Configuring the IIS 2 Web Server

This page describes the configuration needed to run Caucus with the Microsoft IIS version 2 Web server.  Some details may be different for later versions of IIS.

To use Caucus with your Microsoft IIS 2 Web server, you must make a few changes to the IIS configuration.  This should not affect any other use of your IIS web server.  

(As usual, anywhere you see c:\caucus, replace it with the actual path of the Caucus home directory.)

  1. As Administrator, run the Internet Service Manager.  (Click Start, Programs, Microsoft Peer Web Services, Internet Service Manager.)  Double click the entry for the WWW service.

  2. On the "Service" tab, under "Password Authentication", make sure "Basic (Clear Text)" is checked.

  3. On the "Directories" tab, Click "Add".  This brings up a "Directory Properties dialog box.  In the Directory field, type "c:\caucus\public_html".  Make sure the "Virtual Directory" radio button is checked, and in the "Alias" field type "/~caucus".  Make sure the "Access" Read checkbox is checked.  Click OK.

  4. Back at the Directories tab, click "Add" again.  In the Directory field, type "c:\caucus\sweb".  Make sure the "Virtual Directory" radio button is checked, and in the "Alias" field type "/sweb".  Make sure that both the Access Read and Execute checkboxes are checked.  Click OK.

    Exit the Internet Service Manager.

  5. Lastly, deny access to the c:\caucus\sweb directory to the IIS userid.  For example, if your NT machine name is "XYZ", you must deny access to the userid (account) IUSR_XYZ.  Login to the caucus userid (or as Administrator), and open a command ("MSDOS") window, and type the command shown below:
            cacls c:\caucus\sweb\*.* /d IUSR_XYZ /e
        

A note about using Microsoft IIS.  Due to the nature of IIS, each Caucus user must have their own, unique userid (account) on your NT host.

If you would like to support "web-only" userids (that work with Caucus but do not otherwise allow access to your NT host), you must use another web server, such as O'Reilly's WebSite Professional or the (free!) Website 1.1.  You can run both IIS and WebSite on the same NT host, simply by assigning them different "port numbers".