Can't get to WSS admin site anymore

[Ray]

This is a new installation we've been messing with and now it's messed up
good.

WSS works when I go to the IP address assigned to WSS on the server. Project
Server and WSS are on the same box in different virtual directories with
different IP addresses. Project works except it says it can't contact the
server running WSS. I can get to the Public_Documents link OK.

When I try to go to the admin site and IP from the WSS/Project server, I get
a page not found. If I telnet to that IP and port and do a GET / I do get a
response back.

If I try to get to the WSS admin site via its SSL port from another computer
using IE, it asks me to accept the self-signed certificate, so I know the
web server is running on that port (21443). After I accept the certificate,
I get a page not found. If I do the same thing using Firefox, it repeatedly
asks me for credentials and won't accept anything I enter. Not an admin
account, nothing.

I'm thinking this might me a proxycfg issue from other things I've read
here, but I really don't understand what that thing does and no iteration
I've tried makes a difference. We are using FQDN for all entries, both in
Project's SharePoint link and everything. This did work once earlier in the
day. The person I was working with did run that program to set everything
to -d (proxycfg -d) since everything is on the same box.

Why were we messing with it? The server suddenly started running very, very
slow (brand new server bought solely for Project and WSS). No errors in the
event log and nothing extraordinary in the way of CPU or memory usage. When
we finally went to the building where the server is located, one of its hard
drives had failed and the RAID controller was compacting it. Anyway, the
drive was replaced and the speed is back to normal but in the process of
trying to "fix" it, we broke it.

Thanks,

Ray

 

[Nico Oosthuysen]

Hi Ray,

Sticky problem you have here.

First of all, one thing i would try is to run WSSWIZ.EXE again on your
installation - you mention that you can get to the public doc's site
OK, which seems to suggest that sharepoint is working kinda ok, but the
templates might not be installed properly.

however, it seems that your sharepoint is broken quite badly - have you
thought about reinstalling it?

 

[Nico Oosthuysen]

Hi Ray,

Sorry, just thought of something else - if you right-click the
Sharepoint Administration website in IIS, and select browse what
happens?

 

[Ray]

Hi Nico,

Yes, I re-ran the WSS v2 SP2 install over the top to no avail. When I tried
to go to the FQDN of http://sharepoint.ourcompany.com:21544, I get the 404
page. When I tried to go to http://sharepoint:21544, I got a .NET error for
a 401.2 - bad credentials - even though I allowed anonymous to the virtual
directory and the permissions are correct on the actual folders.

I uninstalled WSS completely and reinstalled it. It changed the port and now
I can get to the admin site like before using IE on the Sharepoint/Project
server.

When I tried to change the settings in Project Admin, it first said that
proxycfg was not set up properly. I ran it with the parameters I thought it
should have and then it said the server instance cannot be found even though
the "Test URL" link works.

So I uninstalled Project Server and reinstalled it from scratch (there
aren't any projects in it yet). I specified all of the SharePoint sites as
SSL because we're using SSL with a self-signed certificate for Project
Server itself and it all works fine.

Well, almost all <sigh>, except for when I go into Project Admin and go to
the Manage SharePoint page. All of the data is correct and the Test URL
button works and the Public_Documents link works but when I click the Save
Changes button even though I didn't change anything on the page, it reports
there's an error in the SSL certificate. And in Project Server itself in
Risks and Issues it says there is a problem with SharePoint services.

If I go into Project Admin and change the SharePoint links back to HTTP and
the respective HTTP ports, and click Save Changes, it says that the server
instance could not be found. Yet I can browse to both non-SSL links just
fine.

Any guesses would be appreciated. It looks like I'm down to this SSL
problem. I did import the root certificate on to the server and the
certificates were created off a Windows 2000 CA just a few days ago.

This is the output from proxycfg:

Current WinHTTP proxy settings under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\
WinHttpSettings :

Proxy Server(s) :
wpad.ourcompany.com;https://SHAREPOINT;http://SHAREPOINT
Bypass List :
;SHAREPOINT;sharepoint.ourcompany.com;<local>;project.ourcompany.com

I don't know why the two capitalized entries are in the Proxy Server(s) line
because we only use the proxy for Internet access.

Take care,

Ray

 

[Nico Oosthuysen]

Ray, what happens when you browse to the SSL sites - do you get
prompted to accept the cert?

And in terms of your error saving the WSS changes on Project Server,
that error will normally appear when WSSWIZ.exe hasn't been properly
run on the installation. You might need to run wsswiz.exe to remove
the templates and the reinstall them.

 

[Ray]

No, I don't get prompted because I installed the root CA certificate so I
wouldn't get prompted.

I'll have a look at WSSWIZ.exe. I'm not sure what that is, though. Is that
the link on the Project install CD you run to get the Project templates into
WSS before you actually install Project Server? I did do that.

I did apply Project Server 2003 SP2 and it had its own WSS template file
that needed to be run. It flashed by rather quickly but I did get an event
log entry that it completed successfully.

Thanks for all of your help. I hope I can return the favor some day.

Ray

 

[Nico Oosthuysen]

I just wanted to check and make sure the cert was properly installed

yes, wsswiz is the app on the install cd that you run before the
installation. I have had some issues with using it in the past -
especially if your installation is not a completely fresh one.

You do mention that you don't have any projects in your db - can we
then assume you also have no worthwile data in sharepoint? I really
think your installation is broken quite badly and although it probably
is fix-able its difficult for me to assist you in fixing help you
withouth "eye-balling" the problems.

I think the easiest way - if you don't have any data to keep - is to
completely remove everything and start over. In other words:

1. Remove Project Server
2. Remove WSS
3. Remove all your projectserver and sharepoint databases in SQL
Server. The sql databases should be the ones named
sts_servername_number and a configuration database that normally called
something like wss_config.
4. Remove IIS

Then start over following the instructions in the installation guide.

 

[Ray]

Hi Nico,

Correct, no data, and that's what I finally did. I also found an article
that said you could not use the same SSL certificate for the SharePoint site
and for the SharePoint admin site. I removed it from one to no avail before
the delete-and-reinstall, and then removed it from the other to no avail. So
I blew the whole thing away including the SQL accounts and databases and
installed WSS without an SSL certificate and Project Server with one. The
only problem is that when I click on

Documents
Public Documents

and then click on "Shared Documents", I get the "This page contains both
secure and non-secure items. Do you want to display the non-secure items?"
dialog box. If I click No, I get an "action cancelled" page. I thought this
might be the issue fixed in SP2, but it's still there. I was hoping if I
added SSL to the SharePoint server, then this dialog box wouldn't appear.

If I click Yes, I get prompted for my credentials again for a site that had
the IP address of the SharePoint server (the computer I'm using is not a
domain member for testing purposes). The URL for the site shows the IP
address of the WSS server, which is how it's entered in Project Server.

When I go into Project Admin and try to validate the WSS install, it whines
that it can't find the 192.168.101.236\WSSAdmin account. Sheesh, that's
because it's entered as the servername\WSSAdmin. If I change the two
SharePoint entries in Project Admin from http://192.168.101.236 ... to
http://servername.ourcompany.com and try to validate again, it whines that
"The server instance specified was not found."

How frustrating.

Take care,

Ray

 

[Nico Oosthuysen]

Hey Ray,

Shame man, it seems like this thing is really trying its best to
frustrate you!

Just one thing that i should mention: I notice that throughout your
posts you mention using IP addresses to connect to server names in
Project Server and WSS - this sometimes can cause issues in itself..

For example using an IP address to connect to WSS from PWA might cause
the validation process to fail in PWA.

You should try and use servernames where possible, and also ensure the
names that you are using is set up as Host Headers in IIS under Web
Sites --> Default Web Site Properties --> Web Site Identification under
the general tab.

Nico

 

[Ray]

Well, funny you should mention host headers! The reason I was using IP
addresses is because the instructions say to copy down the output from WSS
to enter it later into Project Server. WSS outputs IP address, so I added
them into Project Server as IP addresses even though I wanted FQDN because
that's what I have everyone used to.

I finally added host headers this morning for just the server name (without
the DNS extension), changed the WSS entries to just the server name and now
I can finally validate the WSS settings.

Of course now I have a new problem unrelated to the host headers. <sigh> I
know it's unrelated because I was OK after they were added.

Between 12:30 PM and 2:00 PM today, suddenly everyone is getting prompted
for credentials when trying to go to the URL for PWA. Trying to use the
Outlook 2003 add-ins are giving a "login failed" dialog box. IE is showing a
401.2 error. But if I manually enter my NT (yes, NT) credentials I can get
right to my home page. So my credentials work when entered manually, they
work automatically for all other network resources, they work automatically
for the WSS Admin and Project Admin pages, but they no longer work for the
actual PWA login page.

What changed between those two times? I took one user and updated Project
2003 Pro from SP1 to SP2 and added the Outlook 2003 add-in to her computer.
They worked fine. I logged her off because she was at lunch and came down to
the basement and it wouldn't work any more. <sigh>

Ray

 

[Nico Oosthuysen]

Haha Ray - apologies for laughing as you probably don't think its very
funny, but think of it more as laughing with you than laughing at you.


My hunch with your problem above is that its somehow related to IIS
security permissions on the Project Server virtual directory. Have you
tried to apply the security to the defaults settings from the top down
(I cannot remember exactly what it was and i do not have an
installation handy right now, but I think its only Windows Integrated
Authentication - and also Basic if you are using HTTPS and need to
travel through a firewall.) Is this happening for everyone?

Nico

 

[Ray]

No, actually I learned it's just happening to me. And only if I'm logging in
from the Project server itself or from my Windows 2000 Pro desktop. If I log
in from an XP desktop, it works perfectly!

I'm going to go with the flow and request a new computer.

Thanks for all of your help!

Ray