TrueWatch Workshop: eShopOnWeb Deployment & Instrumentation

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.

Introduction

By the end of this guide you will have:

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

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

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.

TrueWatch eshoponweb SQL Server 2022 Express Installation Setup

Install SSMS when prompted.

A.8 Set Up Database

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

Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

TrueWatch eshoponweb SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Setup

Create a Windows Login

Navigate to Security → Logins, right-click New Login…
Login name: IIS APPPOOL\eShopOnWebPool
Click Save

Create CatalogDb Database

Select New Query
Paste and execute

CREATE DATABASE [CatalogDb]; GO

   ![Create Database](./images/5.png)
 
### A.9 Recycle IIS & Verify 
 
```powershell
iisreset /restart
Invoke-WebRequest http://localhost:5000/ -UseBasicParsing

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

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.

TrueWatch eshoponweb Infrastructure Hosts

TrueWatch eshoponweb Infrastructure Hosts 2

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 Update web.config for TrueWatch

Go to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\eShopOnWeb\publish\web.config and add:

<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)

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

TrueWatch eshoponweb Enable RUM 1

TrueWatch eshoponweb Enable RUM 2

B.5 Set Up .NET APM Tracing

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

net stop was; net start w3svc

Confirm traces in TrueWatch APM

TrueWatch eshoponweb APM

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