5 Installing and Configuring the Microsoft IIS Plug-In

The following sections describe how to install and configure the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In:

Installing and Configuring the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In

To install the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In:

  1. Download the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In, as described in Downloading the Version 1.1 Plug-Ins.

  2. Copy the iisproxy.dll file into a convenient directory that is accessible to IIS). This directory must also contain the iisproxy.ini file that you will create in step 6.

  3. Set the user permissions for the iisproxy.dll file to include the name of the user who will be running IIS. One way to do this is by right clicking on the iisproxy.dll file and selecting Permissions, then adding the username of the person who will be running IIS.

  4. If you want to configure proxying by file extension (MIME type) complete this step. (You can configure proxying by path in addition to or instead of configuring by MIME type. See step 5. )

    1. Start the Internet Information Service Manager by selecting it from the Start menu.

    2. In the left panel of the Service Manager, select your Web site (the default is “Default Web Site”).

      Figure 5-1 Selecting Web Site in Service Manager

      Description of Figure 5-1 follows
      Description of "Figure 5-1 Selecting Web Site in Service Manager"

    3. Click the “Play” arrow in the toolbar to start.

    4. Open the properties for the selected Web site by right-clicking the Web site selection in the left panel and selecting Properties.

      Figure 5-2 Selecting Properties for Selected Web Site

      Description of Figure 5-2 follows
      Description of "Figure 5-2 Selecting Properties for Selected Web Site"

    5. In the Properties panel, select the Home Directory tab, and click the Configuration button in the Applications Settings section.

      Figure 5-3 Home Directory Tab of the Properties Panel

      Description of Figure 5-3 follows
      Description of "Figure 5-3 Home Directory Tab of the Properties Panel"

    6. On the Mappings tab, click the Add button to add file types and configure them to be proxied to WebLogic Server.

      Figure 5-4 Click the Add Button to Add File Types

      Description of Figure 5-4 follows
      Description of "Figure 5-4 Click the Add Button to Add File Types"

    7. In the Add dialog box, browse to find the iisproxy.dll file.

    8. Set the Extension to the type of file that you want to proxy to WebLogic Server.

    9. If you are configuring for IIS 6.0 or later, be sure to deselect the “Check that file exists” check box. The behavior of this check has changed from earlier versions of IIS: it used to check that the iisproxy.dll file exists; now it checks that files requested from the proxy exist in the root directory of the Web server. If the check does not find the files there, the iisproxy.dll file will not be allowed to proxy requests to the WebLogic Server.

    10. In the Directory Security tab, set the Method exclusions as needed to create a secure installation.

    11. When you finish, click the OK button to save the configuration. Repeat this process for each file type you want to proxy to WebLogic.

    12. When you finish configuring file types, click the OK button to close the Properties panel.

      Note:

      In the URL, any path information you add after the server and port is passed directly to WebLogic Server. For example, if you request a file from IIS with the URL:

      http://myiis.com/jspfiles/myfile.jsp

      it is proxied to WebLogic Server with a URL such as http://mywebLogic:7001/jspfiles/myfile.jsp

      Note:

      To avoid out-of-process errors, do not deselect the "Cache ISAPI Applications" check box.

  5. If you want to configure proxying by path, see Using Wildcard Application Mappings to Proxy by Path.

  6. In WebLogic Server, create the iisproxy.ini file.

    The iisproxy.ini file contains name=value pairs that define configuration parameters for the plug-in. The parameters are listed in General Parameters for Web Server Plug-Ins.

    Use the example iisproxy.ini file in Sample iisproxy.ini File as a template for your iisproxy.ini file.

    Note:

    Changes in the parameters will not go into effect until you restart the “IIS Admin Service” (under services, in the control panel).

    Oracle recommends that you locate the iisproxy.ini file in the same directory that contains the iisproxy.dll file. You can also use other locations. If you place the file elsewhere, note that WebLogic Server searches for iisproxy.ini in the following directories, in the following order:

    1. In the same directory where iisproxy.dll is located.

    2. In the home directory of the most recent version of WebLogic Server that is referenced in the Windows Registry. (If WebLogic Server does not find the iisproxy.ini file in the home directory, it continues looking in the Windows Registry for older versions of WebLogic Server and looks for the iisproxy.ini file in the home directories of those installations.)

    3. In the directory c:\weblogic, if it exists.

  7. Define the WebLogic Server host and port number to which the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In proxies requests. Depending on your configuration, there are two ways to define the host and port:

    • If you are proxying requests to a single WebLogic Server, define the WebLogicHost and WebLogicPort parameters in the iisproxy.ini file. For example:

      WebLogicHost=localhost
WebLogicPort=7001

    • If you are proxying requests to a cluster of WebLogic Servers, define the WebLogicCluster parameter in the iisproxy.ini file. For example:

      WebLogicCluster=myweblogic.com:7001,yourweblogic.com:7001

      Where myweblogic.com and yourweblogic.com are instances of Weblogic Server running in a cluster.

  8. Optionally, enable HTTP tunneling by following the instructions for proxying by path (see Using Wildcard Application Mappings to Proxy by Path) substituting the WebLogic Server host name and the WebLogic Server port number, or the name of a WebLogic Cluster that you wish to handle HTTP tunneling requests.

  9. Set any additional parameters in the iisproxy.ini file. A complete list of parameters is available in the appendix General Parameters for Web Server Plug-Ins.

  10. If you are proxying servlets from IIS to WebLogic Server and you are not proxying by path, read the section Proxying Servlets from IIS to WebLogic Server.

  11. The installed version of IIS with its initial settings does not allow the iisproxy.dll. Use the IIS Manager console to enable the Plug-In:

    1. Open the IIS Manager console.

    2. Select Web Service Extensions.

    3. Set “All Unknown ISAPI Extensions” to Allowed.

Installing and Configuring the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In for IIs 7.0

This section describes differences in how you set up the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In for IIs 7.0.

To set up the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In for IIs 7.0, follow these steps:

  1. Create a web application in IIS Manager by right clicking on Web Sites -> Add Web Site.

    Fill in the Web Site Name with the name you want to give to your web application; for example, MyApp. Select the physical path of your web application Port (any valid port number not currently in use).

    Click OK to create the web application.

    If you can see the name of your application under Web Sites it means that your application has been created and started running. Click on the MyApp node under Web Sites to see all of the settings related to the MyApp application, which you can change, as shown in Figure 5-5.

    Figure 5-5 Application Home Page

    Description of Figure 5-5 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-5 Application Home Page"

  2. Click on "Handler Mappings" to set the mappings to the handler for a particular MIME type.

    Figure 5-6 Setting the Handler Mappings

    Description of Figure 5-6 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-6 Setting the Handler Mappings"

  3. Click on the StaticFile and change the Request path from * to *.*. Click OK.

    Figure 5-7 Editing the Request Path for Module

    Description of Figure 5-7 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-7 Editing the Request Path for Module"

  4. Click on MyApp and then click on "Add Script Map…" on the right-hand side menu options. Enter * for the Request path.

    Browse to the iisproxy.dll file and add it as the executable. Name it proxy.

    Figure 5-8 Editing the Request Path for Script

    Description of Figure 5-8 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-8 Editing the Request Path for Script"

  5. Click on the "Request Restrictions…" button and uncheck the box "Invoke handler only if the request is mapped to".

    Figure 5-9 Editing the Request Restrictions

    Description of Figure 5-9 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-9 Editing the Request Restrictions"

  6. Click OK to add this Handler mapping. Click Yes on the Add Script Map dialog box.

    Figure 5-10 Adding the Script Map

    Description of Figure 5-10 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-10 Adding the Script Map"

  7. If you want to configure proxying by path, see Using Wildcard Application Mappings to Proxy by Path.

  8. Click on the Root node of the IIS Manager tree and click on the ISAPI and CGI Restrictions. Make sure to check the "Allow unspecified ISAPI modules" checkbox.

    Figure 5-11 Editing ISAPI and CGI Restrictions

    Description of Figure 5-11 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-11 Editing ISAPI and CGI Restrictions"

  9. Create a file called iisproxy.ini with the following contents and place it in the directory with the plug-in:

    WebLogicHost= @hostname@
WebLogicPort= @port@
ConnectRetrySecs=5
ConnectTimeoutSecs=25
Debug=ALL
DebugConfigInfo=ON
KeepAliveEnabled=true
 
WLLogFile=@Log file name@
SecureProxy=OFF

  10. Open the Internet Explorer browser and enter http://<hostname>:<port>. You should be able to see the Medrec Sample Application from your Weblogic Server.

    If you want to run the plug-in in SSL mode, change the value of WeblogicPort to the SSL port of your application, and change the SecureProxy value to ON.

    Figure 5-12 Medrec Sample Application

    Description of Figure 5-12 follows
    Description of "Figure 5-12 Medrec Sample Application"

Using Wildcard Application Mappings to Proxy by Path

As described in "Installing Wildcard Application Mappings (IIS 6.0)" (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/5c5ae5e0-f4f9-44b0-a743-f4c3a5ff68ec.mspx?mfr=true), and "Add a Wildcard Script Map" for IIS 7.0 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754606(WS.10).aspx), you can configure a Web site or virtual directory to run an Internet Server API (ISAPI) application at the beginning of every request to that Web site or virtual directory, regardless of the extension of the requested file. You can use this feature to insert a mapping to iisproxy.dll and thereby proxy requests by path to WebLogic Server.

Installing Wildcard Application Mappings (IIS 6.0)

The following steps summarize the instructions available at "Installing Wildcard Application Mappings (IIS 6.0)" (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/5c5ae5e0-f4f9-44b0-a743-f4c3a5ff68ec.mspx?mfr=true) for adding a wildcard application mapping to a Web server or Web site in IIS 6.0:

  1. In IIS Manager, expand the local computer, expand the Web Sites folder, right-click the Web site or virtual directory that you want, and then click Properties.

  2. Click the appropriate tab: Home Directory, Virtual Directory, or Directory.

  3. In the Application settings area, click Configuration, and then click the Mappings tab.

  4. To install a wildcard application map, do the following:

    1. On the Mappings tab, click Insert.

    2. Type the path to the iisproxy.dll DLL in the Executable text box or click Browse to navigate to.

    3. Click OK.

Adding a Wildcard Script Map for IIS 7.0

The following steps summarize the instructions available at "Add a Wildcard Script Map" for IIS 7.0 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754606(WS.10).aspx) to add a wildcard script map to do proxy-by-path with ISAPI in IIS 7.0:

  1. Open IIS Manager and navigate to the level you want to manage. For information about opening IIS Manager, see "Open IIS Manager" at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770472(WS.10).aspx. For information about navigating to locations in the UI, see "Navigation in IIS Manager" at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732920(WS.10).aspx.

  2. In Features View, on the server, site, or application Home page, double-click Handler Mappings.

  3. On the Handler Mappings page, in the Actions pane, click Add Wildcard Script Map.

  4. In the Executable box, type the full path or browse to the iisproxy.dll that processes the request. For example, type systemroot\system32\inetsrv\iisproxy.dll.

  5. In the Name box, type a friendly name for the handler mapping.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Optionally, on the Handler Mappings page, select a handler to lock or unlock it. When you lock a handler mapping, it cannot be overridden at lower levels in the configuration. Select a handler mapping in the list, and then in the Actions pane, click Lock or Unlock.

  8. After you add a wildcard script map, you must add the executable to the ISAPI and CGI Restrictions list to enable it to run. For more information about ISAPI and CGI restrictions, see "Configuring ISAPI and CGI Restrictions in IIS 7" at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730912(WS.10).aspx.

Proxying Requests from Multiple Virtual Web Sites to WebLogic Server

To proxy requests from multiple Web sites (defined as virtual directories in IIS) to WebLogic Server:

  1. Create a new directory for the virtual directories. This directory will contain .dll and .ini files used to define the proxy.

  2. Extract the contents of the plug-in .zip file to a directory.

  3. For each virtual directory you configured, copy the contents of the plug-in \lib folder to the directory you created in step 1.

  4. Create an iisproxy.ini file for the virtual Web sites, as described in Proxying Requests. Copy this iispoxy.ini file to the directory you created in step 1.

  5. Copy iisproxy.dll to the directory you created in step 1.

  6. Create a separate application pool for each virtual directory.

    As described in "Creating Application Pools (IIS 6.)" (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/93275ef2-2f85-4eb1-8b92-a67545be11b4.mspx?mfr=true), you can isolate different Web applications or Web sites in pools, which are called application pools. In an application pool, process boundaries separate each worker process from other worker processes so that when an application is routed to one application pool, applications in other application pools do not affect that application.

Sample iisproxy.ini File

Here is a sample iisproxy.ini file for use with a single, non-clustered WebLogic Server. Comment lines are denoted with the “#” character.

# This file contains initialization name/value pairs
# for the IIS/WebLogic plug-in.
WebLogicHost=localhost
WebLogicPort=7001
ConnectTimeoutSecs=20
ConnectRetrySecs=2

Here is a sample iisproxy.ini file with clustered WebLogic Servers. Comment lines are denoted with the “#” character.

# This file contains initialization name/value pairs
# for the IIS/WebLogic plug-in.
WebLogicCluster=myweblogic.com:7001,yourweblogic.com:7001
ConnectTimeoutSecs=20
ConnectRetrySecs=2

Note:

If you are using SSL between the plug-in and WebLogic Server, the port number should be defined as the SSL listen port.

Creating ACLs Through IIS

ACLs will not work through the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In if the Authorization header is not passed by IIS. Use the following information to ensure that the Authorization header is passed by IIS.

When using Basic Authentication, the user is logged on with local log-on rights. To enable the use of Basic Authentication, grant each user account the Log On Locally user right on the IIS server. Two problems may result from Basic Authentication's use of local logon:

  • If the user does not have local logon rights, Basic Authentication does not work even if the FrontPage, IIS, and Windows NT configurations appear to be correct.

  • A user who has local log-on rights and who can obtain physical access to the host computer running IIS will be permitted to start an interactive session at the console.

To enable Basic Authentication, in the Directory Security tab of the console, ensure that the Allow Anonymous option is “on” and all other options are “off”.

Proxying Servlets from IIS to WebLogic Server

You can proxy servlets by path if the iisforward.dll is registered as a filter. You would then invoke your servlet with a URL similar to the following:

http://IISserver/weblogic/myServlet

To proxy servlets if iisforward.dll is not registered as a filter, you must configure servlet proxying by file type.To proxy servlets by file type:

  1. Register an arbitrary file type (extension) with IIS to proxy the request to the WebLogic Server, as described in step 2 under Installing and Configuring the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In.

  2. Register your servlet in the appropriate Web Application. For more information on registering servlets, see Creating and Configuring Servlets.

  3. Invoke your servlet with a URL formed according to this pattern:

    http://www.myserver.com/virtualName/anyfile.ext

    where virtualName is the URL pattern defined in the <servlet-mapping> element of the Web Application deployment descriptor (web.xml) for this servlet and ext is a file type (extension) registered with IIS for proxying to WebLogic Server. The anyfile part of the URL is ignored in this context.

    Note:

    If the image links called from the servlet are part of the Web Application, you must also proxy the requests for the images to WebLogic Server by registering the appropriate file types (probably .gif and .jpg) with IIS. You can, however, choose to serve these images directly from IIS if desired.

    If the servlet being proxied has links that call other servlets, then these links must also be proxied to WebLogic Server, conforming to the pattern described in step 3.

Testing the Installation

After you install and configure the Microsoft Internet Information Server Plug-In, follow these steps for deployment and testing:

  1. Make sure WebLogic Server and IIS are running.

  2. Save a JSP file into the document root of the default Web Application.

  3. Open a browser and set the URL to the IIS plus filename.jsp, as shown in this example:

    http://myii.server.com/filename.jsp

    If filename.jsp is displayed in your browser, the plug-in is functioning.