CGI in Windows 2003 IIS 6

[mskarica]

Hi,

I'm having trouble getting Zoom to work on Windows Server 2003, IIS 6. I have read previous posts, and I have followed the instructions on this site about configuring IIS6 to enable cgi, but no luck. Here's what I have done so far:

1. I have a clean installation of Win Server 2003, SP2, IIS6
2. I indexed the site (offline mode) and the files were saved to the target destination automatically (so I shouldn't have the problem about not uploading files in binary mode).
3. I created a new web service extension for the Zoom search engine, and I added the search cgi file to it, and I set this new web server extention to "allowed'.
4. I edited the permissions for the folder which contains the cgi file, and I changed the 'Execute Permissions' option to 'Scripts and Executables'.

When I open a browser and try to go to the search.cgi page, I get a 403 - access denied error.

Am I missing something? Please help.

Thanks.

[mskarica]

By the way, I have also tried allowing "All unknown CGI extensions" in the web service extensions (just as a test), and I end up getting a 404 error when I go to the search.cgi page.

[David]

Microsoft has made is very difficult to configure 2003 & IIS6. But the instructions here about installing a CGI on IIS cover pretty much everything we know on the topic and have been tested to work.

The steps you have completed seem OK. A 404 error is 'page not found'. But IIS is really poor for giving correct error messages. So it is hard to know if it is really a 404 or some other configuration error.

You could also try renaming the search.cgi file as search.exe

[sed]

i guess this part is essential in the process:

" If you wish to specifically allow ONLY the "search.cgi" application from Zoom to run, you should create a new Web Service Extension. Do this by right-clicking in the web service extensions list, and selecting "Add a New web service extension". Enter a name (eg. "Zoom Search Engine CGI"), and click on "Add". You will have to specify the path to the "search.cgi" file here, and click "OK". Once you have done this, change the status for the new extension to "Allow"."

Be sure to check the security settings for the search.cgi if the location is different than the zoom installation directory.

[mskarica]

I'm sure someone else will eventually have this problem, so I'll share what the problem is and the resolution (at least in my case). So basically, I did everything that you guys have documented, and that will normally work. In our case, we have GPO's (group policies) which alter the permissions of the "NETWORK SERVICE" account (by default, this is the account used by the web application).

So because the permissions to this account are altered, it doesn't have enough permissions to run the cgi script, and you end up with a 403 - access denied error (403.19, error code 1314 to be exact).

So your web application in IIS (website) uses an application pool, and that application pool runs under a specified user (default is NETWORK SERVICE). If this user doesn't have the proper permissions, it wont be able to run the cgi script. The rights it needs to have is "Adjust memory quotas for a process (SeIncreaseQuota)" and "Replace a process at token level (SeAssignPrimaryToken)".

Here is a kb article which provides several solutions. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/904056

[David]

Thanks for posting the extra details. I have updated out FAQ page as well. I am sure it will help someone else at some point.