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15. What is Machine.config?

Machine configuration file: The machine.config file contains settings that apply to the entire computer. This file is located in the %runtime install path%Config directory. There is only one machine.config file on a computer. The Machine.Config file found in the "CONFIG" subfolder of your .NET Framework install directory (c:WINNTMicrosoft.NETFramework{Version Number}CONFIG on Windows 2000 installations). The machine.config, which can be found in the directory $WINDIR$Microsoft.NETFrameworkv1.0.3705CONFIG, is an XML-formatted configuration file that specifies configuration options for the machine. This file contains, among many other XML elements, a browserCaps element. Inside this element are a number of other elements that specify parse rules for the various User-Agents, and what properties each of these parsings supports.
For example, to determine what platform is used, a filter element is used that specifies how to set the platform property based on what platform name is found in the User-Agent string. Specifically, the machine.config file contains:
platform=Win95
platform=Win98
platform=WinNT
...
That is, if in the User-Agent string the string "Windows 95" or "Win95" is found, the platform property is set to Win95. There are a number of filter elements in the browserCaps element in the machine.config file that define the various properties for various User-Agent strings.
Hence, when using the Request.Browser property to determine a user's browser features, the user's agent string is matched up to particular properties in the machine.config file. The ability for being able to detect a user's browser's capabilities, then, is based upon the honesty in the browser's sent User-Agent string. For example, Opera can be easily configured to send a User-Agent string that makes it appear as if it's IE 5.5. In this case from the Web server's perspective (and, hence, from your ASP.NET Web page's perspective), the user is visiting using IE 5.5, even though, in actuality, he is using Opera.

16. What is Web.config?

In classic ASP all Web site related information was stored in the metadata of IIS. This had the disadvantage that remote Web developers couldn't easily make Web-site configuration changes. For example, if you want to add a custom 404 error page, a setting needs to be made through the IIS admin tool, and you're Web host will likely charge you a flat fee to do this for you. With ASP.NET, however, these settings are moved into an XML-formatted text file (Web.config) that resides in the Web site's root directory. Through Web.config you can specify settings like custom 404 error pages, authentication and authorization settings for the Web sitempilation options for the ASP.NET Web pages, if tracing should be enabled, etc.
The Web.config file is an XML-formatted file. At the root level is the tag. Inside this tag you can add a number of other tags, the most common and useful one being the system.web tag, where you will specify most of the Web site configuration parameters. However, to specify application-wide settings you use the tag.
For example, if we wanted to add a database connection string parameter we could have a Web.config file like so.