Disable debugging on prod servers with retail mode

After thinking about it for some time I finally decided to turn on retail mode on my web server. Retail mode is a setting in machine.config that will disable a few debugging-related features in ASP.NET applications, even though the application might have enabled them explicitly. Turning on retail mode is a fast and easy way to increase both performance and security on your server.

Retail mode is turned on by setting the retail attribute to true on the system.web/deployment element.

<configuration>
    <system.web>
          <deployment retail="true"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

More information about this setting can be found on MSDN: deployment Element.

A more detailed description of the setting (including the reasons why it should be turned on) can be found here: Inside Microsoft.com: Management and Delegation of ASP.NET