TrueWatch Workshop: eShopOnWeb Deployment & Instrumentation

(Hands-on demo for TrueWatch users & partners)

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Overview & Scope

This workshop guides you through deploying the eShopOnWeb ASP.NET Core 8.0 sample on Windows IIS and then instrumenting it with TrueWatch.

• Part A (Optional): Fresh setup of Windows IIS & .NET environment, full application deployment.
• Part B: TrueWatch onboarding and instrumentation for existing IIS apps.

Who should follow which part?

• New to IIS & .NET? Start at Part A.
• Already have your app on IIS? Skip Part A and jump to Part B.

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1 Introduction

By the end of this guide you will have:

• A published ASP.NET Core 8.0 application (eShopOnWeb) hosted by Windows IIS

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2 Environment Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
TrueWatch workspace	Register at https://id1-auth.truewatch.com/businessRegister
Windows Server (e.g., 2025)	On AWS EC2, Parallels, VMware, or bare metal
Admin RDP access	Port 3389 open from your IP

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Part A – Environment Setup & Deployment

A.1 Run PowerShell as Administrator and Install Git and .NET

# Install Git 
winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget

# Install .NET 8 SDK
winget install --id Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.8 -e

# Relaunch PowerShell as Admin and Verify
git --version
dotnet --version

A.2 Clone & publish the sample

git clone https://github.com/dotnet-architecture/eShopOnWeb.git C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb
cd C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\src\Web

dotnet publish -c Release -o C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\publish

A.3 Install and Register AspNetCoreModuleV2

Download "ASP NET Core Runtime 8.0 Hosting Bundle" from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/8.0/runtime and save into C:\Downloads.

# 1. Install silently (as Admin)
Start-Process -FilePath C:\Downloads\dotnet-hosting-8.0.18-win.exe `
  -ArgumentList '/quiet','/norestart' -Wait -Verb RunAs

# 2. Verify registration
Import-Module WebAdministration
Get-WebGlobalModule AspNetCoreModuleV2 | Select Name, Image

# 3. Restart IIS
iisreset /restart

A.4 Create logs directory & ACL

$pub = 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\publish'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "$pub\logs" -Force
$pool='eShopOnWebPool'
icacls "$pub\logs" /grant "IIS_IUSRS:(M)" /T

A.5 Install the IIS Web Server Role

# Install the full IIS role (Web Server) plus Management tools
Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeManagementTools

# Now these should show up and be Running (or Stopped if you haven’t started them yet):
Get-Service W3SVC, WAS | Select-Object Name, Status

# If they’re stopped, start them:
Start-Service WAS
Start-Service W3SVC

A.6 Site & App Pool configuration

Install-WindowsFeature Web-Scripting-Tools -IncludeManagementTools
Import-Module WebAdministration
New-WebAppPool $pool
Set-ItemProperty "IIS:\AppPools\$pool" -Name startMode -Value AlwaysRunning
Set-ItemProperty "IIS:\AppPools\$pool" -Name processModel.loadUserProfile -Value True

New-Website -Name eShopOnWeb `
  -PhysicalPath $pub `
  -Port 5000 -ApplicationPool $pool

A.7 Download and Install SQL Server Express 2022

Visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-za/sql-server/sql-server-downloads and download SQL Server 2022 Express. Choose the Basic Installation method.

Install SSMS when prompted.

A.8 Set Up Database

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
   
2. Create a Windows Login
   • Navigate to Security → Logins, right-click New Login…
   • Login name: IIS APPPOOL\eShopOnWebPool
   • Click Save
     
3. Create CatalogDb Database
   • Select New Query
   • Paste and execute:
     CREATE DATABASE [CatalogDb]; GO

A.9 Recycle IIS & Verify

iisreset /restart
Invoke-WebRequest http://localhost:5000/ -UseBasicParsing

Open http://localhost:5000/ in your browser — the eShopOnWeb landing page should appear.

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Part B – TrueWatch Instrumentation

B.1 Install TrueWatch DataKit Agent

• In TrueWatch console: Integrations → DataKit → Windows, copy the install script.
• Run it in PowerShell as Admin.
• Verify host under Infrastructure → Hosts.
  
  

B.2 Enable DataKit Modules

Edit C:\Program Files\datakit\conf.d\datakit.conf:

default_enabled_inputs = ["cpu", "disk", "diskio", "mem", "swap", "system", "hostobject", "net", "host_processes", "dk", "statsd", "ddtrace", "windows_event"]

Restart DataKit:

datakit service -R

B.3 Set Up web.config for TrueWatch

1. Copy the web.config file from this repository to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\src\Web\

2. Add the following environment variables to the web.config file:

<environmentVariable name="DD_AGENT_HOST" value="127.0.0.1" />
<environmentVariable name="DD_TRACE_AGENT_PORT" value="9529" />
<environmentVariable name="DD_RUNTIME_METRICS_ENABLED" value="1" />
<!-- other DD_ vars as needed -->

B.4 Enable RUM (Real User Monitoring)

1. In TrueWatch: RUM → Create Application, copy snippet.
2. Edit _Layout.cshtml at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\src\Web\Views\Shared\_Layout.cshtml, paste under <head>.
   
   

Publish the changes and restart the app pool:

cd C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\src\Web
dotnet publish -c Release -o C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\publish
Restart-WebAppPool eShopOnWebPool

B.5 Set Up .NET APM Tracing

1. Install .NET Tracer MSI (e.g., datadog-dotnet-apm-3.21.0-x64.msi).
2. Restart IIS:

net stop was; net start w3svc

3. Confirm traces in TrueWatch APM
   

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3 Additional Notes

Republishing After Code Changes

cd C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\src\Web
dotnet publish -c Release -o C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\publish
Restart-WebAppPool eShopOnWebPool

© 2025 TrueWatch Demo Workshop