IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using a
domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse the
virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating that
authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password field
will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.

Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in an
NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.

Thanks,
Richard M.

Re: IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

Not me, have not seen one though.
Why don't you configure the 'connect as' user, close IIS MMC.
restart the IIS service, reopen IIS MMC and then check if the configuration
still there.


--
Regards,
Bernard Cheah
http://www.iis-resources.com/
http://www.iiswebcastseries.com/
http://msmvps.com/blogs/bernard/


"Richard Manion" wrote in message
news:EAA004CB-4034-4FF4-86C4-837D59A7B2C8@microsoft.com...
>I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using a
> domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse the
> virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
> Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
> Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating that
> authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password
> field
> will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.
>
> Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in an
> NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Richard M.

Re: IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2005/04/27/IIS_Conf iguration_Mysteriously_Disappear.aspx

Usually when IIS configuration disappears, it is because:
1. Configuration change was cached in memory, not yet persisted to disk, and
then someone triggers restart of IIS. Poof goes your changes.
2. Something else running on the server is "synchronizing" values
incorrectly.

IIS worker processes have no permission to change metabase values, WAS does
not open the metabase, so all IIS6 metabase changes come from some sort of
user-action.

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//

"Richard Manion" wrote in message
news:EAA004CB-4034-4FF4-86C4-837D59A7B2C8@microsoft.com...
>I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using a
> domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse the
> virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
> Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
> Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating that
> authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password
> field
> will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.
>
> Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in an
> NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Richard M.

Re: IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

Believe it or not, I had searched your blog before posting and I read a
couple of articles on Syncronization. I hit the 'save to disk' button and got
the 'no changes to save' response. I guess I will have to wait and see if it
drops the credentials again. The biggest problem with debugging this is that
we restart IIS a couple of times a week (in general) and the last time the
password persisted for about a month before dropping, which makes this very
hard to debug.

Thanks for the help, I'll be back if it still happens,
Richard

"David Wang [Msft]" wrote:

> http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2005/04/27/IIS_Conf iguration_Mysteriously_Disappear.aspx
>
> Usually when IIS configuration disappears, it is because:
> 1. Configuration change was cached in memory, not yet persisted to disk, and
> then someone triggers restart of IIS. Poof goes your changes.
> 2. Something else running on the server is "synchronizing" values
> incorrectly.
>
> IIS worker processes have no permission to change metabase values, WAS does
> not open the metabase, so all IIS6 metabase changes come from some sort of
> user-action.
>
> --
> //David
> IIS
> http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> //
>
> "Richard Manion" wrote in message
> news:EAA004CB-4034-4FF4-86C4-837D59A7B2C8@microsoft.com...
> >I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using a
> > domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse the
> > virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
> > Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
> > Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating that
> > authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password
> > field
> > will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.
> >
> > Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in an
> > NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Richard M.
>
>
>

Re: IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

IIS may be reset many times between when it drops the credentials. So when I
do that, the credentials seem to persist. Then, a while later, they will drop.

Thanks or the suggestion,
Richard

"Bernard Cheah [MVP]" wrote:

> Not me, have not seen one though.
> Why don't you configure the 'connect as' user, close IIS MMC.
> restart the IIS service, reopen IIS MMC and then check if the configuration
> still there.
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Bernard Cheah
> http://www.iis-resources.com/
> http://www.iiswebcastseries.com/
> http://msmvps.com/blogs/bernard/
>
>
> "Richard Manion" wrote in message
> news:EAA004CB-4034-4FF4-86C4-837D59A7B2C8@microsoft.com...
> >I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using a
> > domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse the
> > virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
> > Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
> > Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating that
> > authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password
> > field
> > will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.
> >
> > Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in an
> > NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Richard M.
>
>
>

Re: IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

This is IIS6 we are talking about. You shouldn't need to restart IIS a
couple times a week.

Most people don't restart IIS6 for months at a time. Recycling Application
Pool should be the most you need to do, if at all.

For example, changing HTTP.SYS settings sometimes require a restart of IIS
(because it requires restart of HTTP.SYS). But these tend to be global
changes and makes sense to restart.

Changing IIS settings are pretty much dynamic unless you are making global
changes. And if you are making global changes that frequently, I have to ask
"why".

Thus, I think you should start by not restarting IIS a couple of times a
week (in general) or at least identifying WHY you are restarting. No,
"habit" does not count.

http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2006/03/12/Thoughts _on_IIS_Configuration_Changes_and_when_it_takes_effect.aspx

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//

"Richard Manion" wrote in message
news:BB89D1FE-FCDD-4F04-888A-E010DE6E4D8B@microsoft.com...
> Believe it or not, I had searched your blog before posting and I read a
> couple of articles on Syncronization. I hit the 'save to disk' button and
> got
> the 'no changes to save' response. I guess I will have to wait and see if
> it
> drops the credentials again. The biggest problem with debugging this is
> that
> we restart IIS a couple of times a week (in general) and the last time the
> password persisted for about a month before dropping, which makes this
> very
> hard to debug.
>
> Thanks for the help, I'll be back if it still happens,
> Richard
>
> "David Wang [Msft]" wrote:
>
>> http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2005/04/27/IIS_Conf iguration_Mysteriously_Disappear.aspx
>>
>> Usually when IIS configuration disappears, it is because:
>> 1. Configuration change was cached in memory, not yet persisted to disk,
>> and
>> then someone triggers restart of IIS. Poof goes your changes.
>> 2. Something else running on the server is "synchronizing" values
>> incorrectly.
>>
>> IIS worker processes have no permission to change metabase values, WAS
>> does
>> not open the metabase, so all IIS6 metabase changes come from some sort
>> of
>> user-action.
>>
>> --
>> //David
>> IIS
>> http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>> //
>>
>> "Richard Manion" wrote in
>> message
>> news:EAA004CB-4034-4FF4-86C4-837D59A7B2C8@microsoft.com...
>> >I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using
>> >a
>> > domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse
>> > the
>> > virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
>> > Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
>> > Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating
>> > that
>> > authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password
>> > field
>> > will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.
>> >
>> > Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in
>> > an
>> > NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Richard M.
>>
>>
>>

Re: IIS6 "forgets" "Connect As" password for Virtual Directory

So, it's been over a month, and this morning, 1 of the 6 nodes in our cluster
has 'forgotten' the "connect as" password. I now can also note that it forgot
the password to two different resources, pointing at different servers.

As to our repetitive reseting of IIS. We restart IIS when we make changes
to the DLLs in our COM+/VB6 driven service tier. I expect that reseting the
application pools would be sufficient for ensuring that IIS immediatly began
using the new code, but it would be much more time consuming than reseting
IIS. So, my question is, does resetting IIS risk some damage that we should
be avoiding? If it is merely not necessary, but not harmful, reseting IIS is
faster (since we have multiple application pools) and doesn't require me to
change a process that has been in place for years. (An IIS reset was required
in IIS 5.) Also, since the node will be stopped, resetting IIS has no
consequence
the end user.

By the way, I know you hear it all the time, but I find your blog an
invaluable
resources for my day to day IIS management.

Thanks,
Richard



"David Wang [Msft]" wrote:

> This is IIS6 we are talking about. You shouldn't need to restart IIS a
> couple times a week.
>
> Most people don't restart IIS6 for months at a time. Recycling Application
> Pool should be the most you need to do, if at all.
>
> For example, changing HTTP.SYS settings sometimes require a restart of IIS
> (because it requires restart of HTTP.SYS). But these tend to be global
> changes and makes sense to restart.
>
> Changing IIS settings are pretty much dynamic unless you are making global
> changes. And if you are making global changes that frequently, I have to ask
> "why".
>
> Thus, I think you should start by not restarting IIS a couple of times a
> week (in general) or at least identifying WHY you are restarting. No,
> "habit" does not count.
>
> http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2006/03/12/Thoughts _on_IIS_Configuration_Changes_and_when_it_takes_effect.aspx
>
> --
> //David
> IIS
> http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> //
>
> "Richard Manion" wrote in message
> news:BB89D1FE-FCDD-4F04-888A-E010DE6E4D8B@microsoft.com...
> > Believe it or not, I had searched your blog before posting and I read a
> > couple of articles on Syncronization. I hit the 'save to disk' button and
> > got
> > the 'no changes to save' response. I guess I will have to wait and see if
> > it
> > drops the credentials again. The biggest problem with debugging this is
> > that
> > we restart IIS a couple of times a week (in general) and the last time the
> > password persisted for about a month before dropping, which makes this
> > very
> > hard to debug.
> >
> > Thanks for the help, I'll be back if it still happens,
> > Richard
> >
> > "David Wang [Msft]" wrote:
> >
> >> http://blogs.msdn.com/david.wang/archive/2005/04/27/IIS_Conf iguration_Mysteriously_Disappear.aspx
> >>
> >> Usually when IIS configuration disappears, it is because:
> >> 1. Configuration change was cached in memory, not yet persisted to disk,
> >> and
> >> then someone triggers restart of IIS. Poof goes your changes.
> >> 2. Something else running on the server is "synchronizing" values
> >> incorrectly.
> >>
> >> IIS worker processes have no permission to change metabase values, WAS
> >> does
> >> not open the metabase, so all IIS6 metabase changes come from some sort
> >> of
> >> user-action.
> >>
> >> --
> >> //David
> >> IIS
> >> http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
> >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> >> rights.
> >> //
> >>
> >> "Richard Manion" wrote in
> >> message
> >> news:EAA004CB-4034-4FF4-86C4-837D59A7B2C8@microsoft.com...
> >> >I have a website that contains a virtual directory mapped to a UNC using
> >> >a
> >> > domain account under "Connect As." Users are normally able to browse
> >> > the
> >> > virtual directory without incident. The site exist on an NLB cluster.
> >> > Occasionally, one or two of the servers will forget the "Connect As"
> >> > Password. The server will respond with a Server 500 error indicating
> >> > that
> >> > authentication failed. When I look at the "Connect As" box the password
> >> > field
> >> > will be blank, i.e. no ****** as is the normal condition.
> >> >
> >> > Has anyone else seen this? Is anyone able to use a virtual directory in
> >> > an
> >> > NLB cluster without this problem? Any help would be appriciated.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > Richard M.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>