Kestrel Web Server: Can't get it to work

Hello Benno1,

Indeed, using Kestrel is currently more of a personal choice. It's particularly useful for reducing the DVLS installation footprint, especially on servers where IIS is not installed, and in cases where you don't need to manage an application pool. Kestrel is a much lighter web server, but it comes at the cost of some additional features provided by IIS that you might want to use.

Also, the Kestrel version is still relatively new and has a significant limitation for some users - it doesn't yet support Windows authentication. However, please note that support for this feature should be arriving soon.

Documentation regarding installation via Kestrel is still being written. However, if you wish to use Kestrel, I'd be happy to assist you!

During the instance installation, it's generally simpler to select "SQL Server Authentication" rather than "Windows Authentication" to use a user who already has rights on your database. Additionally, when selecting the service user for your Kestrel instance, I would recommend creating a dedicated user in advance (though a local service user or another should also work).

To facilitate debugging, once the instance is installed, go to the installation folder and give your service user read and write permissions on the "AppData" folder. This will allow the application to generate certain logs in a file named DPS_MAIN.log during startup.

You can also check the application's general logs by clicking the "Logs" button in the installation console (please note that these are not the same as DPS_MAIN logs).

Lastly, the Windows event log could also guide us in identifying what is not working.

Thank you for your interest.
Nicolas.