installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

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2/6/2010 12:50:31 PM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache: I am a current user of the Abyss web server by Aprelium, and I am trying to install Mojo portal there, but I can't figure out which directory to point the server to as the root directory

3/14/2010 7:47:44 AM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

When you download the mojoportal-x-x-x-x-mssql-deploymentfies.zip and extract it there is a folder named wwwroot. That corresponds to the root of the web site, either point your web site to that folder or copy the contents of that folder (including sub folders and files) to your web root.

I have no idea whether it can work with Abyss web server, that seems like a niche product.

Steve

3/14/2010 10:38:40 AM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Thanks so much.  I'll have to keep working at it.  I think i've almost got it anyway, only that now I get a 404 error message when trying to access localhost/setup/default.aspx.  My guess is that I've probably typed something wrong when adding the index file.  I'll also fool around with IIS, though not as accessible with Screen readers, and see if I can get it working there. 

3/14/2010 12:11:57 PM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi,

One thing to understand is that the default document should be Default.aspx not index.html or index.aspx so basically the Default.aspx is the equivalent to index page for ASP.NET. So if Default.aspx is configured as the default document then it should treat http://yoursiteroot/ the same as if you typed http://yoursiteroot/Default.aspx

Not sure why it would not work if you typed the actual url with Default.aspx in it, but I know nothing about Abyss web server.

The page at http://yoursiteroot/Setup/Default.aspx is only for installation and upgrade scripts to run. It sounds like it may only recognize the root folder as ASP.NET and not understand that sub folders are also ASP.NET and part of the same application.

btw, I saw your nice comment on twitter about the accessibility of mojoPortal and was very glad to hear it. I work hard to make sure it is accessible but don't really have anyone to turn to who uses a screen reader and can verify that it is accessible or if I'm doing a good job with accessibility. I'd certainly welcome any feedback about any accessibility issues you may encounter or suggestions to improve it, I have a forum dedicated to accessibility issues where you could provide any feedback and it would be appreciated.

Best Regards,

Joe

3/15/2010 10:59:37 AM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hello all,

I have been tinkering with Abyss Web Server to see if I could figure out why it will not work with mojoPortal. So far, I have managed to make it work with the SQLite release of mojo 2.3.3.9 but the /Setup/Default.aspx still doesn't work. The only reason the SQLite version is working is that it comes with a pre-configured SQLite database so the setup really doesn't have to run (that's correct, isn't it Joe?). Of course the setup would have to run on upgrades.

I tested all of the features that come with the SQLite version and they all seem to work okay. I also created a simple .NET page inside of /Setup to see if Abyss would render it and it did. So it appears that the only problem, thus far, is the /Setup/Default.aspx.

I just figured I would share my findings. If we could figure out why the /Setup/Default.aspx page isn't working, maybe we could claim additional support for Abyss?

HTH,
Joe D.

3/16/2010 1:30:34 PM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi Joe,

I do ship a db with SQLite but it still requires visiting the setup page as I don't update it. For development purposes I use a custom file for SQLite so as not to junk up the db I ship. So it is shipped without having run all the upgrade scripts.

Also anyone using SQLite should rename the db file and modify the connection string so it will not be overwritten during upgrades since it is just a file based db and the new file would overwrite the old one.

SQLite is ok for low traffic sites but I wouldn't use it for anything important or anything where you hope to grow traffic.

Best,

Joe

3/16/2010 3:49:54 PM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Thanks folks. It would definitely really have helped if I had not accidentally deleted my first configuration file, and if my computer hadn't failed me in the middle of the process, for I think the aprelium support people forgot about their request for it.  I have since made another one, and if it would help, I could very easily post it here for those who know how to interpret those things.  Let me know, for if Aprelium claim to have genuine support for ASP.net, this really shouldn't be an issue for anyone.  For I say, rarities are good,  and going beyond standards is better!  Again, thanks, and let me know if that would help you guys. 

 

Regards,

Katherine

3/29/2010 1:16:38 PM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi Katherine,

Yes, please let us know if you get any answers from Aprelium.

One thing I would try is renaming the /Setup/Default.aspx to /Setup/Setup.aspx to find out if it is just something about that particular url the Abyss doesn't like. Since Joe Davis tried making a simple page in the /Setup folder and that worked it either means it is something about the url or something about the /Setup/Default.aspx page itself that Abyss does not like.

If renaming it doesn't work then you may as well rename it back to /Setup/Default.aspx.

I can say that the /Setup/Default.aspx page is very different than other pages in mojoPortal because of what it is designed to do. It uses Response.Buffer and Response.Flush to write parts of the page as it goes through the installation steps. It also sets the page to not be cacheable and it it sets the Server.ScriptTimeout to int.MaxValue;

Maybe some of that information would help the guys at Aprelium.

Best,

Joe

3/29/2010 6:41:31 PM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

hi again,

Thanks for the reply, and yes indeed I'll try that, but I just realized something.  Would it help you guys if i posted the Abyss.conf file here?  For that is the file where Abyss stores it's configs (sort of like httpd.conf in Apache terms, except the user doesn't have to type in the content).  I saved it if anyone wants it.  For that might prove an opperator error on my part since setting up web servers is a very new concept to me.  For I'll tell you that i've posted three times in the Aprelium message boards, received nothing back, as well as emailed them with the same result. Either they've forgotten about me, or they're just plain sick of me LOL.  Is that possible?  Well anyway, thanks so much, and if that file would help you,, please let me know and I'll paste each and every line here on my next post.      

 

Regards,

Katherine

4/21/2010 10:57:55 AM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

I have since renamed the file, but since I am at college, I have yet to return home and tinker with it.  But you'll be very happy to know that Aprelium did in deed get back to me, and this time, I was not hesitant to get back to them.  I sent off the Abyss.conf file to them, and to my knowledge they're looking into it for me.  I'm just waiting for their response.  But something tells me that it is time for an aha moment on their part, and if they'd hurry up,  it is possible that I could have a site.  and BTW, speaking of development, are you folks aware that Microsoft is now up to ASP.net 4.0? Let me know, and I'll be sure to keep you posted if I find anything. And oh yeah, one more thing.  After I finish setting up the site, how in the world do I point the server to the actual  document that I would like our viewers to see?  if you could give me some input on that, it would be awesome.  Thanks so much for your patience and assistance. 

 

Regards,

Katherine

4/27/2010 2:10:50 PM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi Katherine,

Wanted to post a reply here even though I've been in contact with you by email, just for others who may read this thread.

I did some  experimenting with abyss web server, I thought maybe I could make some small code change and fix the problem.

The interesting thing is that it seems that it does actually execute the /Setup/Default.aspx page and it returns a web response status code of 200 which indicates no errors. I added some logging statements after each main step of the process and it logged each step correctly and it appears to have correctly completed the setup process, the only thing it doesn't do correctly is that somehow the page output of the /Setup/Default.aspx page just never gets rendered in the browser so you get no confirmation that it has succeeded and no useful information if it does not, but if you leave it alone for a few minutes to make sure it has had time to do its work, it seems that it all works out and the site is correctly configured. So I tried it again with a new empty database just to be sure and again it worked correctly it just doesn't indicate it in the browser as it should.

Hopefully they will fix the issue but I can confirm that it actually does run all the setup code and as long as the database connection string is correct and the abyss is configured correctly for asp.net it should work for you even if they don't fix the rendering issue.

Best,

Joe

7/19/2010 1:53:58 PM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

 

Hi folks,

I figured that it's been a long time since this thread has seen any action, but even though my site is doing great where it is now, I've been still doing some personal experiments with Abyss Web Server just for my own education and curiosity.  I correctly set up a local mySQL database for that was part of the issue the first time I tried it, and I made sure that the declaration was set up correctly in web.config (I didn't worry about User.Config since it's not a public site I'm setting up at the moment), and I got some very strange errors.  After copying the wwwroot folder into the ASP.net directory under Abyss' Htdocs folder, as well as making sure that the setup from the MySQL data layer had been copied over the MSSQL stuff, and that the bin directory had been overwritten with mySQL related Dll's, I navigated to http://localhost/setup.  I was then greeted with the message of a struggling Firefox 3 to connect to the server.  I continually received the message "Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost."  So, just to see what would happen, on my next try to connect, I omitted the /setup part of the address, and instead simply typed http://localhost.  I then got the index of the virtual directory ASP.net under Abyss' folder.  (exactly what was supposed to happen).  I then navigated to the setup script from there, and I was greeted with a configuration error.  it said something about lines 710 and 712 in the web.config file.  It mentioned something about an encryption key as well as saying that the error may be caused by a misconfigured virtual directory in IIS.  What did I do?  And Joe, I remember you telling me in previous posts that you got this to work before?  How exactly did you do it?  Any input would be great. 

 

Thanks,

Katherine

7/20/2010 6:45:54 AM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi Katherine,

As an alternative to using Abyss web server, I'd recommend giving the new Microsoft WebMatrix a try. It includes IIS Express which is much easier to use than IIS. Once it is installed you can right click a folder in Windows Explorer and launch a web site from there. So you could right click the wwwroot folder of the mojoPortal package (after unzipping it) and launch the web easily. Also if you try our latest release, we have a package mojoportal-2-3-4-8-sqlce-net40-deploymentfiles.zip, it uses SQL CE (SQL Server Compact Edition) and it is the easiest ever because there is no database software to install, the database is just a file on disk.

There is a news article here about WebMatrix that gives a little insight about it.

I think this should be an easier way to play with mojoPortal on your local machine.

Hope that helps,

Joe

8/3/2010 2:36:49 PM
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"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi,

I haven't been able to try that since my computer is under monitoring right at the moment on a message board, but that's definitely in the cards.  Thanks for the info, and I'll definitely work at it.  Abyss is still in the cards though, and I'm slowly working on that with a combination of folks who understand the different configuration methods.  I had screwed up on that as well since Abyss.conf is similar to Web.config, and I had misunderstood that.  That was my bad.  I am still curious about the steps you took to get Mojo to install on Abyss.  I understand that Abyss is not a mainstream server, but it is still a server nonetheless, and any server that has native ASP.net support should be considered as an option.  I disagree with microsoft's view that third party servers should not support their technology. 

 

Thanks and i'm sorry for being such a pain in everyone's butt,,

Katherine

8/5/2010 5:52:54 AM
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Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi Katherine,

I have no idea what you mean by saying your computer is being monitored by a message board. If you are waiting for some answers on a message board I don't see how that prevents you from trying WebMatrix. I really think you would find it much easier than Abyss. I'm not aware of Microsoft having any position against other servers but of course they don't provide support for other products themselves, so it is up to the makers of Abyss to solve any problems with Abyss.

All I remember about using Abyss when I tried it is that I used their web pages to configure a folder for .net, I installed the mojoportal files into the folder and set a connection string to the database, then  visited the setup page. The problem with Abyss happens there, it does not render anything in the browser but the setup page does actually run and it worked. I just visited the home page after waiting a few minutes and the site worked. I don't recall ever having to touch Abyss.conf file at all.

Hope it helps,

Joe

8/8/2010 3:38:10 PM
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Total Posts 139
"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;" --J.R.R. Tolkien

Re: installation of Mojo portal on another server besides IIS or apache

Hi again,

I'm sorry for not clarifying.  What I meant by monitoring is that the board that is helping me try and solve a host of problems with my laptop right now has a rule that during fixes or checks, they don't want you downloading, installing, uninstalling, or editing anything.  I think my other problems with all this is that in the middle of all of this, I've had a crippled framework installation of Framework 3.5 (which seems to be gone).  I mean it's there, but it's not recognized.  My helper volunteering her time tells me that she's not sure what it is, that it could be malware, it could be just some registry corruption, software installation issues, but after we check to make sure it's not any kind of malware, I think i'll tackle this framework thing as well so that I can resume my learning of the C# language in peace.  That's why I haven't been able to play with any of the web matrix stuff yet.  Well anyway, just an update.  I just thought I'd give you a little explanation. 

 

Thanks for all of your support,

Katherine

PS.  By the way, did you look on my site?  In the menu, you'll see the acknowledgements page. 
 

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