Problem publishing ASP.net web application on University server

Question

HI, I am doing my undergraduate project. I need to publish it on university server. I was given a space(ftp), login, password. I have done all the steps when publishing it e.g throw visual studio or absolute ftp. I am getting error "Server Application unavailable" when trying to access it. Our technician is not good at Microsoft "stuff", I believe that it is something to do with IIS on the server. But I have no idea. I looked online it only tells about IIS on developer's machine(how to configure), but how to do it on server? what I have to tell my technician? cause he won't reserach himself(( Thank you! any source are appreciated.

Answer 1

To run an ASP.Net website depending on the version of IIS running on the server the following is required:

Windows Server 2003 (IIS 6)

• ASP.net application must be enabled under the third party extensions
• The site needs to be created with an Application Pool configured to the right ASP.Net Version (1.1,2.0,4.0)
• The default.aspx page must be added to the valid index pages settings.

Registering ASP.Net If the above has been done you need to register the version of ASP.Net on the server for it to work. This can be done via the command line by running

C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework[Framework Version]\aspnet_regiis.exe /ia

Windows Server 2008 (IIS 7/7.5)

• The .Net Role needs to be enabled. (Server Roles)
• The ASP.net Role needs to be enabled. (Server Roles)
• The site needs to be created with an Application Pool configured to the right ASP.Net Version (1.1,2.0,4.0)
• The default.aspx page must be added to the valid index pages settings.

This is a top level overview of what needs to be done. The IIS 7 and higher pretty much self configures most of these when the role is installed. Based on the error your describing it seems like the Application Pool has not been configured or it is set to the wrong version of ASP.Net.

Answer 2

This error can occur for number of reasons. The first thing to do is get the technician to check the Windows Event log for any errors, as this will give a more detailed explanation of what the problem may be.

Once you've have a more detailed error you can take a look at Diago's list and see which setting is the likely cause. The most common reason I see this error is because the site is set to use the wrong .net version (1.1 or 2)