Windows 2003 IIS 6.0 and Install Loop

Howdy All:

I’ve been using ModX for quite some time now. We have to switch from a Linux based Apache server to an IIS based Winslows server. There are several reasons that I won’t get into for that...

Anyhow, I’ve installed IIS 6, and if I run a php file, it works -- ie: phpinfo();

Unzip the files to C:\webs\mysite, and then give IUSR_COMPUTER and IWAM_COMPUTER full controll over the mysite folder & replaced permissions. I have also read somewhere to not use Strict permissions in MySQL; this has been done as well.


Now, when I browse to http://localhost, it tells me to install now, so I click the link. The next page never comes up. In the Status Bar of both Firefox and IE 7, it flashes repeatedly and if I stop it, the URL at the top is listed as http://localhost/install/index.php?action=language.

My Server is running Windows 2003 Standard, IIS 6.0, PHP 5.2.4 and I’m using the ModX 0.9.6 install files. (is there somewhere I can download the 0.9.5?)

I appreciate any help I can get!

Thanks!
~Brant Wells, Network Administrator
Toccoa Falls College

Ugg! You’re in a world of hurt! I’ve seen this before. Best advice I can give you is to downgrade PHP to the latest 5.1.x version. There are some issues with 5.2.x and IIS that need to be resolved before it can be considered for production. If you can avoid using IIS and just run Apache on the Windows server, that would be much better. PHP 5.2.x will work better on Apache. Plus, with Apache you’ll get back things like friendly URL’s...which is something you can’t get on an IIS server.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

Hey Jeff:

Fortuantely, I was able to get past all that a few days ago, and I even have Friendly URLS working in IIS6 [thanks to the ISAPI Rewrite program, search for it here!].

I had ModX working great! No odd errors or anything, but now that I’m trying to get the Front Page junk turned back on, I get a PHP Access Violation when going to the root of my site! I can still pull up Manager, or even the other sub folders, but not my index.php (which is the one that comes with ModX!)

Unfortunately for the IT Staff here, a decision was made to purchase some new campus software that requires a lot of Microsoft proprietary junk -- IIS being one of those things.

So for now, I gotta get IIS working with ModX & PHP, or find an ASP based content management system & convert (yikes!)

I’m still toying with the idea, and may wind up going that route, of using Apache & ReverseProxy or something to get the SharePoint type stuff available from off campus, but I’m not sure how secure / fast that will be.

Ideas?

Thanks!

Isn’t FrontPage kind of redundant using MODx?

It really is. However, we have some pages that we haven’t converted over to ModX yet, and still need to be able to allow the end-users to edit them. It’s sad, I know, but some of the new things we’re doing are going to require the extensions to be installed anyway, I do believe.

I went back and tried PHP 5.1.6 like Bravado suggested and went backwards a step -- Now I get blank screens on ModX’s index.php -- HOWEVER: If I run test.php, etc. It works fine! Go figure, huh?

If anybody knows of a good place to get documentation for setting up FPSE on Apache, I could probably use that for a while.

Question: Are you using NT Users to impersonate IUSR by changing the defaults in web site properties->directory security->anonymous access?

Besides that, here are some tips that should not affect the operation of FP extensions on IIS (any version) and allow PHP to work as expected. I’ll be installing PHP 5.2.4, MySQL 5.0.45, and MODx 0.9.6 later today (it’s 1am) and let you know if any of the information below has changed.

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I’ve never been able to get reliable operation from PHP 5 without first enabling "IIS 5 Isolation Mode" in IIS 6. This disables Application Pooling, but PHP actually works and gains stability when I change this setting.

Make sure that you have the correct file permissions on the PHP directory. I would use:

Administrators Full Control, System Full Control, Users Read & Execute, IUSR Read & Execute.

Whatever directory you use to store session files, IUSR needs Modify permission.

Unless you just really don’t want to use the Windows Temp directory for PHP upload temp, I would use the PHP default for ease of Administration. At least until you can get PHP working properly.

Make certain you’ve added the absolute PHP path to the "Path" Enviroment Variable in Windows. Also add this System Variable:

PHPRC

and use the absolute PHP installation path for the value.

Also, copy the php.ini to C:\WIndows from your PHP installation. Alternatively you could add the PHP.ini path to the Windows registry, but this does not work on all versions of Windows Server (specifically 2000 & XP). IMO it’s easier to remember one method that works with all versions of Windows.

If you use cURL to make connections over SSL, make sure to copy libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll from the PHP installation to C:\Windows\system32, and add the System Enviroment Variable:

OPENSSL_CONF

with the value C:\php\extras\openssl\openssl.cnf where "C:\php\" is the directory containing the PHP installation.

Make certain to remove the STRICT_TRANS_TABLES directive from the SQL Mode config on MySQL. It doesn’t play nice with MODx. (I’m not sure this is Windows specific.)
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That’s about all I can remember at the moment. Hope it helps.

-Rich

Hey Rich:

Thanks for the advice. A lot of it, I’d followed already. One thing that I did that helped was give IUSR R+W+E privileges on C:\php. I use C:\temp for my session variables (I know, I know, lol). IUSR has full control over that folder [insecure?]...

I’ve isolated some of the problems -- if I get FPSE working, PHP quits... When I go through the rigamarole of getting PHP working again, FPSE quits.

As much as I hate to say it, it could be something ModX specifig -- I’ve never had these kinds of problems while developing my own applications (even with R/W to real folders) in PHP or even ASP [ugh!].

I’ve only got a couple of FPSE sites that need it right now, so I talked with some other members of our IT Team here, and we’re just going to give them their own subdomain ie: mysitehere.mydomain.com, and enable FPSE on that.

I ran ModX on IIS without any problems a while back -- pre 0.9.5, I think.

I appreciate everybody’s input, though. Always more to learn!

Let me know how your installation goes, Rich!

See Ya!
~Brant

Hm....I still don’t understand why FPE is giving you such a problem just because you are using PHP. Are you using CGI or ISAPI configuration?

I have a 2003 Standard installation setup in a VM. I’ll document as I go, but I don’t know if I’ll be done tonight or not. Whenever it’s finished I’ll post it here.

I can’t figure it out either. I’ve even resorted to making a new site, with nothing in it, and installing FPSE that way, but I still have same troubles... Very odd...

I’m using PHP as ISAPI module, btw. I switched back to 5.2.4, as well. I have a VM here that I think I’m about to test out, and see what I can get it do to.

And to top it off, I still can’t even get my site to open With FrontPage either!
See Yas!
~Brant