Using IIS on Windows XP or Windows 2003

Follow these steps to run the WhatsUp Gold web interface through an IIS (Internet Information Services) Web server on Windows XP or Windows 2003. This procedure assumes that you are using the default instance of SQL Server 2005 Express that is delivered with WhatsUp Gold and that WhatsUp Gold, SQL Server 2005 Express, and Internet Information Server are all installed on the same server.

Important: This procedure is for use with Windows XP and Windows 2003 only. For instructions on how to configure IIS as the web server for the WhatsUp Gold web interface on Windows Vista, see Using IIS on Windows Vista.

To use IIS as the web server for the WhatsUp Gold web interface on Windows XP or Windows 2003:

  1. Stop the following services and applications:

    Tip: You can use the WhatsUp Services Controller to manage services. For more information, see Using the WhatsUp Services Controller.

    • Ipswitch Alert Center
    • Ipswitch Discovery
    • Ipswitch Flow Collector
    • Ipswitch Web Server$WhatsUp (or IIS)
    • Ipswitch WhatsUp Engine
    • Ipswitch Service Control Manager
    • WhatsUp Gold Task Tray application (Task Tray icon located in the lower right section of the task bar)
    • WhatsUp Gold Desktop Action application (Action Alerts Task Tray icon located in the lower right section of the task bar)
    • Internet Information Services (which appears as the World Wide Web Publishing Service in the Services applet of the Control Panel)
  2. Specify a username and password for WhatsUp Gold to use when connecting to the database.
    1. From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources and select the System DSN tab.
      - OR -
      For 64-bit OSs start the Command Prompt (click Start > Run), enter c:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe, then select the System DSN tab in the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog.
    2. Select the WhatsUp DSN and click Configure. The Configuration wizard appears.
    3. Verify that the fields in the first dialog are correct for your SQL Server authentication preferences, then click Next.
    4. On the second dialog, verify that the With SQL Server authentication using login ID and password entered by the user option is selected. In the Login field, enter the SQL username. In the Password field, enter the SQL user's password. Click Next.

      Note: For the default instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installed with WhatsUp Gold, the default username is sa and the password is WhatsUp_Gold.

    5. On the third dialog, verify that Change the default database to is selected and that the WhatsUp database appears in the drop-down menu. Click Next.
    6. Continue to click Next until you come to the final dialog, then click Finish. The ODBC Microsoft SQL Server Setup dialog opens. You can click Test Data Source to test the configuration or click OK.
    7. Repeat steps b-f for the NetFlow DSN.
  3. Configure WhatsUp Gold and its plug-ins to use the updated username and password for the database.
    1. Open the WhatsUp Gold Database Configuration Utility from the Start menu at Start > Programs > Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold > Utilities > Database Configuration Utility.
    2. Select Use SQL Server Authentication.
    3. Enter the Username and Password that you entered in the DSN, then click Connect. The utility verifies the connection information. If the information is correct, the Update Registry dialog appears.

      Note: For the default instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installed with WhatsUp Gold, the default username is sa and the password is WhatsUp_Gold.

    4. Verify that Restart the WhatsUp service after the update is not selected.
    5. Click Save. The utility updates the database connection settings and restarts effected services. The Finished dialog appears.
    6. Click Finish. The Database Configuration Utility closes.
  4. Stop the Web site under which you want to run the WhatsUp Gold web interface.
    1. From the Windows Start menu, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services. The Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager appears.
    2. Right-click on the Web site under which you want to run the WhatsUp Gold web interface and select Stop.
  5. Create a virtual directory for the WhatsUp Gold web interface.
    1. Right-click on the Web site on which you want to run the WhatsUp Gold web interface and select New > Virtual Directory. The Virtual Directory Creation Wizard appears.
    2. Click Next. The Virtual Directory Alias dialog appears.
    3. In Alias, enter NmConsole. Click Next. The Web Site Content Directory dialog appears.
    4. In Path, enter or browse to select <WhatsUp Gold install path>\HTML\NmConsole\. Click Next. The Virtual Directory Access Permissions dialog appears.
    5. Enable Read and Run scripts (such as ASP), then click Next.
    6. Click Finish to close the wizard.
  6. Enable the parent paths feature for the NmConsole virtual directory.
    1. In the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click on the newly created NmConsole virtual directory and select Properties.
    2. Select the Virtual Directory tab, then click Configuration.
    3. On the Options tab, select Enable parent paths. Click OK.
    4. (Windows XP only) If you are using Windows XP, on the Virtual Directory tab, in the Application settings section of the Application Protection list, select Low (IIS Process). This setting is necessary to allow many of the newer WhatsUp Gold features to operate that use ActiveX controls.
  7. Configure authentication methods for the NmConsole virtual directory.
    1. In the NmConsole Properties dialog, select the Directory Security tab.
    2. Under Anonymous access and authentication control (in Windows XP) or Authentication and access control (in Windows 2003), click Edit. Verify that Enable anonymous access is enabled.
    3. By default, IIS uses a restricted account named IUSR_<machine_name> for anonymous access. Under Account used for anonymous access, change the user listed in the User name field to a local administrator.

      Note: In Windows XP, if you wish to use a domain user with local administrator rights, you must disable the Allow IIS to control password option and enter the password for the domain user.

    4. Click OK to close the Authentication Methods dialog, then OK to close the NmConsole Properties dialog.
  8. On Windows 2003 (IIS 6) only, you must enable and configure Active Server Pages and other options.
    1. In the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, select the Web Services Extensions folder. The Web Services Extensions pane appears.
    2. Select Active Server Pages, then click Allow.
    3. Enable ASP response buffering and increase the buffer limit as follows:
      • From the Windows desktop, select Start > Run. The Run dialog appears.
      • Enter cmd.exe, then click OK.
      • Enter the following commands:
        cd /d %systemdrive%\inetpub\adminscripts
        cscript.exe adsutil.vbs SET w3svc/AspBufferingLimit 8000000
        cscript.exe adsutil.vbs SET w3svc/AspMaxRequestEntityAllowed 8000000
        (Run the following command for Windows 2003 64-bit OS only):
        cscript.exe adsutil.vbs SET w3svc/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1
  9. Restart IIS. To do this, in the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click on the Web site on which you want to run the WhatsUp Gold web interface and select Start.
  10. Disable the Ipswitch web server. This can be done on the WhatsUp Gold console at Configure > Program Options > Web Server. After disabling the Ipswitch Web server, verify that reports still load correctly by right-clicking a device in the console and selecting Device Reports. If the reports do not load properly, verify that the Web server port in the Web report access from Windows console section of the contains the port number used by IIS.
  11. Restart the services and applications you stopped in Step 1. You can use the WhatsUp Services Controller to manage services. For more information, see Using the WhatsUp Services Controller.
  12. Connect to the WhatsUp web interface by opening a browser and entering the following address in the Address box:

    http://<ip_address - or - hostname>/NmConsole/

    Examples
    http://192.168.1.200/NmConsole/

    http://demo.whatsupgold.com/NmConsole/

Important: When adding a device through IIS, an issue with IIS may cause you to receive an error that says, "Error scanning device." For information on how to resolve this issue, see "Error scanning device XXXXX. Probable cause is it does not exist" when using IIS as the Web Server.