FP: FrontPage Disables Encoding Against Netscape Servers

• Microsoft FrontPage 98 for Windows
• Microsoft FrontPage 97 for Windows with Bonus Pack
• Microsoft FrontPage for Windows, version 1.1

SYMPTOMS

When you run FrontPage Server Extensions on a Netscape Server, if you were to monitor the network traffic between FrontPage and the server you would notice that the communication is not encoded. Encoding can safely be restored to communication between the FrontPage client and the Netscape server when the server is running on a UNIX platform.

RESOLUTION

To restore encoding between the FrontPage client and the FrontPage Server Extensions for Netscape servers on a UNIX platform, add the following section to the Frontpg.ini file (located in the Windows or Windows NT directory):

   [Web Extender Client]
   Encrypt=true

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft FrontPage 97 for Windows with Bonus Pack. FrontPage 97 communicates with Netscape Commerce or Netscape Enterprise servers by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. This solution offers maximum security. Without SSL, FrontPage 97 exhibits these same symptoms.

MORE INFORMATION

The Encrypt=true value in the Frontpg.ini re-enables the default encoding of messages between the FrontPage client and the Web server. Although users of the FrontPage Extensions on a Netscape server on a UNIX platform will not notice any errors without this modification, adding this modification to their Frontpg.ini file will increase the security of their transactions with the server. FrontPage detects Netscape servers automatically by looking at the HTTP headers returned by the server.

The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.