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:
   • Ipswitch WhatsUp Engine service
   • Ipswitch Web service
   • Task Tray application
   • WhatsUp Gold console
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.
   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.
   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. Browse to the WhatsUp Gold install directory and run NmConfig.exe.
   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.
   4. Verify that Restart the WhatsUp service after the update is selected.

      Note: NmConfig.exe can only restart services that are already running when the utility is launched. If the services are not started when NmConfig.exe is run, you must manually start them after NmConfig.exe closes.

   5. Click Save. The utility updates the database connection settings and restarts effected services. The Finished dialog appears.
   6. Click Finish. The NmConfig.exe utility closes.

      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. 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.
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.

      - or -

      Specify permissions for the IUSR_<machine_name> on the Windows Registry and the appropriate folders.

      • In the Windows Registry, grant IUSR_<machine_name> user the Full Control permission to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Ipswitch\WebServer\WhatsUp key.
      • In Windows Explorer, grant IUSR_<machine_name> user the Full Control permission to the <WhatsUp Gold install path> folder.
      • In Windows Explorer, grant IUSR_<machine_name> user the Full Control permission to the <WhatsUp Gold install path>\HTML\ folder and all of the files and folders located beneath it.
      • In Windows Explorer, grant IUSR_<machine_name> user the Full Control permission to the <WhatsUp Gold install path>\Data\Mibs folder.

        Note: If you specify a user that does not have administrative privileges, the web interface cannot interact with Windows services. This means that you cannot view the status of services or start, stop, or restart services from the web interface. In this case, you must log in to Windows to manage services through the Control Panel.

   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.
   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
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.
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.