IIS6 Network setup

[ianmcairns]

Not sure why the network setup forum is closed but anyway....

I have exactly the same problems that serveral users have described with IIS6 setup in that the Actinic Perl scripts do not run and catalogue pages return 404 from a client browser. I have spent about 2hrs with UK tech support on this who eventually said they didn't support IIS - great! Anyway...

I'm trying to set up a test site running on our internal windows 2003 server. I've used port 1502 for the actinicwebsite.

IIS works fine and serves the index.html page from the actwebsite, but not pages that need scripts.
Perl works OK and I can run a 'hello world' perl script from the actwebsite/cgi-bin directory.
FTP user works OK and I can use an FTP client and read and write to all actwebsite directories, including cgi-bin.
The advanced network setup test doesn't work and says 'test script returns an invalid response (267) check all paths.
The NTFS directory structure for my actinicwesbite is:
wwwroot/actinicwebsite/index.html
wwwroot/actinicwebsite/cgi-bin/
wwwroot/actinicwebsite/acatalog/
The IIS path is http://servername:1502/actinicwebsite/cgi-bin/ , http://servername:1502/actinicwebsite/acatalog/
The paths I have currently in the network setup are:
CATALOGURL http://server1:1502/
CGIBINURL http://server1:1502/cgi-bin/
PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG ../acatalog/
CODEBASE ./
PATHTOCGIBIN /cgi-bin/
FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG BLANK
Path to Perl shell /usr/bin/perl

I'd be very grateful for any assistance - there's nothing worse than when a software company gives up on their own product and tells you you're on your own.

[clefty]

Hi,

I'm no IIS expert and your settings seem OK, except for your path to the Perl interpreter. You have the default *nix setting.

You need to set the path to your Windows Perl executable, normally C:\Perl\Perl.exe for ActiveState if memory serves or wherever you set up Perl.

I have this on a local test machine using Win32 Apache, ActiveState Perl etc and this works OK.

HTH

[ianmcairns]

Perl path

Chris - thanks for the reply. My copy of actinic is on a client PC and IIS on the server so the Perl path needs to be virtual rather than a local NTFS path (although I have tried this just in case.

Problem is I don't know how to find if the standard path /usr/bin/perl is correct for my IIS.

[clefty]

Hi Ian,

The /usr/bin/perl is definitely a Unix only path.

Do you know where abouts on the Win 2003 server the Perl interpreter resides? - it may not have been installed to the default location of C:\Perl.

Youl need to tell Actinic the whereabouts of the Perl interpreter on the Win 2003 server. This path is added to the top of each of the Perl scripts during upload. When a .pl script is called the Perl interpreter on the Win 2003 server will be invoked.

Cheers

[ianmcairns]

Perl location

It is in C:/Perl and IIS is pointed to C:\Perl\bin\perlis.dll. I can run scripts directly from the actinicwebsite/cgi-bin directory so it seems to be OK. I don't know how to give actinic the relative path for IIS though.

[Duncan Rounding]

Just a thought....In the AUG7 page 105 it talks about making the cgi-bin directory a virtual directory for Actinic to access it's scripts - have you tried working through that part perhaps?

[ianmcairns]

virtual cgi-bin

Duncan - thanks for the thought - I've set that up in IIS and applied permissions.

[ianmcairns]

IIS6 not supported by Actinic?

I'm surprised that no-one from Actinic has replied to this thread. I have discovered that pretty much exactly the same IIS setup problem I've detailed has been reported several times previously in the community - apparently without resolution.

One user told me 'I'm still in talks with them (Actinic) but they have so far ignored my last two messages to them. If I find anything out I'll let you know.'

Another developer says 'I found moving the Actinic to a new server was a very great trial. The error reports thrown up by Actinic seemed almost random and it made strange choices for the CGI-bin. I now confess to staying well clear of Actinic when I can - sorry guys.'

After a lot of time on the phone Actinic gave up and told me they don't support IIS - which means they can't support a platform installation for their own product!

For an e-commerce package not to have the knowledge to be able to support the latest version of one of the most widely used web servers in the world defies belief. Hoefully Actinic can prove this wrong.

[Duncan Rounding]

You've probably seen this but I thought I'd mention it anyway if it's of any help:
IIS6
http://www.actinic.co.uk/hosting/docs/SetupOfIIS6.pdf
IIS5
http://www.actinic.co.uk/hosting/doc...rver_Setup.pdf
http://www.actinic.co.uk/hosting/doc...eout_Setup.pdf

[ianmcairns]

docs

Yes I've followed the IIS6 instructions thanks

[Bruce]

Ian,

If you revisit the IIS6 setup guide and take a look at the "Configuration of Web Server Extensions" area, can you let us know what happens if you allow all extensions temporarily as thisis not secure, but just to test to see if it works or not.

In Advanced | Network Setup, change the extension for perl to .plx instead of .pl and let me know if you are then able to run scripts on the site. Also check these settings ..

CATALOGURL http://server1:1502/ should read
CATALOGURL http://server1:1502/acatalog/

Path to perl should be C:\Perl\bin\perlis.dll

Kind regards,

[Coldfuzion]

I'm having the same problems as Ian. Like wise I'm using an internal server 2003.

I've tried the suggestions from Bruce and I get a little further when I upload. Now it only gives me and error message when it starts to do the "merging incremental updates at the web site" stage.

Error: an error occurred while merging files on the remote site. Content-type: text/plainContent-length: 215date: thu, 11-may-2006 14:12:52 gmtset-cookie: actinic_business=-; path=/;ok

now i get the index page to looke okay but the perl page still dont work fully

site can be viewed at: http://tbs-studentweb.tees.ac.uk/webuser3/

[Bruce]

This seems to be an issue the setup and association to perl. If you take a look on page 20 of the Setup guide...

The way I would setup the cgi-bin Perl association would be as follows..

Select .pl, Click on 'Edit' and change the executable field to C:\Perl\bin\perlis.dll or equivalent
Limit verbs on the extension (in this case the .pl ) to GET, HEAD and POST

The same must be done for .plx and .pm as shown in the example diagram on page 20.

Now to configuring the web server extensions...

1) Open IIS6 MMC and right click on Web Service Extension, select 'Add a new Web Service Extension'
2) In the 'New Web Service Extension' window that pops up, enter .pl under 'Extension name' and click on 'Add' enter the path to Perl
3) Now enter 'Perl' under 'Extension Name' and under 'Required Files:' enter 'C:\Perl\bin\perlis.dll' or equivalent, select the 'Set extension status to allowed checkbox and click "Add" click OK on the path to file pop-up box and OK on the 'New Web Service Extension' window to accept your changes.

Now Actinic will be able to find the path to perl as perl will now be able to run on the server since it is set to allowed.

Do let me know if this helps,

[Coldfuzion]

no luck

Thanks.

I've tried this and it's still not playing ball. It's still having problems finding perl when I do a manual network setup.

anymore ideas?

[dmalani]

Hi Craig

Please log a email query from the link given here or you can call support if you have a cover contract for further help on this.