FP1: Runtime WebBot Fails on IIS w/Multiple Home Directories

ID: Q155281

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft FrontPage for Windows 1.1

SYMPTOMS

If you are running Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) with more than one home directory, and at least one home directory is defined as a virtual server, the run-time WebBot components may not function.

NOTE: This problem only affects Internet Information Server, version 2.0.

CAUSE

A Web server passes identification information about the server in a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) parameter called Server_Name. While IIS 1.0 passes the Internet Protocol (IP) address in this parameter, IIS 2.0 passes the server name.

When the FrontPage Server Extensions for IIS are installed, FrontPage needs to know the IP address specified in the World Wide Web service properties (that is how the registry keys are stored). From this information, the [Port <ip address>:<port>] section is created in the Frontpg.ini file. When IIS 2.0 passes a server name other than the IP address, FrontPage looks for the [Port <name>:<port>] section in the Frontpg.ini. If it does not find it, FrontPage looks for just the port. If FrontPage does not find that either, FrontPage puts an error log in the event viewer and fails.

Note that if FrontPage does find the [Port 80] section it may not be the section it should find because the non-virtual server on port 80 could (and should) have a different document root than the virtual server that initiated the WebBot run-time activity.

WORKAROUND

Method 1. Use the IP address instead of the host name

To work around this problem, browse pages that contain run-time WebBot components using the server IP address rather than the host name. You can achieve this by ensuring that no run-time WebBot components occur on your home page (Default.htm) and that all links to pages that contain run-time WebBot components in your Web are created as World Wide Web links to the IP address instead of as relative links to the destination pages.

Example:

In the root web, suppose you have a page named Feedback.htm that contains a WebBot Save Results component. If you create a relative link to that page, and you use the host name to browse the Web, the Save Results component will return an error message. However, if you create the link as an absolute URL using the IP address (for example, http://127.0.0.1/feedback.htm), the form may work.

To achieve this result on all links from a page, you can enter the server's IP address into the Base Location field of the Page Properties. In the example above, all links on the page could be affected by typing the following in the Base Location box in the Page Properties dialog box (File menu) in FrontPage Editor:

http://127.0.0.1

This would change a link on that page defined as feedback.htm to be evaluated by the server as

http://127.0.0.1/feedback.htm

This workaround has proven effective for the following WebBot components running on a TCP/IP configuration that uses WINS resolution:


   Confirmation Field
   Discussion
   Save Results
   Search

To see if this workaround will succeed on your server, alter one of the links to a fully qualified link to an IP address and test the functionality of run-time WebBot components on that link.

Method 2. Install the FrontPage 97 Server Extensions

Install the FrontPage 97 Server Extensions on the web server. You can obtain the FrontPage 97 Server Extensions at the following Microsoft World Wide Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/wpp/exts.htm

NOTE: Because the Microsoft Web site is constantly updated, the site address may change without notice. If this occurs, link to the Microsoft home page at the following address:

http://www.microsoft.com

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft FrontPage 97 for Windows with Bonus Pack.

This is fixed in FP 97 because the WebBot components call LOCAL_ADDR instead of SERVER_NAME. LOCAL_ADDR returns the IP address, leaving our registry and ini entries serviceable.

MORE INFORMATION

The WebBot run-time components are: Confirmation Field, Discussion, Registration, Save Results, and Search.

Additional query words: 1.10 Internet Information Server fp multi-home multi-host


Keywords          : kbdta fpiis 
Version           : windows:1.1
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: July 22, 1999