What is Machine Key?

> Machine Key Protects Cookie Data of Forms Authentication and Page Level View State Data.
> Machine Key validate Out Of Process Session State Identification
> Session State may be SQLServer or StateServer SessionStateMode.
> SessionStateMode - Indicates where to store the Session State Values.
> This mode can be of Four Types(Custom, InProc, Off, SQLServer, StateServer).

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Mainly there are two types of Machine Keys. 1. Validation Key 2. Decryption Key

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> Importance of Validation Key - It mainly confirms the integrity of data by computing
> the message authentication code.
> The key is either stored in Authentication Cookie of Forms or on View State of each page.
> Importance of Decryption Key - It is mainly used for encrypting and decrypting data like
> view state and authentication Cookie of page.

How To Generate Machine Key In IIS?

> On IIS, click on your website. On Features View double click on the
> Machine Key Icon as shown in the figure.



> Then click on Generate Key on the right panel as shown in the figure.



> New Validation Key and Decryption Key will be produced on the respective
> textboxes as shown in the figure.

Use the Machine Key On Asp.Net Application

> Save the Machine Key details and write the following code on the
> web.config of your Asp.Net application as shown in the figure.



> By this way we can generate Machine Key in IIS for Asp.Net Application.

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