Point of View Thin Client Configuration Part 5: IIS Server Setup from AutomationDirect

In this video we’ll enable the Microsoft IIS server and basically repeat what we did in the last video – that is – we’ll talk to the server app from a remote thin client using the Internet Explorer web browser. Except this time we’ll be using the IIS Server instead of the NTWebServer. You might ask, if the NTWebserver got us the remote access, why are we fooling with the IIS thing? Because IIS is supports all of Poin tof View’s features, its robust enough to serve in a production environment and most importantly, it’s much more secure and reliable than the NTWebServer. The NTWebServer is not secure and will open up your application to all kinds of potential threats. And since IIS is the server that point of view is tested with and it’s the server that AutomationDirect’s support staff is most familiar with, then you really want to get your project working with the IIS server. So now you’re probably asking, if we are supposed to use IIS, why did we spend all that time with the NTWebServer? Because it’s quicker and easier to get you up and running fast. We just dropped it in the project folder and ran it so we could quickly verify the project and the hardware. The IIS server is going to require a lot more setup and configuration and to further complicate things that setup is different depending on which OS you have - but it’s worth it to get all the features, support and security. Let’s do it. Theres really three three steps. Install on Server PC– you’ll probably find that it came with your windows installation, but it is turned off by default. So in step two, we’re going to enable the features Point of View needs In step three, we’re going to configure the IIS using the Administrative Tools Here we go … Let’s Install IIS. If you selected Mobile Access when you installed Point of View, you were probably asked at that time if you want to install IIS. If you didn’t install mobile access, then you may need to install IIS. Which one you install depends on your Operating system. If you have any of these then use IIS 7. If you have any of these, then use IIS 8. My system already has it installed and yours probably will too so we’ll move to the next step and enable it. If you still have things running from the last video, bring up the NTWebServer window and close it to terminate the process and free up the TCP/IP port for the IIS Server. We’ll be using Windows 7 in this video, but I’ll try to remember to provide Windows 8 hints as we go along. So here in Windows 7 we’ll click on START and bring up the Control Panel. In widows 8 swipe in from the right, do a Search and enter Control Panel and click on that. Click on Programs and features and then on Turn Windows Features on or off. Expand Internet Information Services – that’s the IIS thing we are looking for – and Expand Web Management Tools. Make sure the console is enabled. Now expand the World Wide Web then Application Development Features. Make sure all of these features are enabled. The Windows 8 list is slightly different so on that OS make sure these features are enabled. Expand the Common HTTP Features and make sure the static content is selected. Click OK. This can take a several minutes , so be patient … Mine is already installed so we won’t get that here. You might be prompted to re-start windows. If so then go ahead and do it. Great, IIS is now installed and enabled. Check that off the list. Now let’s configure it. From your control panel, click on Administrative tools. On my system it is here. On yours it might be under System and Security, again depending n which OS you are using. In the Administrative Tools window, double click on this IIS Manager and expand the tree down to the Default Web Site branch. Under Actions select Basic Settings, click on the Physical Path Browse Button and navigate to YOUR projects web sub folder. The project we are using for this demo is at c:\POV\Demo_Proj2\web. We’re telling the server to give external clients access to the files in this folder. If you plan to use the Secure Viewer to access this app, then you have to stop at the project folder. Don’t navigate down into the web folder like we did here because Secure Viewer won’t be able to find what it needs. What if you are using BOTH Secure Viewer and an Internet Explorer web thin client, what do you do? Well, you have to stop at the project folder for Secure Viewer, so for the web thin client, when you type the URL in the browser you just have to add the /web to the URL like this. We’re not using the Secure Viewer in this example, so we ARE adding the web folder to the path so we don’t have to type it in the browser. This is a subtle, so make sure you know which folder you are sending your different clients to. By the way, the Mobile Access client doesn’t care about any of this … he is a completely different animal that has his own way of accessing the app. Ok, let’s get back on track. Now select Test Settings. This verifies that everything is ok. Unfortunately, everything is NOT ok here, is it? If you run into issues here like we did, it’s usually because you have to setup the path credentials – that is, you have ot give it your user name and password so the application can run on this computer. Now try to test the settings … Perfect – two green check marks. Exactly what we want. Close that dialog and then OK. Click on Bindings and verify the port is set to 80. That’s the default. You can change it to whatever you - or more importantly whatever your IT guys want - BUT when you point your browser to the app you will need to add the port number like this. If you can, leave it at port 80 – it just makes everything easier. But again, your IT guys may not be happy with that so this is how you accommodate them. Double click MIME Types to open that dialog. Click Add to add a new file extensions to the list so internet programs like web browsers can transfer files all the same way. We need to make sure all of these are in this list. Just scroll down this list and locate the ones that don’t exist. When you find one, click ADD and enter it. For example I see .app so I click ADD and fill it in like this. Now, honestly, I think it’s faster to just type them in. If one already exists, then it will tell me. For example, let’s do the next one - .bin. It says it already exists. Fine, now I just change this to the next one - .csv and try again. That one exists. Next one - .gis – That was a new one. Click Add and keep going. However you do it, the bottom line is you need to get all of these extensions in this list. When you are done, you can change this to Entry Type to see all the ones you created grouped together. Review all of these to make sure everything is spelled correctly. If you see an error, highlight it and click edit. It’s easy to mis-type these so take a minute to double check that everything is just right. Well, guess what – we did it! Let’s try it and see what happens. Make sure the NTWebserver is NOT running – we killed it earlier so it shouldn’t be. Click on the IIS Start button to kick off IIS and run your project. Let’s bring up the app on a local browser first like we did in the previous video. And sure enough we have control over our server app. Great. Let’s kill this guy to free up the port. Bring up a browser on the remote PC, type in the same link, and now we are controlling the app from a remote PC. Perfect. Don’t forget, if oyu changed that port a few steps ago, you would have to type that here. Because I’m using port 80, I don’t have to type it. Well, hopefully now you can see why we did the first four videos using the NTWebServer. Setting up this IIS server is a bit of a marathon. The NTWebServer we just dropped in a folder and ran it. It was easy. Please remember that you really don’t want to use the NTWebServer in your final application – it isn’t as secure as IIS and it’s not the server that Point of View is tested with. Also, keep in mind that we’ve only shown a very basic IIS Setup in this video. For more advanced setups of IIS including SSL encryption consult Microsoft’s documentation. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call AutomationDirect’s free award winning tech support during regular business hours. They will be happy to help you. And don’t forget the forums – there are lots of folks there that love to share their years of experience. Just don’t post any support questions there – AutomationDirect’s support staff doesn’t monitor the forums on a regular basis.