Newest KB Articles in General questions

Assigning users to Microsoft IIS 7 Manager

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:32:34 GMT

In Control Panel, go to: Tools & Utilities >> IIS Tools >> MS IIS Manager

Selecting a user here allows that user access to your account through Microsoft's IIS 7 Manager. Note that you also select which IIS Manager features to enable at the bottom of this page. Selecting features here will prompt a download the first time you connect to your site with IIS Manager.

In general we recommend that only experienced developers use the Microsoft IIS 7 Manager. If you have been working with it in your own Windows 2008 development environment, you're probably safe. If this is your first experience with Windows 2008 you may want to use the DiscountSP.NET Control Panel controls to do your necessary site maintenance.

Changing the default ASP.NET Trust Level

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:30:55 GMT

The default ASP.NET Trust level is set to Medium.

In general, most applications should run fine under Medium Trust. If your application requires Full Trust, you can override the trust level at the application level by adding the following to your web.config file:

How to connect to Windows 2008/IIS 7 using the Microsoft IIS 7.0 Manager

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:29:54 GMT

To download and install the IIS 7.0 Manager, use one of the following links:

For X86 processor systems: http://iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1626
For X64 processor systems: http://iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1633

NOTE: Before you can use IIS Manager you must grant permission to the user who is going to connect. Permissions are assigned in Control Panel. See this Knowledge Base article for user assignment instructions.

From the IIS Manager file menu bar, select "Connect to a Site..." to start the connection wizard.

On the first screen, enter the following information (your account information can be found in the Account Information section of Control Panel):

Server name: Your alternate URL address (excluding the "http://" portion)
Site name: Your domain name

Once you have the information entered, click on the next button to proceed to the credentials screen. At the credentials screen, you'll want to use the following:

User name: Your Control Panel login name
Password: Your Control Panel password

The last step is to create a connection name. We recommend using your domain name to avoid any confusion should you create multiple connections. Click the "Finish" button to complete the wizard.

Application Pool Pipeline Mode in IIS 7

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:27:02 GMT

With the architecture change in IIS 7, your application that was developed for IIS 6 may not function properly using the default Integrated Application Pool Pipeline Mode. If you encounter such issues you can configure your account to use the classic .NET Application Pool Pipeline Mode through the Control Panel IIS Tools:

Go to the IIS Tools tab in the DiscountASP.NET Control Panel
Select "Classic" from the drop down menu for Application Pool Pipeline Mode.
Click the "Update" button

Notes on the Application Pool Pipeline Mode:

Most ASP applications should run fine.
Some ASP.NET Application may require configuration migration with an IIS 7.0 command line tool (see below).
Integrated Mode Benefits:
- Allowing services provided by both native and managed modules to apply to all requests, regardless of handler. For example, managed Forms Authentication can be used for all content, including ASP pages, CGIs, and static files.
- Empowering ASP.NET components to provide functionality that was previously unavailable to them due to their placement in the server pipeline. For example, a managed module providing request rewriting functionality can rewrite the request prior to any server processing, including authentication, takes place.
- A single place to implement, configure, monitor and support server features. For example, single module and handler mapping configuration, single custom errors configuration, single url authorization configuration.

Password protecting directories in IIS 7

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:24:48 GMT

In IIS7 password protection is achieved by removing anonymous user access to a directory. There are two ways to accomplish this.

The first is manual password protection. Add following into the web.config file in the directory that you wish to protect:

To allow additional users to access the site, you must grant the user access in the Permission manager in the DiscountASP.NET Control Panel.

The second method is to use the IIS 7 Manager. The IIS 7 Manager is a program that is installed on your computer and is used to do some maintenance and configuration tasks in IIS 7. We recommended the IIS 7 Manager for use by experienced developers only.

Add the primary user to the allowed IIS Admin user list in the DiscountASP.NET Control Panel (IIS Tools)
Connect to the site
Navigate to the directory you want to password protect in the left pane
Double click "Authorization Rules" in the right pane
Click "Add Deny Rule"
In the pop up dialogue box, select "All anonymous users"
Click "OK"
Note that this action will add some entries into your web.config file

Enabling FTP over SSL in IIS7

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:22:18 GMT

With the new FTP server Microsoft has implemented "FTP over SSL" which will encrypt the session between an FTP program that supports FTP over SSL and the FTP server.

We have enabled this feature on the servers by default, so if your FTP program supports FTP over SSL, consult the program's help files for instructions on use or activation. We have created step-by-step instructions for some common FTP programs:

How to set up WS_FTP Professional to use FTP over SSL
How to set up SmartFTP to use FTP over SSL
How to set up FileZilla to use FTP over SSL
How to set up CuteFTP to use FTP over SSL

Microsoft Expression Web issues with IIS 7 FTP username

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:18:53 GMT

Update: Expression Web version 3 fixes the issue detailed in this Knowledge Base article.

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Microsoft Expression Web does not recognize the pipe in the IIS 7 FTP username as a valid character, so it is not currently possible to use Expression Web on an IIS 7 account.

If you are unfamiliar with the pipe character, it is what separates the numerals from the letters in your IIS 7 FTP username.
For example: 0099999|yourdomain0.

This is a known bug, and Microsoft has assured us that it will be addressed in the next major Expression Web release. We do not, however, know when that release will be made public.

List of supported and deprecated components in IIS 7

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:17:37 GMT

Note that Windows 2008 Server and IIS 7 are new products, so this component list is subject to change frequently as we continue our testing and component vendors release newer versions.

Supported components

AJAX 3.5
ASPEmail
ASPJPeg
ASPNETEmail
ASPNETMX
ASPNETPOP3
ASPTear
ASPUpload
CDO
JMail (free version)
OWC 11
/n software IP*Works! Internet Toolkit v8 .NET Edition
Report Viewer Control
Richer Components - RichTextBox 3.x, RichMessageBoard 3.x

Unsupported Features

.NET framework 1.1
FrontPage Server Extensions
AJAX 1.0
MySQL database
Access ODBC Tool
Livestats
Analog Web Statistic

Unsupported Components

/n software iBiz Integrator ASP.NET suite
/n software IP*Works! ASP.NET & ASP components v6
CyberSource (may be updated by CyberSource to ensure compatibility in the future)
Graphic Server .NET 3.5
Obout Treeview
Richer Components (RichSlider, RichHelpTip, RichDatePicker)
Verisign PayFlow Pro Component
WebSuperGoo ABCPDF.NET
WSE 2.0
WSE 3.0