Article ID: 932909 - View products that this article applies to.
By default, the maximum stack size of a thread that is created by a native Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) process is 256 KB prior to Windows Server 2008. For example, when Inetinfo.exe, DLLHost.exe, or W3wp.exe creates a thread in IIS 5.0 or IIS 6.0, the maximum stack size of the thread is 256 KB by default. You can also explicitly call the CreateThread function to specify the stack size of the thread. In Microsoft Windows 2000, if the Microsoft ASP.NET Worker Process (ASPNet_wp.exe) creates a thread, the maximum stack size of the thread is 1 MB. In Windows Server 2008 and higher, the maximum stack size of a thread running on 32-bit version of IIS is 256 KB, and on an x64 server is 512 KB.
NOTE: Internet Information Services is a multi-threaded web application platform that allows application code running inside of each worker process to utilize hundreds or more threads at once as necessary. Each thread is bound by the same stack size limit in order to keep the virtual memory usage of the process within manageable limits.
The maximum stack size of a thread is not determined by an individual ISAPI, DLL, or ASP component that is running inside the process. The maximum stack size of a thread is configured by the executable file of the process. If you must have a large stack size, you can programmatically create a thread and then set the appropriate stack size. Alternatively, if the thread runs out of the maximum stack size, you must change the code in the application to use the stack correctly.
The arguments and the local variables of a function are stored in the stack of the thread. If you declare a local variable that has a very large value, the stack is quickly exhausted. For example, the function in the following code example requires 400,000 bytes in the stack to store the array.
Note You cannot call this function in IIS 4.0, in IIS 5.0, in IIS 5.1, or in IIS 6.0.
To avoid using the stack, dynamically allocate the memory. For example, the function in the following code example dynamically allocates the memory.
Note In this code example, the memory is stored in the heap instead of the stack. Therefore, the function does not require 400,000 bytes in the stack to store the array.
If a function is called recursively, the stack may be quickly exhausted. For example, a function requires 400,000 bytes in the stack if the following conditions are true:
For more information, visit the following MSDN Web site:
Article ID: 932909 - Last Review: May 17, 2012 - Revision: 3.0
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