventory, and deployment variants.
status: draft
owner: Not determined from source
last_reviewed: 2026-09-22
---

# Activation and hosting

ADUserServices publishes exactly one operation set through a single `.asmx` marker file, built and deployed by a single pipeline into two named deployment variants (Internal and External).

## Activation mechanism

| Aspect | Finding |
| --- | --- |
| Mechanism | `.asmx` marker file + codebehind |
| Marker files | 1 |
| Directive form | `<%@ WebService Language="vb" CodeBehind="clsADUserServices.asmx.vb" Class="ADUserServices.clsADUserServices" %>` |
| `<system.serviceModel>` | Not present |
| Address composition | Application base address + the marker file's path within the project |

## Marker file inventory

| Marker file | Language | Codebehind | Class | Address suffix |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `clsADUserServices.asmx` | `vb` | `clsADUserServices.asmx.vb` | `ADUserServices.clsADUserServices` | `/clsADUserServices.asmx` |

## Activation diagram

The following diagram visualizes how a request reaches an operation.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    REQ["Caller request<br>/clsADUserServices.asmx"] --> IIS["IIS maps .asmx<br>to the ASP.NET handler"]
    IIS --> DIRECTIVE["WebService directive<br>names ADUserServices.clsADUserServices"]
    DIRECTIVE --> INST["clsADUserServices constructed<br>per request"]
    INST --> ACTION{"SOAP action"}
    ACTION -->|"one of 19 WebMethods"| WM["WebMethod invoked"]
    ACTION -->|"Unknown"| FAULT["SOAP fault"]
    WM --> RESP["Response message"]
```

## Metadata and test surface

| Aspect | Finding |
| --- | --- |
| WSDL document | `clsADUserServices.asmx?wsdl` (framework-generated; no WSDL is checked into the repository) |
| ASP.NET test page | Not determined from source — no `<protocols>` element appears in `Web.config`, so protocol availability sits at framework defaults |
| Documentation protocol | Not determined from source — same reason |

No `<protocols>` element exists in `Web.config`, so whether SOAP 1.1, SOAP 1.2, or the ASMX built-in test-form protocol is published cannot be confirmed from this repository. See [Tech debt](tech-debt.md) for the related finding on the untouched scaffolding defaults elsewhere in this service.

## Host inventory

This repository contains exactly one deployable project — `ADUserServices` — which hosts the one service documented in this set. No second project, host, or embedded library exists in the repository.

## Deployment variants

Two build artifact variants are declared by `pipelines\build-vars.yml`, both deployed by `pipelines\release.yml` through `/Stages/v2/deploy-stages-web-iis-webservices.yml@templates`.

| Variant | Build configuration | Artifact | Config transform | Audience | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Internal | `Release` | `app-internal` (`ArtifactNameInternal`) | `Web.Release.config` | Not determined from source | IIS anonymous authentication enabled (`IISAnonymousAuthInternal: true`) |
| External | `Release` | `app-internal` (`ArtifactNameExternal`) | `Web.Release.config` | Not determined from source | IIS anonymous authentication enabled (`IISAnonymousAuthExternal: true`) |

**`ArtifactNameExternal` is set to the same literal value as `ArtifactNameInternal` — `app-internal` — in `pipelines\build-vars.yml`.** Both variants are declared to build the same artifact name despite being intended as separate deployment surfaces. This is tech-debt item TD-27 (HIGH); see [Tech debt](tech-debt.md) for the full finding.

### Variant differences

| Setting or behavior | Internal | External | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `ArtifactName*` | `app-internal` | `app-internal` (collision — see TD-27) | `pipelines\build-vars.yml` |
| `IISAnonymousAuth*` | `true` | `true` | `pipelines\release.yml` |
| Services exposed | All 19 operations | All 19 operations | `src\ADUserServices\clsADUserServices.asmx.vb` (single class, single marker file — no per-variant conditional compilation found) |

## IIS configuration

| Aspect | Finding |
| --- | --- |
| Site / virtual directory | Not determined from source — `<IISUrl>` is empty and `<UseIIS>False</UseIIS>` in `ADUserServices.vbproj` |
| Application pool | Not determined from source |
| Platform target | Not determined from source |
| `httpErrors` mode | Not declared |
| Custom modules or handlers | None — `Web.config` declares no `<configSections>` and no custom `<httpModules>`/`<httpHandlers>` entries beyond ASP.NET/ASMX defaults |

**Flagged finding — SOAP namespace tied to hosting.** The service's published contract carries the untouched framework default namespace `http://tempuri.org/` (`clsADUserServices.asmx.vb` line 38). Because the deployed host, site, and virtual path are themselves not determinable from source, the concrete WSDL address a consumer would target cannot be composed from this repository either. Both facts are recorded together here because they compound: an unknown address serving an unremarkable default namespace gives a reader no way to distinguish this endpoint from another default-namespace ASMX service without out-of-band deployment knowledge. See [Tech debt](tech-debt.md) (TD-01, HIGH) and [Authentication and authorization](authentication-authorization.md) for the IIS anonymous-authentication finding (SEC-01).

Authentication is declared as `Windows` in `Web.config` with no `<authorization>` element, while both deployment variants enable IIS anonymous authentication in `pipelines\release.yml`. Full detail, including the security implications, is documented in [Authentication and authorization](authentication-authorization.md).

## Related documentation
- [Service index](index.md)
- [Overview](overview.md)
- [Architecture](architecture.md)
- [Operations](operations.md)
- [Faults and error pipeline](faults.md)
- [Authentication and authorization](authentication-authorization.md)
- [Dependencies](dependencies.md)
- [Configuration](configuration.md)
- [Operations and processes](operations-processes.md)
- [Business rules](business-rules.md)
- [Operational runbook](operational-runbook.md)
- [Tech debt](tech-debt.md)

## Sources
- `src\ADUserServices\clsADUserServices.asmx`
- `src\ADUserServices\clsADUserServices.asmx.vb`
- `src\ADUserServices\ADUserServices.vbproj`
- `src\ADUserServices\Web.config`
- `pipelines\build-vars.yml`
- `pipelines\release.yml`
- `.saifdocgen\state\runs\20260922-101326-aduserservices\analysis\aduserservices-analysis.md`