ASP.NET Core 2.1 + Kestrel (How to disable HTTPS)

Question

So it appears with the advent of ASP.NET Core 2.1, Kestrel now automatically creates an HTTPS endpoint along side the HTTP one, and default project templates are setup to redirect from HTTP to HTTPS (which is easy enough to undo).

However my question is... how can I disable HTTPS entirely for my project. I've read through the docs and played with a variety of config settings for HTTPS but nothing I do seems to allow me to turn it off and just run an HTTP project.

Am I crazy or just missing something. I would expect this to be super easy to do.

Answer 1

If you are using Visual Studio 2017, then you can do the following:

1. Go to your project properties. (Right-click > Properties)
2. Click on the Debug tab.
3. Under Web Server Setings, deselect Enable SSL.
4. Save, build, and try again.

This will update the iisExpress settings in the launchSettings.json file.

Answer 2

Turns out the proper way to achieve what I wanted to do, was to specifically configure Kestrel with .UseKestrel() and simply specify a single address, like this:

  WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
    .UseKestrel(options => {
      options.Listen(IPAddress.Loopback, 5080); //HTTP port
    })
    .UseStartup<Startup>();

in affect overriding the default setup, and displaying this warning when Kestel starts:

warn: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel[0]
  Overriding address(es) 'https://localhost:5001, http://localhost:5000'. Binding to endpoints defined in UseKestrel() instead.

if a second address is specified it will assume that address is to be secured with the built-in developer cert, as such:

  WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
    .UseKestrel(options => {
      options.Listen(IPAddress.Loopback, 5080); //HTTP port
      options.Listen(IPAddress.Loopback, 5443); //HTTPS port
    })
    .UseStartup<Startup>();

you may of course specifically secure your SSL address as described here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/servers/kestrel?view=aspnetcore-2.1&tabs=aspnetcore2x

which is necessary for production setups.

Answer 3

In the Startup.cs, remove the middleware

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

Answer 4

In the file Properties/launchSettings.json of your project, look of the key applicationUrl. You will find something like:

...
"applicationUrl": "https://localhost:5001;http://localhost:5000",
...

Remove the https endpoint and it's done.

Edit

As noted by @Xorcist the file launchSettings.json is not published. So, the solution above will only work in a development environment. To disable https and, in general, to configure the urls you want to listen to, both in production and in development, you can also do one of the following:

• Use --urls parameters of dotnet run, will have the same effect as the applicationUrl in launchSettings.json. For instance: dotnet run --urls=http://0.0.0.0:5000,https://0.0.0.0:5001. Again, remove the one you don't want to use.

• The same can be achieved with the ASPNETCORE_URLS enviroment variable.

• As mentioned in the answer by @Konstantin to this question, in ASP Net Core 2.1 you can also configure Kestrel endpoints in the appsettings.json (it seems this cannot be done in 2.0).
• Finally, the same can also be achieved with the useUrls extension method WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args).UseUrls("http://0.0.0.0:5000"). I prefer the other solution because this ones hardcodes you're application endpoints, and can't be changed without recompiling the application.

All the possible options are explained in detail in the Microsoft Docs on this.

Answer 5

In the Program.cs, Add UseUrls as following:

WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
.UseUrls("http://localhost:5000")
.UseStartup<Startup>();

And In The Startup.cs remove/comment the following:

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

Answer 6

The dotnet CLI now has a template for this.

dotnet new webapi --no-https

Answer 7

With ASPNET CORE 2.2, I simply set the web server URL to http not https and it picks it up on its own. I run it as a self hosted process.

1. Go to your project properties.
2. Click on the Debug tab.
3. Under Web Server Settings, set the URL to http://xxx
4. Try again :)