hello all,

I know it might seem as if issues never end here at this realm of the virtual world, but here we go again LOL.  I was trying to install Mojo Portal from the web Platform installer onto an installation of IIS 7 and Server 2008 R2 (foundation edition if that matters).  I am using MSSQL Server 2008 R2 express edition (web edition won't install even after removing Express so I had to revert back).  I don't know why that is, but that's a different issue.  Something I'm curious about, but it doesn't have anything to do with this.  But anyway.  after installing SQL Server (I chose to use the default instance, (using mssqlserver as the instance name), I went to install Mojo portal with WPI.  It installed just fine after providing SA credentials and then the database credentials.  I got no database connection errors, so I'm thinking that that's not the problem here.  (though strangely enough, the mssqlserver default instance isn't the one Mojo Uses.  It's the sqlexpress instance that is the only one I can even connect to regardless of the fact that the other one is there).  I told Mojo Portal where I wanted it to be put in my IIS configuration.  I have three sites on the server because another application I have on here needs it's own site.  I chose the site named site 1.  After a successful installation, I told WPI to go ahead and launch Mojo portal.  This is where the trouble started.  Firefox gave me the message "Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:8008 (it's on that port for testing purposes).  and here's the funny thing.  Though I gave it that site as it's installation point, I actually have two copies of the application installed (one at site 1 and the other at site 2 on port 8881).  How in the world did that happen?  For that one, Firefox gives me an http404 error (understandable since I didn't tell WPI to use that).  If somebody could please explain what's going on here, and whether all these issues are related, I'd really appreciate it.  Thanks. 

Katherine

It definitely makes sense, but it makes no sense still that there are two sqlservr.exe processes running, and that both of their services are enabled, yet only one of them is actually functional.  I didn't actually check the Web.config file, because I figured that using the Web Platform Installer automatically adds those values for you.  Is that true?  If so, I'm thinking that it used the \sqlexpress ID since that's what it was pointing to on the "location of the database server" prompt in the installation.  That instance is where the database is, so I'm definitely thinking that's what happened.  But what do you think the reasoning for the error in firefox was?  And not to mention, I forgot to say that the application pool it was using was .net framework 2.0.  But since there were so many application pools running (I somehow added seven), I couldn't tell which was running Mojo Portal.  I ended up simply deleting all of the sites, since Mojo had somehow gotten itself into all of them (though in the wwwroot folder, there was only one physical folder for it), and I'm thinking of trying the .zip method through IIS so that I'll have more control over where it is.  I begin to wonder if this wasn't a database issue at all.  (I might have taken a clue in the fact that the .net framework was running version 2.0).  Though regardless if it is or isn't, I'm still kind of interested in how in the world I have two sets of SQL server processes and two sets of services running though only one of them actually works.  Thanks for any feedback. 

Okay thanks.  I will tell you though that IIS is simply configured in it's default state. 

Well.  That's what testing's for.  So that I can explore this kind of stuff with local sites running.  I have since returned IIS back to it's default with only one site running on port 80.  Mojo portal is installed in there nicely, but I'll have to check next week if the connection string was added.  Something tells me that WebPI doesn't touch user.config.  is that correct?  Because if not, it never adds anything into the web.config file either.  And is (local), in the context of entering in a connection string, simply another way of denoting localhost, or the local machine when it is placed behind server=?  I've never seen that before, and I've always seen samples denote it fully, or even fuller, by the adding of the entire local machine name in my case "Katherine-serv\sqlexpress".  I'll have to try that and see if it works, because right now, at least I'm no longer getting a firefox error complaining about the fact that it can't connect to the server, but now I'm getting what's purely a code error.  I assume it means that it can't connect to the database (understandable if nothing's specified where it should be).  I'll let you know over next weekend since I'm at college right now, and then we'll be away.  If I have time, I'll see if I can test it correctly under Windows 7.  I think that this weekend was a series of brain farts anyway. 

I should also tell you that due to the fact that I spend about 90 percent of my spare time sitting at a computer playing with this stuff, I think that I have at least the basic idea of what most of the IIS configuration is.  I may not understand every setting, but I think that by learning by doing, I'll be able to understand them.  Where would you suggest I go to gain the required knowledge in order to be successful at such things?  I've already read a 900 page book on IIS 7, and I can refer to it at any time.  The issue is that it only discusses certain situations, and it doesn't go through every incident and error, so what is the best way to tackle an error that someone has not encountered before?  I always figured that a good method is to explore, try things out, and then ask questions.  If you have anything to add to that, please don't hesitate to let me know.  Thanks so much. 

I'll definitely be looking at those.  And classes also are on my list of things to do.  The question is where in the world to take them where I will succeed.  I think though that I'm going to begin my Microsoft Certification preparation with some online courses through some program that the head network dude is purchasing for the whole school to utilize right here at Gordon.  But I did have a question for you.  Which pipeline mode is Mojo portal supposed to run in?  I meant to ask before when posting about the bad Module error I mentioned earlier.  I asked about that on the IIS forums when I didn't see anything, and they told me that it was probably because I set the application pool to integrated mode instead of classic.  I understand that Integrated pipeline mode allows IIS to be tied to ASP.net, and it is the mode in which native IIS 7 applications would be running in, whereas classic mode is there more for compatibility. 

Okay cool.  There's one possible cause of the bad module error eliminated.  I'll first have to check though if that actually occurs on the server 2008 machine.  That could just be a Win7 thing.  But on a more general note, this is non-machine specific, after one installs IIS, and before they even touch it to even install a web application, are there any settings in any of IIS' sections you recommend we change or modify in any way?  I ask because I know for a fact that I have installed ASP.net, .net extensibility, ISAPI filters, and the other ISAPI module that is required for ASP.net to run.  I may have installed ISAPI and CGI restrictions too by mistake, but I'm not sure if ASP.net needs it.  if not, can I uninstall it without breaking things?  I have kept the default modules that come installed as well.  and before following Mojo Portal's installation instructions, does anything need to be done with any of the other sections such as .net authorization rules, .net trust levels, default document, custom error pages?  I've never really fooled too much with anything that instructions don't instruct me too, but maybe that's the issue?  I'm not looking at the whole picture?  You're absolutely correct about the fact that I don't understand everything about IIS' configuration.  The problem is that I more or less don't understand when it's appropriate to use a certain function either before or after an installation, and then I never know what's assumed to have been changed on the server before following instructions to install various apps.  And in reference to the other two sites that were in there at first, I have since taken them out.  They were on nonstandard ports, because, when these skills become more pronounced in me, I have a mail server that is also driven by ASP.net, and it's not recommended that the app be run on standard port 80.  I think what happened was that I typed 8881 when I meant to type 9998.  9998 is the recommended port for that application.  I just thought that I'd let you know that I took those out and that nothing else has been touched but the mojo portal files themselves.  And you mentioned classes before.  I had said that I plan to begin the road to becoming Microsoft Certified as a MCITP in server 2008 as an enterprise server administrator.  There are a couple of mCTS requirements that go along with that.  Do you know if IIS is an optional component of that cert?  Thanks again for your continued assistance and remember if you need a hand, you can have me looking for stuff. 

That's definitely a help since it mentions some stuff I never considered.  You should move that to the documentation section, as the docs there don't mention the application pool identity.  That is something I probably didn't look at either.