IISForward and IISProxy Configuration Internals/Interaction

Question

Can someone give a detailed description of how IISForward and IISProxy interact
with IIS as ISAPI modules? We have the IIS plugins functioning properly, we would
just like a more detailed explanation on how they interact and work together when
proxying multiple virtual hosts. It seems that many people are in the dark on
this process, and that any clarification would alleviate many of the posts we
see here. I would also settle for a link to some documentation (not BEA's, it
is very poor!) on this.
Here is an excerpt from some documentation that we have written up internally
that helped us keep track of what we were doing when setting up the IIS Plugins.
Some of this content draws from BEA's documentation so we here at Servicemaster
make no claims on this content:
START OF EXCERPT:
6. Configuring IISForward
6.1 Installing iisforward.dll
Before creating the Virtual hosts in IIS, we need to create the directories that
are going to contain the DLL’s. There is going to be a one-to-one relationship
between Virtual Hosts and DLL directories. First create a directory where all
of the DLL directories will reside:
D:\WebLogicVHosts
Within this directory create the directory for each Virtual Host that will be
connecting to the WebLogic instance:
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com
Now copy the iisforward.dll from the directory WL_HOME/server/bin into each of
the directories you created for each of the Virtual Hosts.
6.2 Creating iisforward.ini
Create a file called iisforward.ini. Place this file in the same directories for
each of the virtual hosts that contain the iisforward.dll. This file should contain
the following entry for each virtual website defined in IIS:
vhostN=websiteName:port
websiteName:port=dll_directory/iisproxy.ini
Where:
N is an integer representing the virtual website. The first virtual website you
define should use the integer 1 and each subsequent website should increment this
number by 1.
websiteName is the name of the virtual website as registered with IIS.
port is the port number where IIS listens for HTTP requests.
dll_directory is the path to the directory you created in step 1.
For example:
vhost1=svmhome.com:7001
svmhome.com:7001=D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com \iisproxy.ini
vhost2=svmwork.com:7002
svmwork.com:7002= D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmhome.com \iisproxy.ini
vhost3=svmmemphis.com:7003
svmmemphis.com:7003= D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com \iisproxy.ini
7. Configuring IISProxy
7.1 Installing IISProxy
Now copy the iisproxy.dll from the directory WL_HOME/server/bin into each of the
directories you created for each of the Virtual Hosts.
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com
7.2 Creating iisproxy.ini
The iisproxy.ini file contains name=value pairs that define configuration parameters
for the plug-in. Changes in the parameters will not go into effect until you
restart the "IIS Admin Service".
We need to create a iisproxy.ini configuration file for each of the virtual hosts.
Here is a sample iisproxy.ini file for use with a single, non-clustered WebLogic
Server. Comment lines are denoted with the "#" character.
# This file contains initialization name/value pairs
# for the IIS/WebLogic plug-in.
WebLogicHost=examplehost16
WebLogicPort=7001
ConnectTimeoutSecs=20
ConnectRetrySecs=2
Here is a sample iisproxy.ini file with clustered WebLogic Servers. Comment lines
are denoted with the "#" character.
# This file contains initialization name/value pairs
# for the IIS/WebLogic plug-in.
WebLogicCluster=examplehost07:7001,examplehost08:7001
ConnectTimeoutSecs=20
ConnectRetrySecs=2
8. Configuring IIS Virtual Hosts
8.1 Proxying by file extension
At this point we are now ready to configure the virtual hosts within IIS. First
create a new virtual website as you would normally do within IIS. Second add
the iisforward.dll file as a filter service in IIS (WebSite Properties —> ISAPI
Filters tab —> Add the iisforward dll). For each virtual host the path to the
iisforward.dll should be unique. The paths should match the ones that you created
previously. Again, there should be a unique path for each virtual website.
Example:
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com\iisforward.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com\iisforward.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com\iisforward.dll
On the App Mappings tab, click the Add button to add file types and configure
them to be proxied to WebLogic Server. In the dialog box, browse to find the
"iisproxy.dll" file that matches the path to the unique iisproxy.dll file for
the virtual host.
Example:
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com\iisproxy.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com\iisproxy.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com\iisproxy.dll
Set the Extension to the type of file that you want to proxy to WebLogic Server.
Register .wlforward as a special file type to be handled by iisproxy.dll. Deselect
the "Check that file exists" check box. Set the Method exclusions as needed
to create a secure installation.
When you finish, click the OK button to save the configuration. You can repeat
this process for each file type you want to proxy to WebLogic. When you finish
configuring file types, click the OK button to close the Properties panel.
In the URL, any path information you add after the server and port is passed directly
to WebLogic Server. For example, if you request a file from IIS with the URL:
Example:
http://svmhome.com/jspfiles/myfile.jsp
it is proxied to WebLogic Server with a URL such as
http://examplehost07:7001/jspfiles/myfile.jsp
8.2 Proxying by path
Now, within the iisproxy.dll file for each virtual host, define the property WlForwardPath
in iisproxy.ini. WlForwardPath defines the path that is proxied to WebLogic
Server.
Example:
WlForwardPath=/apps
Set the PathTrim parameter to trim off the WlForwardPath when necessary.
Example:
WlForwardPath=/apps
PathTrim=/apps
The previous trims a request from IIS to Weblogic Server. Therefore, /apps/exampleapp
is changed to /exampleapp.
If you want requests that do not contain extra path information (in other words,
requests containing only a host name), set the DefaultFileName parameter to the
name of the welcome page of the Web Application to which the request is being
proxied. The value of this parameter is appended to the URL.
If you need to debug your application, set the Debug=ON parameter in iisproxy.ini.
A c:\tmp\iisforward.log is generated containing a log of the plug-in's activity
that you can use for debugging purposes.
For each virtual host that you configure to be proxied to WebLogic, set the value
for the Application Protection option to high (isolated) as opposed to Low or
Medium. This allows separate iisforward and iisproxy DLL’s to be loaded into
each virtual hosts (dllhost.exe) memory address space.
END OF EXCERPT
Can someone at BEA verify this information or possible add to it?
Tony

Answer 1

Nice write-up.
Though, I may have found an easier way to use VirtualHost and/or Virtual
Directories with IIS without the need to use the iisforward.dll.
A lot of customers are asking about using multiple WlForwardPath to proxy to
different WebLogic instances. It is possible to use Virtual Directories to
do this.
All that you need to do is set the Application Protection to HIGH for each
Virtual Directory
and then each directory can use it's own iisproxy.dll/iisproxy.ini. Fairly
straight forward and it seems to
work.
As well, you can do Virtual Websites with each one having the application
protection set to HIGH as well. And of course they will each use their own
iisproxy.dll/iisproxy.ini. These virtual Websites can also all listen on
the
same IP/Port and if you want to proxy based on Host header, you can click on
the advanced tab and set the Host header for which this virtual website will
use.
So, all that really needs to be done is when you create the virtual
directory, make sure the
application protection is set to HIGH and change the App Mapping to point to
the new iisproxy.dll/iisproxy.ini.
If you want to proxy everything under that path, then Add another App
Mapping
that has an extension of *.
I do believe this will allow us to completely bypass the need of the
iisforward.
I have tested this with IIS5. With IIS4 it is not possible to register an
App Mapping of *(not sure why).
I hope this helps many of you.
Best regards,
Eric
"Tony Mendoza" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
Can someone give a detailed description of how IISForward and IISProxyinteract
with IIS as ISAPI modules? We have the IIS plugins functioning properly,we would
just like a more detailed explanation on how they interact and worktogether when
proxying multiple virtual hosts. It seems that many people are in thedark on
this process, and that any clarification would alleviate many of the postswe
see here. I would also settle for a link to some documentation (notBEA's, it
is very poor!) on this.
Here is an excerpt from some documentation that we have written upinternally
that helped us keep track of what we were doing when setting up the IISPlugins.
Some of this content draws from BEA's documentation so we here atServicemaster
make no claims on this content:
START OF EXCERPT:
6. Configuring IISForward
6.1 Installing iisforward.dll
Before creating the Virtual hosts in IIS, we need to create thedirectories that
are going to contain the DLL's. There is going to be a one-to-onerelationship
between Virtual Hosts and DLL directories. First create a directory whereall
of the DLL directories will reside:
D:\WebLogicVHosts
Within this directory create the directory for each Virtual Host that willbe
connecting to the WebLogic instance:
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com
Now copy the iisforward.dll from the directory WL_HOME/server/bin intoeach of
the directories you created for each of the Virtual Hosts.
6.2 Creating iisforward.ini
Create a file called iisforward.ini. Place this file in the samedirectories for
each of the virtual hosts that contain the iisforward.dll. This fileshould contain
the following entry for each virtual website defined in IIS:
vhostN=websiteName:port
websiteName:port=dll_directory/iisproxy.ini
Where:
N is an integer representing the virtual website. The first virtualwebsite you
define should use the integer 1 and each subsequent website shouldincrement this
number by 1.
websiteName is the name of the virtual website as registered with IIS.
port is the port number where IIS listens for HTTP requests.
dll_directory is the path to the directory you created in step 1.
For example:
vhost1=svmhome.com:7001
svmhome.com:7001=D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com \iisproxy.ini
vhost2=svmwork.com:7002
svmwork.com:7002= D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmhome.com \iisproxy.ini
vhost3=svmmemphis.com:7003
svmmemphis.com:7003= D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com \iisproxy.ini
7. Configuring IISProxy
7.1 Installing IISProxy
Now copy the iisproxy.dll from the directory WL_HOME/server/bin into eachof the
directories you created for each of the Virtual Hosts.
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com
7.2 Creating iisproxy.ini
The iisproxy.ini file contains name=value pairs that define configurationparameters
for the plug-in. Changes in the parameters will not go into effect untilyou
restart the "IIS Admin Service".
We need to create a iisproxy.ini configuration file for each of thevirtual hosts.
Here is a sample iisproxy.ini file for use with a single, non-clusteredWebLogic
Server. Comment lines are denoted with the "#" character.
# This file contains initialization name/value pairs
# for the IIS/WebLogic plug-in.
WebLogicHost=examplehost16
WebLogicPort=7001
ConnectTimeoutSecs=20
ConnectRetrySecs=2
Here is a sample iisproxy.ini file with clustered WebLogic Servers.Comment lines
are denoted with the "#" character.
# This file contains initialization name/value pairs
# for the IIS/WebLogic plug-in.
WebLogicCluster=examplehost07:7001,examplehost08:7001
ConnectTimeoutSecs=20
ConnectRetrySecs=2
8. Configuring IIS Virtual Hosts
8.1 Proxying by file extension
At this point we are now ready to configure the virtual hosts within IIS.First
create a new virtual website as you would normally do within IIS. Secondadd
the iisforward.dll file as a filter service in IIS (WebSite Properties ->ISAPI
Filters tab -> Add the iisforward dll). For each virtual host the pathto the
iisforward.dll should be unique. The paths should match the ones that youcreated
previously. Again, there should be a unique path for each virtualwebsite.
>
Example:
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com\iisforward.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com\iisforward.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com\iisforward.dll
On the App Mappings tab, click the Add button to add file types andconfigure
them to be proxied to WebLogic Server. In the dialog box, browse to findthe
"iisproxy.dll" file that matches the path to the unique iisproxy.dll filefor
the virtual host.
Example:
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost1-svmhome.com\iisproxy.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost2-svmwork.com\iisproxy.dll
D:\WebLogicVHosts\vhost3-svmmemphis.com\iisproxy.dll
Set the Extension to the type of file that you want to proxy to WebLogicServer.
Register .wlforward as a special file type to be handled byiisproxy.dll. Deselect
the "Check that file exists" check box. Set the Method exclusions asneeded
to create a secure installation.
When you finish, click the OK button to save the configuration. You canrepeat
this process for each file type you want to proxy to WebLogic. When youfinish
configuring file types, click the OK button to close the Properties panel.
In the URL, any path information you add after the server and port ispassed directly
to WebLogic Server. For example, if you request a file from IIS with theURL:
>
Example:
http://svmhome.com/jspfiles/myfile.jsp
it is proxied to WebLogic Server with a URL such as
http://examplehost07:7001/jspfiles/myfile.jsp
8.2 Proxying by path
Now, within the iisproxy.dll file for each virtual host, define theproperty WlForwardPath
in iisproxy.ini. WlForwardPath defines the path that is proxied toWebLogic
Server.
Example:
WlForwardPath=/apps
Set the PathTrim parameter to trim off the WlForwardPath when necessary.
Example:
WlForwardPath=/apps
PathTrim=/apps
The previous trims a request from IIS to Weblogic Server. Therefore,/apps/exampleapp
is changed to /exampleapp.
If you want requests that do not contain extra path information (in otherwords,
requests containing only a host name), set the DefaultFileName parameterto the
name of the welcome page of the Web Application to which the request isbeing
proxied. The value of this parameter is appended to the URL.
If you need to debug your application, set the Debug=ON parameter iniisproxy.ini.
A c:\tmp\iisforward.log is generated containing a log of the plug-in'sactivity
that you can use for debugging purposes.
For each virtual host that you configure to be proxied to WebLogic, setthe value
for the Application Protection option to high (isolated) as opposed to Lowor
Medium. This allows separate iisforward and iisproxy DLL's to be loadedinto
each virtual hosts (dllhost.exe) memory address space.
END OF EXCERPT
Can someone at BEA verify this information or possible add to it?
Tony