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Overview

NuGetCDNRedirect is a deliberately thin ASP.NET MVC 5 (.NET Framework 4.7.2) web application whose sole runtime job is to redirect every incoming HTTP request to a configured CDN or canonical URL. The redirect is implemented entirely inside IIS via the <httpRedirect> configuration element in Web.config — no application code is involved in the redirect path itself. The MVC layer exists only to serve a liveness/status endpoint that infrastructure health checks can reach without being redirected. The application was created in 2017 and has intentionally remained minimal. There is no data access, no authentication, no business logic, and no internal project references. It is deployed as a standalone Azure App Service (or IIS site).

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Role in the NuGetGallery Ecosystem

CDN Traffic Shaping

Sits in front of CDN origin URLs and performs HTTP 302 redirects (IIS Found) to route legacy or vanity hostnames to the canonical NuGet CDN endpoint.

Infrastructure Health Probe

Exposes GET /Status/Index as an exempted path (redirect disabled for that route) so load balancers and Azure health checks can confirm the app is alive.

Telemetry Integration

All unhandled exceptions are forwarded to Application Insights via a global MVC filter, giving operations teams visibility into any unexpected failures.

Security Hardening

Enforces HTTPS-only cookies, removes the X-Powered-By header, and sets a one-year HSTS header (max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains) on every response.

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Key Files and Classes

File PathClass / ElementPurpose
Global.asax.csMvcApplicationApplication entry point; registers areas, filters, and routes on startup.
App_Start/RouteConfig.csRouteConfigRegisters the single default MVC route ({controller}/{action}/{id}) defaulting to Status/Index.
App_Start/FilterConfig.csFilterConfigRegisters AiHandleErrorAttribute as a global MVC filter for exception telemetry.
Controllers/StatusController.csStatusControllerSingle GET /Status/Index action that returns a plain “Ok” view; this route is exempt from the IIS redirect.
ErrorHandler/AiHandleErrorAttribute.csAiHandleErrorAttributeExtends HandleErrorAttribute to forward exceptions to Application Insights when custom errors are enabled.
Web.config<httpRedirect>Core redirect logic: a wildcard IIS redirect rule sends all requests to a placeholder destination URL.
Views/Status/Index.cshtml—Renders a single “Ok” string; consumed by health probes.
Views/Shared/Error.cshtml—Bare-bones error page shown when an unhandled exception surfaces to the browser.

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Dependencies

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NuGet Packages

PackagePurpose
Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.WebHTTP module and telemetry pipeline for request tracking and exception reporting.
Microsoft.AspNet.MvcASP.NET MVC 5 framework (controllers, filters, views, routing).
Microsoft.AspNet.Web.OptimizationBundling and minification infrastructure (included by template; not actively used).
Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatformRoslyn-based C# compiler for runtime Razor view compilation.
Newtonsoft.JsonJSON serialization; pulled in as a transitive dependency by Application Insights.

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Internal Project References

NuGetCDNRedirect has no internal project references. It is a fully self-contained web application with no dependencies on NuGetGallery, NuGetGallery.Core, or any other solution project.

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Notable Patterns and Implementation Details

The redirect is pure IIS configuration, not application code. The <httpRedirect enabled="true" httpResponseStatus="Found"> block in Web.config with a <add wildcard="*" destination="https://placeholder" /> entry means every HTTP request is intercepted by the IIS Static File / Redirect module before MVC ever processes it. The destination URL is a placeholder in source control and must be overridden via a Web.config transform or deployment slot setting in production.
The /Status/Index route is explicitly exempted from redirection. A <location path="Status/Index"> block in Web.config sets <httpRedirect enabled="false" /> for that path only. This is the mechanism that allows health probes to get a real 200 OK response instead of a redirect.
The redirect destination is a placeholder in source control. Web.config contains destination="https://placeholder" — this is intentional but means the application is non-functional unless the value is replaced at deploy time. There is no compile-time or startup check that validates the destination URL is real.
Web.Debug.config contains no environment-specific overrides. Only Web.Release.config strips the debug compilation attribute and disables tracing. Running the application in Debug configuration will emit verbose compilation output and trace diagnostics.
Security headers are applied at the IIS level. The Strict-Transport-Security header and X-Powered-By removal are configured in <system.webServer><httpProtocol> rather than in MVC middleware, so they apply to every response — including static files and error pages — without requiring application code.
The StaticFile handler is explicitly removed. <remove name="StaticFile" /> in <handlers> prevents IIS from serving any static assets directly. Combined with the cleared <fileExtensions> and <hiddenSegments> request filter rules, this means IIS imposes no file-extension or segment restrictions, allowing the wildcard redirect to catch every pattern uniformly.

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Startup Sequence

Application_Start()
  └── AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas()
  └── FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters()
        └── adds AiHandleErrorAttribute (global exception → App Insights)
  └── RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes()
        └── ignores *.axd routes
        └── maps default route → Status/Index
All inbound HTTP traffic is handled by IIS before reaching the MVC pipeline, except for requests to Status/Index which pass through normally and return 200 OK.

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Target Framework and Build Notes

PropertyValue
Target Framework.NET Framework 4.7.2
Project TypeASP.NET MVC Web Application (classic csproj)
NamespaceNuGet.Services.CDNRedirect
Assembly NameNuGetCDNRedirect
MVC View Pre-compilationDisabled (MvcBuildViews=false)
IIS Express Port (dev)57913