IIS Installation Guide

Overview

SalesPad Mobile supports installation of the server component of the application into Microsoft Internet Information Services, or IIS. Installing the server into IIS allows the user to have multiple simultaneous installations, each pointing at a separate company database.

Prerequisites

Please know which ports you want to connect to and verify that the firewall will let connections through those ports. If you haven’t already set up IIS ports please read the following Microsoft article on the subject: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/149605. A domain admin with sys admin access to SQL server will be needed for the IIS App Pool.

Installing the .NET 4.0 Framework

SalesPad Mobile requires the .NET 4.0 framework, which can be downloaded from the following location. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851

Simply click the Download button and follow the instructions which appear on the screen.

Note: The .Net 4.5 framework requires Windows Server 2008 SP2 or above, or alternatively Windows Vista SP2 or above

Enabling Internet Information Services

IIS is not turned on by default in windows. In order to enable IIS functionality, first navigate to the Control Panel, and select the Programs heading.

Doing so will bring up the programs menu. Here, click on the Turn Windows features on or off item under the Programs and Features heading.

The next screen will allow us to actually enable IIS. After the list has loaded, scroll to the Internet Information Services item, and click the + symbol to the left of it to expand it.

The options we will need to enable are as follows:

• Web Management Tools
  • IIS 6 Management Compatibility
    • IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility
  • IIS Management Console
• World Wide Web Services
  • Application Development Features
    • .NET Extensibility (4.5)
    • ASP.NET 4.5
      Note: The .Net 4.5 framework requires Windows Server 2008 SP2 or above, or alternatively Windows Vista SP2 or above
• Common HTTP Features
  • Default Document
  • Directory Browsing
  • HTTP Errors
  • Static Content
• Health and Diagnostics
  • HTTP Logging
  • Request Monitor
• Performance Features
  • Static Content Compression
• Security
  • Basic Authentication
  • Request Filtering
  • Windows Authentication

Additionally, the .NET Framework 4.5 Advanced Services option must be enabled from the root level. The following items must be activated:

• ASP.NET 4.5
• WCF Services
  • HTTP Activation
  • TCP Port Sharing

IIS Configuration

In order for SalesPad Mobile to function correctly in IIS, it is necessary for IIS to allow delegation of the Authentication – Anonymous on a read-write level to its child sites. This can be seen below:

Installing the Application

The SalesPad Mobile Web Service can be installed by running the provided installer and following the steps shown on the screen. A brief overview follows.

The first two screens welcome the user to the wizard, and explain the licensing agreement for using the SalesPad Mobile Server. Review these screens and proceed onward to continue with the installation.

The next page of the wizard prompts the user to select the location in which they would like to install the mobile service. By default, the wizard would like to create a folder in IIS’s default root folder.

The next page of the wizard allows the user to configure the database connection for this install of the Mobile Service.

The IIS Setup page of the wizard allows the user to specify the name of the website to be installed, along with the port it should run on by default.

Mobile Service uses custom application pool identity by default, although this can be changed manually later on. The credentials should have Windows and SQL Server administrator rights and must have be a part of the DYNGROUP role in both the company database in question and the company’s Dynamics database.

1. App Pool Username – Windows username with administrator privileges
2. App Pool Password – Windows username password
3. App Pool Domain – Windows domain to which app pool username belongs to

The final page of the wizard prompts the user, confirming their desire to install the mobile server. Proceeding with the install requires Administrator privileges.

Configuring the Mobile Service to Use an SSL Certificate

Users can secure the mobile service with an SSL Certificate by setting up an “https” type binding for the service in IIS and selecting a certificate. In order for the mobile app to successfully connect to the secured service, users must make a modification to the service’s Web.config file. Users can find the Web.config file by right-clicking the mobile service in IIS and choosing Explore. Once there, the line “<security mode=”None”/>” must be deleted or commented out, and the 3 lines directly below it starting with “<security mode ="Transport">” must be uncommented out by deleting the “<!--" at the beginning, and the "-->” at the end.

Hosting Additional Instances of the Mobile Service

The SalesPad Mobile IIS installer currently only supports installing a single instance of the mobile service to an IIS server. In order to support true multi-tenancy, it is necessary to duplicate the SalesPad Mobile Website.

The most simple way to accomplish this is to navigate to the install location of the website, copy the directory, and rename it to the desired name. The copied directory can then be added by selecting the Add Website option when right-clicking Sites in the IIS manager.

This opens the Add Website screen. Here, the user must name the website, select the desired App Pool, then choose the directory the website exists in. This screen also allows the user to configure the websites bindings, specifying the address and port it will be hosted on.

Once the website has been added, it is also necessary to modify the site’s Application Settings, in particular, the connectionString property. This should be altered to be correct for the desired database.