Troubleshooting


Check to See Whether IIS Is Working

I cannot access my IIS server from another computer.

Go to the computer running IIS, start Internet Explorer, and view the address http://localhost. If you see a Web page, then IIS is functioning. If you don't, try restarting it following the instructions in the next troubleshooting tip.

Server Doesn't Respond to Requests

A Web browser locates my computer, but the status stays at Contacting Server or Waiting for Response. No Web page is returned.

Use the Internet Services Management tool to stop and restart the IIS Server. Open the Management tool, or locate Internet Information Services in Computer Management. Right-click Restart IIS. Then select Restart Internet Services on machinename and click OK.

Other Computers Can't Reach the Site

The IIS computer can view the Web pages it's serving, but other computers can't.

In this case you most likely have a problem with DNS or with the naming service used on your network. On a home/small office LAN, http://machinename may not work if there is a conflict with the Browser service (a Windows name resolving service that has nothing to do with Web browsing), and this is a common problem. Wait 15 minutes and try again; if that doesn't help, shut all of the computers down, boot up the IIS computer, and then boot up the others.

If you can't get to the IIS site through the Internet, your DNS entries could be wrong, or the forwarding entries on your router or on the computer that is sharing your Internet connection could be wrong. To check, have someone with an Internet connection open a Command Prompt window on any version of Windows and type ping www.yourdomain.com, putting your domain name after the ping command. Have them tell you what IP address the ping command is using. If it's not your site's public IP address, you have a DNS problem.

If the address is correct, your router or Internet Connection Sharing could be forwarding TCP port 80 requests to the wrong computer. Check your IIS computer's IP address (type ipconfig in a Command Prompt window to see what it is), and check that against the your network's forwarding setup screen.

If all that checks out, be sure that Windows Firewall is not blocking the incoming requests. There should be an Exception set up for port 80 on the computer that is running IIS, and the scope should be set to Any Computer. The entry should look something like the one shown in Figure 13.8.

Figure 13.8. Windows Firewall should have an exception for port 80, scoped for "All Computers."


If you are running the FTP service, there should be exceptions for TCP ports 20 and 21. If you are running the SMTP service, and only if you need to accept mail from outside servers, there should be an exception for TCP port 25.

Hyperlinks Return Gibberish

When I click on my links, my browser shows a screen full of random letters and numbers.

Check the file-type to MIME-type mappings on the server and the MIME-type to application viewer on the browser. You can choose File, Save As to save the seemingly senseless information to a file with the appropriate name (for example, XXXX.GIF if you think you have downloaded a GIF file) and try to view it by double-clicking the file in Explorer. If it displays correctly there, then the only problem is the MIME-type mapping.

Browser Doesn't Show Modified Web Page

I have modified a file on my Web site, but the browser still gets the old version.

Click Refresh on the browser. If that trick doesn't work, shut down the browser, restart it, and try again. It's usually the browser's fault. If you still get the wrong version, confirm that you are viewing the correct virtual directory.



Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional (3rd Edition)
ISBN: 0789732807
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 450

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