December 2004 - Posts
With IIS 6.0 FTP, there's 3 ftp user isolation modes:
a) Do not isolate users
b) Isolate users
c) Isolate users using Active Directory
I wrote a KB about the first two :) last one is quite tricky as it require you to extend the AD schema if you are using W2K DC. Here's a decent guide from Microsoft. Take note at step 6, you are require to enter a user credentail with minimal domain access to AD. Now, you will get "home directory not accessable" if you change the account password after you have created the ftp site. So how do you fix this ? instead of re-creating the site, you can reset the password via adsutil.vbs or metabase explorer. Go to command prompt and enter:
C:\Inetpub\AdminScripts>adsutil.vbs set msftpsvc/XX/adconnectionspassword
where XX is the FTP site id. The metabase key is ADConnectionsPassword, if you would like to change the AD connection username, configure the ADConnectionsUserName metabase key. You will see this two keys if UserIsolationMode is set to 2 (AD isolation mode).
Lastly, today's is Christmas eve :) I'll be off till next year :) wish you merry x'mas and a happy new year.
It's out ! the released candidate version of W2k3 SP1. After many rounds of beta evaluation, Microsoft released RC1 today, click here to download directly, filesize: 316343kb. After installation, when you enter 'winver' in Run window, you should get this: Version 5.2 (Build 3790.srv03_sp1_rc1.041202-1618: Serivice Pack 1, v.1
Among the top 10 reasons to install it. IIS got a spot at number 7.
Monitor and audit your Internet Information Services (IIS) configuration settings.
The metabase is the XML-based, hierarchical store of configuration information for Internet Information Services 6.0. The ability to audit this store allows network administrators to see which user accessed the metabase in case it becomes corrupted.
Here's the list of fixes, I don't think it's complete, as there aren't many fixes related to IIS which does not included in the list. For example, this KB
837422 You receive a "Stop 0x7E" message while running Windows Server 2003 and downloading a large file from a Web site
Note: the kb wrote '..you wait for the next Windows 2000 service pack ...' where it should be
'..you wait for the next Windows 2003 service pack...'
Tired of using IIS MMC ? Like to administrate IIS programmatically ? Try the new Script Repository for IIS 6.0
Most of the sample scripts are using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), however this WMI provider is consider a high level APIs and consider as a new administrative features in IIS 6.0. I still prefer Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) provider as it's more effiecient and faster than WMI.
821426 FIX: The Inetinfo.exe process may experience an unhandled exception when it uses the Internet Printing Internet Server API (ISAPI) in heavy load
885654 A user receives a "Service Unavailable" error message when the user browses your Web site that is hosted on IIS 6.0
885655 IIS Manager does not start and you receive an error message when you use IIS and Windows Server 2003
813843 You cannot open any folders under a WebDAV virtual directory that is configured to point to a root drive in IIS 5.0
886715 You receive an "Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion" error message when a service that uses the Local System account tries to start on a Windows Server 2003-based computer
872953 FIX: When the AddHeader function or the SetHeader function is called, HTTP headers are set incorrectly in IIS 6.0
824446 A Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program may not work correctly if a multi-byte character set string is entered in the HTTP Cookie Header field
834027 PRB: Disconnected TCP session after chunked transfer response in IIS 6.0
Well, it's not so much about tommorrow ! but its 'final destination' :) NT 4.0 was released in 1996 while W2k in year 2000. The official end of support life for Windows NT 4.0 is 31st Dec 2004. There won't be any FREE support after that, you need to pay ! this is a new 2 years custom support agreement for NT 4.0 customers. On the other hand, there will not be SP5 for W2k, instead W2k customers will get a rollup update. Hmm... consider the end of support life for W2k is around 2010, we have 5 more years to go..... how many rollup update(s) we will get ?
Anyway, you should be at least running on W2k or W2k3 :) or best OSS based? Now, here's few links about Microsoft product life cycle and it's support policy.
1. Locate Your Product (either by product family or name)
2. Product Lifecycle Dates - Windows Product Family
3. Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ
Using Custom Error Messages in IIS (Level 200)
IIS Custom Error Messages help administrators make the user experience much friendlier when errors occur. Learn which error messages use Custom Errors and how to configure them to use either a file or URL.
Evil Server Error: Diagnosing HTTP 500 Errors (Level 300)
Find out how to troubleshoot the 500-level error messages, which indicate that the server can't process the request, and the server itself is to blame. If you see these messages in your IIS log files, don't miss this webcast.
I'm sure you have heard about WUS is currently beta evaluation stage. Just came across about this fabulous wiki about WUS, pretty nice info site to learn about WUS.
WUS - Windows Update Services
Good name ? From SUS to WUS :) There's also AU, WU, etc. Sometimes make me wonder how internally Microsoft people can remember all these names....
Want to know how IIS compression works ? Are you lazy to RTFM and prefer video presentation ? Here's one cool presentation by Microsoft. Won't it be nice that all Microsoft product manual or help documentation are being made this way. You know - F1 and then play the video ? rather than click on the help index, expand and expand and expand............ until you sleepy :)
Anyway, I actually 'steal' this info from Port80software site, folks there started a company blog early this month. This is the company that published the IIS Owns the Fortune 1000 Web Server Market report, The index now is 54% as of Nov 2004. Of coz, few will always question about the 'reliablity' of the report, but for me - this is just FYI, it can be marketing research material but should not be part of your project proposal :)