I've been storing the files for the exercises on my Win2k3 IIS/ASP.NET server. The Global.asax doesn't seem to work there, but when I run it in WebMatrix it works just fine.

Is the Global.asax a file that only works on a WebMatrix server? If so, is there a way I can tweak it or substitute it so that I can get the same functionality on my other server?

I have just had the same problem as bonehead, and come out of the other side. In case anyone else hits this issue:

The Global.asax file will work on IIS, but it must be placed in the root directory, which for this application is C:\BegASPNET. If you place the file in C:\BegASPNET\WroxUnited, as shown in figure 11-13 of Chapter 11, then it won't work.

C:\BegASPNET is the physical directory which has been defined as a virtual directory with the name BegASPNET11 using the Virtual Directory Creation Wizard in IIS (Appendix E). This is where the application is considered to run, for purposes of locating the asax file.

The Application storage has to be cleared out by ending the aspnet_wp.exe Process (the one running under a user name of ASPNET) using Task Manager. Ending the Application for the Chat page has no effect on the storage. Obviously, the instruction on page 415 to shut down the Web Matrix Server is not relevant if you are using IIS.