Summary
Express Software Manager includes several web-based components to facilitate communication between Express Clients and the Express Database, and to deliver Express Reporting and Purchasing via a web browser. These components run under Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and utilize Microsoft's .NET Framework. This technical note provides information about resolving certain IIS configuration issues which may affect proper operation of these components including Express Access Point registration and Express Reporting.

Troubleshooting IIS Configuration Issues
Express Software Manager includes the following web-based components

• The Express Access Point is a web service that facilitates communication between Express Clients and the Express Database.
• Express Reports which consists of two components: a) the Express Reports Console, a web site that provides filtering and report selection; and b) the Express Reports Web Site which provides the actual reports.
• Express Purchasing, a website that provides Express Software Manager's purchasing functionality.

(The Reports Console and Reports Web Site are installed as a single feature on the same machine and will hereafter be referred to as the Reports Web Site unless individual distinction is necessary.)

The Express web components are built using Microsoft's .NET Framework and run on IIS version 6.0 or higher. (Note: for evaluation purposes, IIS 5.1 running on Windows XP may be used.) The current version of Express Software Manager uses .NET version 4.0; earlier versions of ESM use .NET 3.5 or earlier. The Express Software Manager Requirements Analyzer checks to make sure IIS and the correct version of .NET are installed, however there may still be issues with the IIS configuration that must be resolved. This technical note covers many of these configuration issues based on which operating system version is being used.

Note: This technical note is focused on IIS configuration for deployment of Express web components on Windows Server platforms. Installation on Windows 7/Windows Vista or XP will be similar to Windows 2008 Server and Windows 2003 Server respectively. Each Express Software Manager web component is created during installation as a "virtual directory" within IIS. A virtual directory is simply a mapping of a web-based name to a physical location where the actual web component is installed. Express web components are, by default, installed into an esmweb folder created in the root folder of the default web site. The individual virtual directories which make up the Express Software Manager web components are simply names which point to folders within the esmweb folder.

For example: ExpressSoftwareManagerAP, the virtual directory of the Access Point, is typically installed in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\esmweb\expresssoftwaremanagerap.

You can view the three virtual directories from within IIS Manager:

• From the Start menu, select Administrative Tools, then Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
• From within IIS Manager, open the tree nodes on the left until you see and open the Default Web Site node
• Under this node, you will see the three Express-specific virtual directories:
  • ExpressSoftwareManagerAP - the Express Access Point
  • ESMReportsConsole - the Express Reports Console
  • ESMReports - the Express Reports Web Site
  • ESMPurchasing - the Express Purchasing Web Site
• For any of these, you can view the physical location of the component by right-clicking the virtual directory and selecting Properties (Windows 2003) or Manage Application/Advanced Settings (Windows 2008)

You can determine whether or not the web components have registered and are operating properly in several ways:

• Express Today includes a list of registered Access Points and their status based on a periodic test of accessibility. If an Access Point is not registered, it will not show up in the list. If it is not accessible for some reason, a red X icon will be displayed next to it.
• Express Today also includes the URLs used to access Express Reports and Express Purchasing. If either URL is blank, that web component did not register properly.
• If you are not getting metering or inventory data from Express Clients, the Access Point may not be registered properly.
• If you are able to access the Reports Console but not view reports themselves (including the dashboard), there may be a configuration issue with the Reports Web Site.

ASP and ASP.NET support must be installed, registered, and enabled for Express web components to work properly. Depending on how .NET and IIS were installed, you may need to enable one or both of these. The process for doing so differs between Windows 2003 and Windows 2008

Verifying configuration on Windows 2003 Server/IIS 6

1. Open IIS Manager (Start/Administrative Tools/IIS Manager)
2. Open the top tree node and click on Web Service Extensions
3. In the right pane, make sure Active Server Pages and ASP.NET v2.0.50727 (32-bit) or ASP.NET v4.0.30319 are set to Allowed.
4. Exit IIS Manager

If you are running on Windows 2003 Server 64-bit, you need to make sure IIS is running in 32-bit compatibility mode and that 32-bit ASP.NET is registered properly. To do this:

• Open a DOS box
• Issue the following commands:
  cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1
  For Express Software Manager 9.6 and earlier:
  %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i
  For Express Software Manager 10.0 and later:
  %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

This will enable 32-bit .NET as required by Express Software Manager.

Note: This is a global setting on IIS6 and will affect all .NET-based applications on your server.

Verifying configuration on Windows 2008 Server/IIS7

1. From Start/Control Panel, select Programs and Features
2. Click Turn Windows features on or off
3. In the Windows Features dialog box, click Internet Information Services
4. Expand the Internet Information Services folder, and then expand the World Wide Web Services folder
5. Expand the Application Development Features folder, and make sure ASP and ASP.NET are both checked
6. Expand the Common HTTP Features folder and make sure Static Content is checked
7. Click OK and wait for the install to complete (if applicable)
8. Close the Control Panel
9. From Start/Administrative Tools, select IIS Manager
10. Open the top tree node and click on Application Pools
11. In the right pane, locate the three Express Software Manager application pools named ExpressAppPool, ExpressReportsAppPool, ExpressReportsConsoleAppPool, and ExpressPurchasingAppPool
12. For each application pool, verify the following settings:
    • Basic Settings/.NET Framework version (ESM 9.6 and earlier) - .NET Framework v2.0.50727
    • Basic Settings/.NET Framework version (ESM 10.0 and later) - .NET Framework v4.0.30319
    • Basic Settings/Managed pipeline mode - Integrated for ExpressAppPool and Classic for ExpressReportsAppPool, ExpressReportsConsoleAppPool, and ExpressPurchasingAppPool
    • Advanced Settings/Enable 32-bit Applications - True for ExpressReportsAppPool, False for ExpressAppPool, ExpressReportsConsoleAppPool, and ExpressPurchasingAppPool
13. Exit IIS Manager

The Access Point can be configured to use SSL communications which encrypts the data sent between it and the Express Client. If you want to use SSL, you will need to manually register the Express Access Point after it is installed. See "Registering the Express Access Point" below for more information.

For more information about using SSL in IIS, see Microsoft Knowledgebase Article 299875. The Express Access Point is a web service that must register itself with the Express Database. It is normally registered during installation but can be registered manually if automatic registration failed due to IIS configuration issues. If you run the Express Administrative Console, then run the Evaluation Wizard and it fails because there is no Access Point, you need to follow these instructions to register it. The Express Reports Console is a web site that is normally registered during installation. If automatic registration failed due to IIS configuration issues, it can be manually registered from within the Express Administrative Console:

• From Express Today, Web Component Locations, click Express Reports
• Enter the URL to the Express Reports Console - this is a URL to the ESMReportsConsole virtual directory on the machine on which the Express Reports Web Site was installed. For example, if the Reports Web Site was installed on machine named IISBOX22, the URL would be:
  http://IISBOX22/ESMReportsConsole/Default.aspx
  Note: This URL could start with https if you are using SSL. See the information on Access Point registration (referenced above) for more information on using SSL on your web site.

Express Purchasing is a web site that is normally registered during installation. If automatic registration failed due to IIS configuration issues, it can be manually registered from within the Express Administrative Console:

• From Express Today, Web Component Locations, click Express Purchasing
• Enter the URL to Express Purchasing - this is a URL to the ESMPurchasing virtual directory on the machine on which the Express Purchasing Web Site was installed. For example, if the Purchasing Web Site was installed on machine named IISBOX22, the URL would be:
  http://IISBOX22/ESMPurchasing/Default.aspx
  Note: This URL could start with https if you are using SSL. See the information on Access Point registration (referenced above) for more information on using SSL on your web site.

All web components include their own configuration files which contain, among other configuration settings, the credentials used to access the Express Database. These credentials are written into the files during installation; you should not normally have to change them unless the credentials to your Express Database have been changed. The information above describes verifying/updating database credentials for the Express Access Point. Please see technical note 2023 for information on locating and validating database credentials for other Express web components.