>In testing, however, requests of the ASPX page vary widely in the time it takes to execute. For example, the first hit of the day takes 20 seconds, while subsequent hits take 2-3 seconds. Then, if the web page is not hit again for a while (between 20-43 minutes by my calculations so far), that next hit will take 20 seconds again.
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>For all I know, our previous web page also suffers from that lag, except it is getting hit by everyone in the company, and so doesn't have any gaps in use like that (the new way is only being used by 3 testers).
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>So, it looks like the web page or module or whatever is unloading itself after a time, and then having to "reload" the next time. Can I keep it loaded at all times? Does that have something to do with pooling or some other configuration option I can change? It is just one ASPX page with a singe CS file behind it...

This is normal. First, you work in in-place compilation, which is also what I do presently. So, as you upload your .vb files as is on the server, it is normal the first hit would take longer as lots of stuff will be launched to make those files ready to be used on the Web site. Then, after the timeout of inactivity, this happens again. This setting can be adjusted in your IIS Web site configuration. I don't remember where it is exactly but there is a place where you can set that you wish to force IIS to keep your site active. In your case, it could be useful to set that option as, in normal production, this is usually not necessary as your site would be always accessed.