ASP.NET MVC. Data driven subdomains?

Question

We are creating a multi-tennant web application where we identify tenants via a subdomain (customer1.ourapp.com, customer2.ourapp.com, etc).

Setup of subdomains has to be data driven - i.e. we don't want to have to modify IIS config (manually or programmatically) every time we get a new customer.

In MVC where is the best place to check that a subdomain in a request is valid (i.e. the subdomain exists in some table in the database)

Some options I've considered,

OnActionExecuting in the controller
In a custom action filter
IIS module
As part of the routing setup - a custom route class that knows about the valid sub-domains - similar to this approach - http://blog.maartenballiauw.be/post/2009/05/20/ASPNET-MVC-Domain-Routing.aspx

I think that conceptually this is a routing task so the last option seems right ?? i.e. a request with a subdomain that doesn't exist is essentially an invalid url so it shouldn't match against a route and should instead fall through to a 404. This would also allow us to explicitly define routes that do or don't require a valid subdomain.

I think you can easily do this with mvc routing .. You will get required info from HERE — Null Pointer
– Null Pointer, Commented Nov 9, 2011 at 13:00

Jakub Konecki · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-09 12:49:37Z

2

I would create a custom action filter and registered it globally in Global.asax (no worries when adding new controllers).

You can also consider creating a custom MvcHandler and specify it when declaring routes. This will allow you to specify a few routes (ie. for static content), which can be shared between all clients.

Other solution is to use only routing and stick to the single domain, so you don't have to shell out for the expensive SSL certificate for wildcard domain.

answered Nov 9, 2011 at 12:49

Jakub Konecki

46.1k8 gold badges92 silver badges128 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Benedict · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-03 02:31:20Z

2

I was doing it like this in my Base Controller Class before, however, like @Jakub said, using subdomain will be expensive if you or your client need SSL certificate thereafter.

            var dotIndex = HostingEnvironment.SiteName.IndexOf('.');
            if (dotIndex > 0)
            {
                var subdomain = HostingEnvironment.SiteName.Substring(0, dotIndex);
                customerCode = subdomain;
            }

answered Jan 3, 2012 at 2:31

Benedict

1421 silver badge5 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

ASP.NET MVC. Data driven subdomains?

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related