IIS Problems! Problems! oh, the PROBLEMS!

[sail3005]

I have IIS istalled on Win2k pro. Some program that i am installing must be screwing with IIS, and i cannot tell what it is. Everytime i install it, it screws up IIS, and it will not work any more. I then have to format. Is there a way that i can back up IIS, so that i can later return to a previous state, so that it will undo whatever the program has done? Reinstalling IIS does not work.

thanks

[monte96]

If you have to format, reinstall and get everything working correctly THEN do a complete backup. Put it on CDs or something (Don't have a burner? Shame on you!). That way when something hoses it, you can just restore the backup.

It's also a good idea to maintain a separate partition for your data or anything else you save. That way it doesn't need to be backed up or restored, just the applications that use the data.

[JoshT]

You can back up the IIS metabase by opening Internet Service Manager, righting clicking your server, and picking backup. You're actual files would be more important to backup, though.

[sail3005]

But will those methods just back up the files, or the server itself? I have lots of backups of the pages that i am running, that is not the problem.

Here is the problem in detail:

IIS just stops working. Normally to access my website, i just type in http://localhost/ in the browser window. It normally does work OK, but now, it just won't do anything. Just hangs, trying to load the page.

These are the things that i have tried to fix it and have failed:
1) Restart Computer
2) Restart IIS
3) Uninstall, and Reinstall

This has worked:
Format, reinstal windows

Does anyone have any idea of what could be wrong?

And, do any of you have always on connections, such as cable modem? If so, what do you use for security? I cannot find a good firewall, that works good on IIS, and win2k. Zone alarm stopped IIS from working before, but, i don't even have it installed now...What firewall do you guys use? Or is their another methd of making sure that i can't be hacked?

[matthewfoster]

Yeah I've got a cable modem - and ZoneAlarm - and Win2kPro an IIS and it works - you have to set in the advanced menu for it to allow your IP (use 127.0.0.1 or your machine name) and port 80, then it'll work!

Matt

[sail3005]

Cool, thanks. Now, is that zone alarm pro, or just the regular, or both?

[matthewfoster]

I just have the regular

Matt

[JoshT]

I use a NetGear cable/dsl router/switch at home, and a LinkSys cable/dsl router/switch at work. I like the LinkSys router better -- easier to configure, stealths all ports. I like the hardware firewalls, as they're only US $100 - $150, and they allow me to use multiple computers behind them, and no software to install or run.

[sail3005]

Is this the kind of thing that i would need? I found it on amazon.com...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...603161-0457568

Also, what exactly does a hardware firewall do? And, how is it different from a software firewall? (i know, one is hardware, and one is software) but what exactly are the differences in protection? Thanks a lot!

[sail3005]

BTW, i am using a cable modem, that is plugged into an ethernet card.

[JoshT]

sail3005, that Linksys looks good. Pretty much you'd plug the cable modem into the router, then plug the router into your ethernet card. You might want to consider buying one with a built in switch - they cost a little more, but you could easier plug more than one computer into it down the road.

A hardware firewall usings hardware to provide the firewalling, which means 0% usage of your computer's CPU/resources to run a software firewall. Plus it adds a layer between your computer and the internet - the ip address of the firewall is seen, not the ip address of your computer.

This site has some pretty good info:
http://www.robertgraham.com/

Try this one too:
http://grc.com/

[sail3005]

Thanks for the websites and all of the help. I guess i will try to save up and buy one of those LinkSys routers. That sounds like the best way to go!

[sail3005]

OK, i know that this is an old thread, but i just thought that i would add this there to help anyone in the future that had the same problems that i had. I just figured this out. It seems that zone alarm does not like IIS when the front page server extensions are installed. I originally had them installed, and it did not work, but then i uninstalled them and everything worked fine!

Also uninstall the Visual Interdev RAD Remote deployment support. As soon as i got rid of those IIS components, everything worked fine! Don't ask why...it just works!

[JoshT]

Yeah, those are useless security holes anyway...