PS 2003 to WSS by https

[Oleg Gaponov]

Hi All,
Project Server works properly with Windows SharePoint Services by http.
I am trying to switch to https and always receive error message

"The server instance specified was not found. Please specify the server's
address and port"

Can anybody help me?

 

[JamesF]

Oleg,

I had this exact same question. I worked on it for a long
time and did extensive research and could not find a
solution. Finally I decided to pay Microsoft Professional
Support a $99 incident fee to get the following answer
(yours free today only)

===========MPS Response==============================
In my test environment, I can reproduce the same error on
your side. The result is as below:

1. I configure WSS to use the NETBIOS name
(http://servername) and it works fine when connecting in
PWA (Project Web Access).
2. I configure WSS to use the FQDN name
(http://servername.domain.com) and it works fine when
connecting in PWA.
3. I configure WSS to use SSL with the NETBIOS name
(https://servername) and the same error occurs when
connecting in PWA.
4. I configure WSS to use SSL with the FQDN name
(https://servername.domain.com) and the same error occurs
when connecting in PWA.
5. I configure WSS to use SSL with the IP address
(https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) and it works fine when
connecting in PWA.

In the meantime, I performed further research on the SSL
configuration with WSS and it seems this issue occurs in
the following process.

1. When we click "Save Changes" in the "Manage Windows
SharePoint Service" page, PWA tries to validate this WSS
URL by looking up the URL in WSS.
2. WSS uses the IIS metabase to figure out the server
instance for the URL.
3. For SSL, the IIS metabase only contains IP and Port
information and there is no host-header information.
4. WSS cannot find the host-header information in SSL in
the IIS metabase and returns the error "The server
instance specified was not found"
5. PWA receives the error and popup the error message.

Currently, our product team is investigating this issue
for improvement. Although I cannot guarantee, most likely,
this issue will be resolved in the next service pack of
WSS. Your understanding and patience are greatly
appreciated.

I understand you are anxious to resolve this issue for an
extranet deployment. At this time, I suggest we connect
WSS using the IP address as a workaround. The steps are as
below:

1. In IIS manager, obtain a new certificate issued to the
IP address of the WSS web site.

2. Enable SSL on the WSS web site and assign the new
certificate to it.

3. In Project Web Access, enter https://<IP
address>:443/sites in the "Create a site under this
SharePoint URL:" box.

4. Save changes.

Please let me know if the information and suggestion above
help.

Due to the nature of this issue, I am glad to help you
refund on this incident. To do so, please confirm the
following information with me.
============End of MPS Response======================

I did reconfigure WSS to use the IP address by selecting
the IP address in the virtual directory settings instead
of "all interfaces". I forced my IIS site to "Require
SSL". I purchased a certificate for my IP address. I can
now run both PWA and WSS through SSL.

 

[Oleg Gaponov]

Hi James,
Thank U for your free answer
I changed WSS address from FQDN to IP address and it really works (yours
#5 -- I received only warning message about certificate).
But I can not leave it -- users accessing from the Internet as well as from
LAN. So I put synonym.

Users work by SSL if I manually change configuration.

/***************************************************************/
DECLARE @serverID int
DECLARE @webPort int, @isSSL int

SET @serverID = 1

select @webPort=WSTS_SERVER_WEB_PORT, @isSSL=WSTS_WEB_PORT_IS_SSL from
MSP_WEB_STS_SERVERS
WHERE WSTS_SERVER_ID = @serverID

IF @webPort = 80 AND @isSSL = 0
Begin
UPDATE MSP_WEB_STS_SERVERS
SET WSTS_SERVER_WEB_PORT=433, WSTS_WEB_PORT_IS_SSL=1
WHERE WSTS_SERVER_ID = @serverID
End
/****************************************************************/

I mean everything is OK (PS and WSS by https for external and internal
users) but when I create new project new WSS site is not created
automatically or manually.

But thank you James, U gave me the key
My current configuration if just 1 Web Application Server as member of AD
domain, but in future I will move project or portal to another box. So the
application server has several IP address, first one is assigned for OS,
second one for PS, third one is for WSS (Axapta, CRM...).

I checked if SSL assigned to all IP addresses ("default") but to port # not
443 it works. But that is not good for me (some of my clients are behind a
firewall and they can use 80 or 443 ports only by Security Policy)

But I changed network settings, I set the portal's IP address as the first
IP address for Windows server.
Now PS & WSS work by SSL properly.

So that is a bug of WSS, it works only on a the first IP address of the
operating system if you accessing to it by Project Server.

Cheers,
Oleg Gaponov

 

[Oleg Gaponov]

Hi Eric,

Yes I can.
I use the same domain name for private and public network, but a DNS server
from the Internet gives public IP address, an internal (LAN) DNS server
resolves it with private IP address. I can work with PS from the Internet
(no VPN) as well as in office.

Oleg

Thanks for the information, this was what I was considering as I have the same issue.

I presume (you didn't mention this in the post) that you are accessing the

site(s) external to your company network (like at a client site, or at
home - no VPN)?

Just to verify, you are able to see both project server and sharepoint

over SLL from OUTSIDE your company's network?

 

[Eric]

Oleg
I'm afraid I don't know how to make this work
On the Sharepoint config page there are two settings that relate to URL

PWA>Admin>Manage Windows Sharepoint Services:

Create a site under this sharepoint URL: http://servername:80/site
Sharepoint Extranet Address: https://fqdn:443/site

Our setup is as follows
1 compute
1 ni
1 cert - installed on the "servername" sit
1 public I
1 public URL (fqdn) that is registered with DN
Firewall open for FQDN Public IP = Server internal IP for HTTPS traffi

We can reach PWA + SP internally using http://servername/projectserver (and following links to SP
We can reach PWA Externally using https://fqdn/projectserve
We can NOT reach SP using the line above and following links (naturally - since SP is set to use //servername - which is not public

We WANT to reach SP via the same link as PWA (just like it works internally)
What setting - where - do I need to tweak to get this working

If I put the FQDN in the first value (see above), Sharepoint complains this is not a valid SP site

I realize there are essentially two web sites in use here, one for PWA and one for SP. They are hosted on the same server and SSL is in use

thanks for any help...

Eric