New to IIS

I just installed IIS (Ver. 5.1) on my computer (Windows XP MCE2004) to
experiment with using it as a web server and I am confused about a few
things.
1) Why am I prompted to enter a username/password now when I go to certain
websites if I have the anonymous access box un-checked in directory
security?
2) How do I publish a page so that it can be accessed from beyond my
network? I am unclear what url would need to be typed for someone else to
access the page that I create.
3) I have my own domain name already. Can I host my site on this computer
using that domain name?

I know that these questions are really broad and I apologise if my level of
knowledge is far below the standards for this group. I have looked at the
help files for IIS and they are not very helpful at all. If anyone can point
me in the direction of a good online resource for setting up and maintaining
a file server using IIS I would be eternally grateful.

If someone can provide me with the help I am seeking I promise I wont ask
for any help using the SMTP features.......OK, I lied. I might ask about
that too. :-)
Thank you for your consideration,
--
Mark N.

Re: New to IIS

>1) Why am I prompted to enter a username/password now when I go to certain
>websites if I have the anonymous access box un-checked in directory
>security?

Because you have disabled anonymous access. That's what "[dis]allow
anonymous" means. :)

>2) How do I publish a page so that it can be accessed from beyond my
>network? I am unclear what url would need to be typed for someone else to
>access the page that I create.

Please see the following URLs, as posted by Jeff Cochran is response
to the recent thread "IIS Website quick question."

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/
http://www.homenethelp.com/

>3) I have my own domain name already. Can I host my site on this computer
>using that domain name?

Yes, of course, if your ISP allows inbound access on port 80, the
well-known port for HTTP (web) traffic.

>I have looked at the help files for IIS and they are not very helpful at all.

That's prob'ly 'cuz you need to start out with at least basic TCP/IP
and DNS stuff before trying to put up a webserver.

>If anyone can point me in the direction of a good online resource for setting up and maintaining
>a file server using IIS I would be eternally grateful.

Google: "how to set up iis"

>Someone can provide me with the help I am seeking I promise I wont ask
>for any help using the SMTP features.......OK, I lied. I might ask about
>that too. :-)

Please, please do some deep reading on TCP/IP and DNS before branching
out into SMTP and HTTP. It can only help you run a secure and stable
website. It's not a waste of time.

--Sandy

Re: New to IIS

1) You say "websites" and since you cannot have more than one website on
IIS 5.1, i assume you mean that you get these prompts when visiting
websites hosted on other machines. If my assumption is correct, then there
is nothing you can do in IIS to solve this. IIS is not in any way involved
when you browse _remote_ websites. Your web browser is not aware of that
you have web server software installed.

So the settings you have set in IIS is not relevant to the issue.

2)
- Open port 80 in firewall (forward port 80 to the internal machine if you
have a router that does NAT, which is common consumer products)
- Access the website using the public IP (from outside your network), for
example:

http://123.123.123.123

Where you replace 123.123.123.123 with your external IP.

If your ISP blocks port 80, you will not have any luck hosting a website.

3)
Probably. It depends on if you control the name server so you can point
the domain name to your machine. You should also be aware of the
limitations of using a client OS such as Windows XP as webserver. I would
recommend a server OS.


You may also find it interesting to read this article:

"Article: Make your website public"
http://www.gafvert.info/notes/public_website.htm

Although it says IIS 6.0, all the information applies to web servers in
general.


Good Luck!


--
Regards,
Kristofer Gafvert
http://www.gafvert.info/iis/ - IIS Related Info


M8RIX wrote:

>I just installed IIS (Ver. 5.1) on my computer (Windows XP MCE2004) to
>experiment with using it as a web server and I am confused about a few
>things.
>1) Why am I prompted to enter a username/password now when I go to certain
>websites if I have the anonymous access box un-checked in directory
>security?
>2) How do I publish a page so that it can be accessed from beyond my
>network? I am unclear what url would need to be typed for someone else to
>access the page that I create.
>3) I have my own domain name already. Can I host my site on this computer
>using that domain name?
>
>I know that these questions are really broad and I apologise if my level
>of knowledge is far below the standards for this group. I have looked at
>the help files for IIS and they are not very helpful at all. If anyone can
>point me in the direction of a good online resource for setting up and
>maintaining a file server using IIS I would be eternally grateful.
>
>If someone can provide me with the help I am seeking I promise I wont ask
>for any help using the SMTP features.......OK, I lied. I might ask about
>that too. :-)
>Thank you for your consideration,

Re: New to IIS

"Kristofer Gafvert" wrote in message
news:xn0eijmsg3ug1jq00h@news.microsoft.com...
> 1) You say "websites" and since you cannot have more than one website on
> IIS 5.1, i assume you mean that you get these prompts when visiting
> websites hosted on other machines. If my assumption is correct, then there
> is nothing you can do in IIS to solve this. IIS is not in any way involved
> when you browse _remote_ websites. Your web browser is not aware of that
> you have web server software installed.
>
> So the settings you have set in IIS is not relevant to the issue.

Kristopher,
Thank you for taking the time to help me here with my requests.

Your assumptions are correct, however your reply is not. It does indeed have
to do with IIS. If I have the anonymous access box un-checked, some websites
that I browse to using IE6 will pop up a box asking for a username and
password. It appears that the password request is for content outside of the
main domain of the site I am going to, such as an ad server related to the
site itself. Could it be related to my HOSTS file? If the browser encounters
a URL that is re-directed to localhost by means of the HOSTS file, rather
than blocking the site silently as it did in the past , now it is asking for
the user/pass to access the content?
I have checked and re-checked and I am positive that the behavior is
triggered soley by anonymous access check box. No other settings have been
changed, either in IIS or my browser.

Again, thanks for your help and the useful link.
--
Mark N.

Re: New to IIS

FYI
Upon further reveiw, this issue was related to the entries in the HOSTS
file.
I am using the hosts file included with Spybot S&D. If I deleted all of the
entries in the file except for "localhost 127.0.0.1" the sypmtoms of my
problem disappeared regardless of the status of the anonymous access setting
in IIS. Sorry for wasting your time.

--
Mark N.
"M8RIX" wrote in message
news:ujDPzIyMGHA.2828@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>
> "Kristofer Gafvert" wrote in message
> news:xn0eijmsg3ug1jq00h@news.microsoft.com...
>> 1) You say "websites" and since you cannot have more than one website on
>> IIS 5.1, i assume you mean that you get these prompts when visiting
>> websites hosted on other machines. If my assumption is correct, then
>> there is nothing you can do in IIS to solve this. IIS is not in any way
>> involved when you browse _remote_ websites. Your web browser is not aware
>> of that you have web server software installed.
>>
>> So the settings you have set in IIS is not relevant to the issue.
>
> Kristopher,
> Thank you for taking the time to help me here with my requests.
>
> Your assumptions are correct, however your reply is not. It does indeed
> have to do with IIS. If I have the anonymous access box un-checked, some
> websites that I browse to using IE6 will pop up a box asking for a
> username and password. It appears that the password request is for content
> outside of the main domain of the site I am going to, such as an ad server
> related to the site itself. Could it be related to my HOSTS file? If the
> browser encounters a URL that is re-directed to localhost by means of the
> HOSTS file, rather than blocking the site silently as it did in the past ,
> now it is asking for the user/pass to access the content?
> I have checked and re-checked and I am positive that the behavior is
> triggered soley by anonymous access check box. No other settings have been
> changed, either in IIS or my browser.
>
> Again, thanks for your help and the useful link.
> --
> Mark N.
>

Re: New to IIS

IIS is not involved when browsing _remote_ websites. If a website
incorrectly instructs your browser that files are to be found on
localhost, and the browser asks localhost (and IIS is listening and
answering on this request) the communication is between your browser and
your IIS, and not a remote server. If you deny anonymous access, you will
be prompted to log on.

The problem is however not IIS. IIS correctly asks you to log on, because
you have configured IIS to do so. After all, your browser asks your IIS
for a file. What is it supposed to do? Obey your settings or make up its
own?

The problem is that other websites incorrectly says that resources are to
be found on localhost (which obviously is wrong) . You cannot change this
unless you have control of the other website, because it is written in
their HTML code. You cannot solve the actual problem by changing anything
in IIS. You can just hide the sympthom (by not requiring you to log on to
your server).

So i stand for everything i said in my previous message. The problem is
not related to IIS, and cannot be solved by changing anything in IIS. You
may however get rid of the sympthom by changing something, but the problem
will persist.


--
Regards,
Kristofer Gafvert
http://www.gafvert.info/iis/ - IIS Related Info


M8RIX wrote:

>
>"Kristofer Gafvert" wrote in message
>news:xn0eijmsg3ug1jq00h@news.microsoft.com...
>>1) You say "websites" and since you cannot have more than one website on
>>IIS 5.1, i assume you mean that you get these prompts when visiting
>>websites hosted on other machines. If my assumption is correct, then there
>> is nothing you can do in IIS to solve this. IIS is not in any way involved when you browse remote websites. Your web browser is not aware of that you have web server software installed.
>>
>>So the settings you have set in IIS is not relevant to the issue.
>
>Kristopher,
>Thank you for taking the time to help me here with my requests.
>
>Your assumptions are correct, however your reply is not. It does indeed
>have to do with IIS. If I have the anonymous access box un-checked, some
>websites that I browse to using IE6 will pop up a box asking for a
>username and password. It appears that the password request is for content
>outside of the main domain of the site I am going to, such as an ad server
>related to the site itself. Could it be related to my HOSTS file? If the
>browser encounters a URL that is re-directed to localhost by means of the
>HOSTS file, rather than blocking the site silently as it did in the past ,
>now it is asking for the user/pass to access the content?
>I have checked and re-checked and I am positive that the behavior is
>triggered soley by anonymous access check box. No other settings have been
>changed, either in IIS or my browser.
>
>Again, thanks for your help and the useful link.