How do I set up IIS for this version?

What are the nessisary steps to set up IIS so that I can access my sitefinity 4 beta install from outside of my local machine?

I've tried creating a new website in IIS and setting my sitefinity install as it's default directory. But trying to connect only gives me a lengthy Access Denied Error seen below.

Running the website through the included project manager works just fine.

What's going on here?

Hello Chris,

Please take a look at this post.

Regards,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Thank you but when I try to follow along with what the guy shows in that video I get an error when trying to create a new project from sitefinity's project manager.

I set up a new website in IIS (unlike the video, I am using Windows Server 2003 and IIS 6)
I create a new database in SQL Server Management Studio
Then I open Sitefinity Project Manager - I click 'Create New Project'
I select HTTP for location - then I click browse, and select IIS
I select my new website that is listed under IIS and click OK

But then I'm given an error that reads:
Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the appliction will close immediately.

Site: Test does not exist.

Details are:

Hello Chris,

Can you try the same by following the attached video? Do you get the same error?

Best wishes,
Radoslav Georgiev
the Telerik team

I tried following your attached video, but now I get a new error.

I click Create New Project
I click Browse...
I choose IIS select my 'Default Web Site' and the I click Create, give it a name and a path. I click OK.
I click OK on the Choose Location window.
I give the project a name and click next, leaving it as evaluation mode I click next again, then Finish.
almost immediately I get a huge error screen, I've attached an image of the error message. It begins with FileNotFoundException

clicking OK on the error screen brings me back to the Project Manager with my projects status listed as "Corrupted"

Hello Chris,

Try deleting the _EmptyProject directory located in the same folder as your Sitefinity Project Manager executable.

Best wishes,
Radoslav Georgiev
the Telerik team

Deleting the _EmptyProject directory did allow me to create new projects from the sitefinity project manager. But, now i've got a new issue.

I was able to make a new project and i am able to navigate to the Project Startup page. I'm then asked for my database information. Using Windows Authentication as my login (which has full rights to the database) and entering my database's information, I click continue and sitefinity thinks for a few seconds before presenting me with another massive permission denied error, only this one is different from my original.

Also now that i've closed and re-opened project manager my site now has the status of 'Connecting' which never goes away, which makes me unable to click Go to Administration. Trying to navigate to the pages in IE via my history still works.

Also to note that my IIS user is already Local Server and when trying to connect to the database as user sa I get this same error. I also get this error even if I use a jibberish password which would make me think that it isn't even trying to authenticate when i use a real and privileged user account.

Hi Chris,

The same error occurred when I tried to install on IIS and the DefaultAppPool for IntegratedPipline was using NetworkServices identity, when the identity LocalSystem was used the database created successfully.

Regards,

Neil

Hello,

The problem is in the database user and identity you have set to run the website

CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master'.]

Kind regards,
Ivan Dimitrov
the Telerik team

Ok, thanks to all the guidance provided here I was able to get my website working and running through IIS 6 on Windows Server 2003. I'm hoping that the hang ups I ran into will be addressed and fixed before the official release. I've tried to compile the issues I ran into.

I was unable to use any website set up in IIS 6 other than by making a virtual site under the Default Web Site. Attempting to use any other site already setup in IIS 6 resulted in a message that the site was not found.
Inherited folder permissions from parent folders can cause access denied errors after sitefinity4 installs.
If sitefinity project manager is closed and reopened, the status of a site get stuck at 'Connecting'.
Sitefinity4 running through IIS6 requires that the DefaultAppPool be run as Local System, instead of it's default NetworkService.
Attempting to create a site using the sitefinity project manager will result in an error unless the _EmptyProjects folder is manually deleted from the directory containing the sitefinity project manager exe.

Hello Chris,

Thank you for getting back to us.

We are looking into folder permissions and see if there is a way to set up the site without inheriting permissions.

The issue with IIS 6.0 and sites other than the default one is also on our list for fixing.

Sitefinity does not require you to change the application pool identity. The problem comes when your identity account does not have permissions to create databases in the SQL server when using Windows Authentication for DB connection. Since you choose to let Sitefinity create the DB for you must use identity which has sufficient permissions. I hope that you understand that this is not something coming from Sitefinity. On the other hand if you use SQL authentication you can log in with an SQL user with sufficient rights too.

The issue with the _EmptyProject does not manifest always - if you have the Sitefinity.exe file in a location different than a downloads directory or the desktop you will not encounter the problem. Renaming the .exe file also causes this. We are trying to resolve this, however we are yet to find a solution for this issue.

Greetings,
Radoslav Georgiev
the Telerik team

I faced the same error in image attached by Chris when creating second project.
Deleting _EmptyProjects folder worked and I was able to create second project.
Note: That happed when I had SF.exe in folder ..\Desktop\SiteFinity/ and also when I downloaded it on C:\SiteFinity\
And to add... I am also seeing the Status as Connecting on re-opening the SF project manager.

Hi!

Hi David,

Thank you for using our services.

It seems that there is some problem with the configuration of your IIS server since it is loading everything fine on the local site. Cam you please inspect the permissions for the Network Service account (your application pool's identity) if it has sufficient permissions over the website's folder structure. It should have at least read rights over the entire website structure and it should have full control over the ~/App_Data directory and its contents. Also when viewing the website remotely please try using FireBug or Fiddler to inspect why the styles are not loading (what is the error response from the requests to those resources).

Regarding the workflow, please make sure that your website has an extension mapping for the .xamlx extension pointing to the aspnet_isapi.dll, refer to attached image. Also make sure that you have the wildcard extension mapping configured as well.

Greetings,
Radoslav Georgiev
the Telerik team