WCF service configuration file question regarding <baseAddresses>

Question

From what I've seen the tag is ignored when hosting a WCF service in IIS. I understand that when self-hosting this is required but is this harmful or even used when operating under IIS?

ex.

<system.serviceModel>
  <service blah blah blah>
    <host>
      <baseAddresses>
        <add baseAddress="http://localhost/blah" />
      </baseAddresses>
    </host>
   </service>
</system.serviceModel>

From what I've seen you can take a config file describing a service from one machine and use that on a completely different machine and it works fine. It looks as if IIS completely ignores this section.

Thanks, kyle

Answer 1

As you have guessed, the baseAddresses element is completely ignored when hosting in IIS. The service's base address is determined by the web site & virtual directory into which your wcf service is placed.

Even when self-hosting, baseAddresses is not required. It is merely a convenience that avoids you having to enter a full address for each endpoint. If it is present, the endpoints can have relative addresses (relative to the base address, that is).