Please Help ! set up Web Site on server?

[Andy_A]

I hope that someone here can help me? I am working in a School/College in London and have been asked to set up a website on a server on the school network to be viewed on the internet. I have looked on the internet and found several referals to IIS and followed the instructions. Although when I http:// localhost it says i do not have rights to see it and when I try ip address if the server it also does not work? I have tried to see what the problem is and need some assistance from someone here who has set up a site for their school on windows2k3 server within the network....
Please help?

[FN-GM]

I use apache not IIS so i can't help with that.

I would keep your webserver separate from your main network for security reasons. Possibly on its own V-LAN

[j17sparky]

You will need to enable "Anonymous Access" within the IIS config.

[Andy_A]

Hi and thanks - I have used this information and followed the instructions -
How to set up IIS to host your website.

But did not work for me?

[j17sparky]

Goto IIS manager
Find the "Default Site"
Right click - Properties
Directory Security
Authentication and... - Edit
Tick the "Enable Anonymous Access" box

[Andy_A]

Yes I have done that and no luck - anything else I can try please?

[MPorter]

Check NTFS permissions on the actual files - Is the Internet User (IUSR_xxxxxx) given read access?. Hope this helps.

Maria

[j17sparky]

Im not trying to be nasty but if the problem isnt a genuine MS feckup problem where things go wrong and it is infact finger trouble, i would be asking myself do i really want to be responsible for a public facing webserver?

Im setting one up atm so im starting to realise how much work goes into making it secure. Thats the key bit, you dont want to be fighting a losing battle against any script kiddy who fancies a blast at taking your website down.

Personally if its just a simple static site id just pay for the hosting, it really isnt expensive, especially if you offset the hours you will (potentially) put into getting it up, secure, backed up, patched, etc...

[Andy_A]

Well that was my response when asked to set it up - But I wasn't given the choice on this one.
And now I have to find a way to set it up - The only good thing is i wont have to spend time designing the site - someone else has that to do ....

[j17sparky]

Have a look at this then Install PHP 5 Apache MySQL on Windows : WampServer

To make it somewhat secure id make a new user with no rights at all, just a normal user. Grant permissions to that user for the folder the WAMP server installs in. Goto your services and make Apache load as a startup service under the new users account.

That way (to some degree) apache cant touch anywhere but the folder it is in.

[Edu-IT]

Well that was my response when asked to set it up - But I wasn't given the choice on this one.
And now I have to find a way to set it up - The only good thing is i wont have to spend time designing the site - someone else has that to do ....

It's another one of those daft decisions where nobody has thought about it properly. Surely having a secure network outweighs the cost of a hosting plan.

Is it going to be a static website or will there be dynamic aspects to it?

[Andy_A]

Static website and prob quite small

[j17sparky]

Oh and dont forget to have the server on a DMZ with no access to your network. If you have a county managed firewall they will most likely do this for you.

And you may aswell stop mysql and disable php if you aint going to be using them. That goes for anything, if it aint needed it shouldnt be running.

[TronXP]

[QUOTE=j17sparky;189490]Oh and dont forget to have the server on a DMZ with no access to your network. QUOTE]

Just a question really. Say your running ePortal and access is needed outside of school hence the webserver needs access to the SQL server on your network. What is the best soloution?

[webman]

Just a question really. Say your running ePortal and access is needed outside of school hence the webserver needs access to the SQL server on your network. What is the best soloution?

If ePortal is just like a normal website, then I would have a server in the DMZ running an HTTP reverse proxy (eg Nginx, Apache2). Then allow access through the firewall from only the reverse proxy server to the LAN ePortal server (eg. port 80).