Has any one received the error "An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for ServiceConfiguration" when try to load the channel.config file

Question

Our commerce 2009 site has been up and running in production for a few months now and then we started getting the below error. The error will occur several times a day making the site very unstable.

Error
Type : System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException, System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
Message : An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for ServiceConfiguration: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. (C:\inetpub\rockshop\web.config line 272)
Source : System.Configuration
Help link :
BareMessage : An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for ServiceConfiguration: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Filename : C:\inetpub\rockshop\web.config
Line : 272
Errors : System.Configuration.ConfigurationException[]
BareMessage : An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for ServiceConfiguration: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Filename : C:\inetpub\rockshop\web.config
Line : 272
Errors : System.Configuration.ConfigurationException[]
Data : System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal
TargetSite :
Data : System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal
TargetSite : System.Object EvaluateOne(System.String[], System.Configuration.SectionInput, Boolean, System.Configuration.FactoryRecord, System.Configuration.SectionRecord, System.Object)
Stack Trace :    at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.EvaluateOne(String[] keys, SectionInput input, Boolean isTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentResult)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.Evaluate(FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentResult, Boolean getLkg, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSectionRecursive(String configKey, Boolean getLkg, Boolean checkPermission, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Boolean requestIsHere, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSection(String configKey)
   at System.Web.HttpContext.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at System.Web.Configuration.HttpConfigurationSystem.System.Configuration.Internal.IInternalConfigSystem.GetSection(String configKey)
   at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at Microsoft.Commerce.Application.Common.Configuration.ServiceConfiguration.get_Current()
   at Microsoft.Commerce.Broker.OperationService.InitializeOperationContext(CommerceRequest request)
   at Microsoft.Commerce.Broker.OperationService.ProcessRequest(CommerceRequest request)

Additional Info:

MachineName : INTER-WEB3
TimeStamp : 1/12/2010 2:30:19 PM
FullName : Microsoft.Commerce.Common, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
AppDomainName : /LM/W3SVC/6/ROOT-1-129077767074801709
ThreadIdentity :
WindowsIdentity : HARDROCK\CommerceUser
 Inner Exception
 ---------------
 Type : System.NullReferenceException, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
 Message : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
 Source : System.Configuration
 Help link :
 Data : System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal
 TargetSite : Boolean Contains(System.String)
 Stack Trace :    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationPropertyCollection.Contains(String name)
    at Microsoft.Commerce.Application.Common.Configuration.CustomConfigurationContainerElement.get_Configuration()
    at Microsoft.Commerce.Application.Common.Configuration.OperationSequenceComponentElement.PostDeserialize()
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElement.DeserializeElement(XmlReader reader, Boolean serializeCollectionKey)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElementCollection.OnDeserializeUnrecognizedElement(String elementName, XmlReader reader)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElement.DeserializeElement(XmlReader reader, Boolean serializeCollectionKey)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElement.DeserializeElement(XmlReader reader, Boolean serializeCollectionKey)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElementCollection.OnDeserializeUnrecognizedElement(String elementName, XmlReader reader)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElement.DeserializeElement(XmlReader reader, Boolean serializeCollectionKey)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElement.DeserializeElement(XmlReader reader, Boolean serializeCollectionKey)
    at System.Configuration.ConfigurationElement.DeserializeElement(XmlReader reader, Boolean serializeCollectionKey)
    at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.RuntimeConfigurationFactory.CreateSectionImpl(RuntimeConfigurationRecord configRecord, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader)
    at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.RuntimeConfigurationFactory.CreateSectionWithRestrictedPermissions(RuntimeConfigurationRecord configRecord, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader)
    at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.CreateSection(Boolean inputIsTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader)
    at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.CallCreateSection(Boolean inputIsTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader, String filename, Int32 line)

Additional details
line 272 in the web config, this corresponds to the following line 

      <ServiceConfiguration configSource="ChannelConfiguration.config">

Doing an IIS reset or restarting the application resolves the problem for a few hours.

System info

Commerce 2009 using the entity framework
Windows 2008 64 Bit
dual Quad core processors
8 gig of ram

Answer 1

Hello Rich,

As I say in this post : http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/commserver2009/thread/efb72e52-1d0c-48f2-abb2-bc8f413ace23, we have exactly the same problem than you seems to have.

We are also on 64 bits operating system, with dual 8 cores processors, and it seems to be the key problem according to the contact we have from MS.
I cannot guarantee that it will solved every problems related to this one, but MS is working on some hotfix for this kind of issues we are facing right now.

I will let you know if we have further informations later on,

Regards,

Guillaume

Answer 2

The MS support team has identified a fix for this issue, which is caused by a race condition under load.  Please contact MS Support for details.

Answer 3

Do you have a number for the hotfix MS support isnt much help without the number..

Answer 4

The MS support team has identified a fix for this issue, which is caused by a race condition under load.   Please contact MS Support for details.

So what is the fix? Is there any related documentation or statement? Thanks.