Manual configuration for IIS 8.x and IIS 10.x

These are the instructions for the manual configuration of the ISAPI dispatcher for IIS 8.0 and IIS 10.0.

The installer needs some Internet Information Services (IIS) features to be activated:

  • IIS Management Scripts and Tools
  • ASP.NET
  • .NET Extensibility
  • ISAPI Extensions
  • ISAPI Filters

To activate IIS on a Windows Server 2012:

  1. Open Server Manager
  2. Under the Manage menu, select Add Roles and Features to launch the Add Roles and Features Wizard
  3. For Installation type, check the option Role-based or Feature-based Installation and click Next
  4. For Server Selection, select the appropriate server, (the local server is selected by default) and click Next
  5. For Server Roles, check Web Server (IIS) and click Next
  6. For Features, accept the default settings and click Next
  7. For Web Server Role (IIS), accept defaults and click Next
  8. For Role Services, accept the default settings that have already been selected for you, and verify that the IIS Management Scripts and Tools, IIS Management Console, ASP.NET, .NET Extensibility, ISAPI Extensions, and ISAPI Filters options are selected, and then click Next
  9. For Confirmation, click the Install button. (When the IIS installation completes, the wizard shows the installation status in the Results screen)
  10. Click Close to exit the wizard

Activate IIS on Windows 8 and 10

  1. Verify IIS is installed. In Control Panel > Administrative Tools, you must have an entry called Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
    Figure: Administrative Tools window with IIS Manager highlighted

    Internet Information Services in Administrative Tools screenshot
  2. Verify IIS is started. Open a browser and enter the URL: http://localhost. The IIS welcome screen displays.
    Figure: IIS Welcome Screen

    IIS welcome screen screenshot
  3. Set the appropriate Windows® Features. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features. Click Turn Windows features on or off
    Figure: Turn Windows features on or off link

    Turn Windows features on or off screenshot
  4. In the Windows Features dialog, select IIS Management Scripts and Tools, and verify that the ASP and the ISAPI options are also selected. When checking these options, other options may also be automatically checked. That is normal behavior, as they are combined options.
    Figure: Turn Windows features on or off dialog

    Windows features on/off screenshot

Create application pool

You need to create an application pool that will allow you run web and desktop applications. The GAS ISAPI Extension will be executed on behalf of the user that is registered in the pool's properties.

  1. To create an application pool, perform the following steps:
    1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click Application Pools and click Add Application Pool....
      Figure: Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Application Pools screen

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Features View screenshot of Application Pools showing the application pool, "GASAppPool", added and highlighted
    2. In the Add Application Pool... dialog, enter a name for the application pool, for example "GASAppPool".
    3. In the .NET CLR version box, select No Managed Code.
    4. In the Managed pipeline mode box, select Integrated.
    5. Click OK.
      Figure: Completed application pool configuration

      Image shows the recommended application pool configuration settings for GAS
  2. To configure the application pool to run web and desktop applications, perform the following steps:
    1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click the application pool (GASAppPool in our example), and click Advanced Settings...
    2. In the Advanced Settings dialog, in the Process Model area, set the Idle Time-out (minutes) field to "0" or to a value that is greater than the USER_AGENT timeout value of Genero 4GL applications that the application pool will run.
    3. In the Process Model area, set the Maximum Worker Processes field to 1.
    4. In the Recycling area, set the Disable Overlapped Recycle flag to True.
    5. In the Recycling area, set the Disable Recycling for Configuration Changes flag to True.
    6. In General area, if you want to start the pool at the same time as the web server to decrease the initial response time, set the Start Mode flag to AlwaysRunning.
    7. Click OK.
  3. To change the user identity that runs the GAS, perform the following steps:
    Important:

    The GAS ISAPI Extension will be executed on behalf of the user that is registered in the pool's properties. That user must have access to the FGLASDIR directory.

    1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click the application pool (GASAppPool in our example), and click Advanced Settings...
    2. In the Advanced Settings dialog, in the Process Model area, click the Identity field.
    3. Click ... to open the Application Pool Identity dialog.
    4. According to your security policy, either select a built-in account or set a custom account.
    5. Click OK.
    6. In the Advanced Settings dialog, click OK.
  4. Finally, check that you have configured your application pool creation correctly. Right click the application pool (GASAppPool in our example), and click Advanced Settings... again. Compare your settings with Figure 7.
    Figure: Compare your pool configuration setup

    Image shows the recommended pool configuration settings for GAS app pool

Create an application

You need to create an application that is bound to the GAS ISAPI extension dispatcher. You need to configure authentication for the anonymous user, or a user based on your security policy.

  1. To bind an application to the GAS ISAPI Extension dispatcher, perform the following steps:
    1. Create a directory on your disk that is the application root directory. The recommended directory is for example $FGLASDIR/ISAPI.
    2. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click the web site on which you want to add the application, for example "Default Web Site", and then click Add Application...
      Figure: Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Default Web Site Home screen

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Default Web Site Home screen showing application ("gas") added and highlighted
    3. In the Add Application dialog, enter the alias of your application, for example "gas".
    4. Enter the physical path to the directory created in substep a.
    5. Click Select...
    6. In the Select Application Pool dialog, select the application pool that you have defined previously.
    7. Click OK.
    8. Select Enable Preload.
    9. In the Add Application dialog, click OK.
      Figure: Completed application configuration

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager application configuration edit screen
  2. Configure authentication for the anonymous user.
    If all users have access to the application, the identity of the anonymous user should be configured as shown in the following steps:
    1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, select your application.
    2. In the Features View panel, double-click the Authentication icon.
    3. In the Authentication feature, select the Anonymous Authentication line.
    4. Ensure that the status is Enabled.
    5. In the Actions area, click Edit...
    6. In the Edit Anonymous Authentication Credentials dialog, select Application pool identity.
    7. Click OK.
      Figure: Configuration for anonymous authentication

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager anonymous authentication configuration
  3. To bind the application to the GAS ISAPI Extension dispatcher perform the following steps:
    1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, select your application.
    2. In the Features View panel, double-click the Handler Mappings icon.
    3. In the Handler Mappings feature, in the Actions area, click Add Wildcard Script Map...
    4. In the Add Wildcard Script Map dialog, enter the path to the GAS ISAPI Extension DLL: $FGLASDIR\bin\isapidispatch.dll.
    5. Enter a name for this mapping, for example "GAS ISAPI Extension".
    6. Click OK.
    7. To the question Do you want to allow this ISAPI extension?, click Yes.
    8. In the Handler Mappings feature, in the Actions area, click View Ordered List...
    9. Ensure that the GAS ISAPI Extension is at the top of the list.
    10. Click View Unordered List...
    11. Select the GAS ISAPI Extension and in the Actions area, click Edit
    12. In the Edit Script Map dialog, click on Request Restrictions...
    13. In the Request Restrictions dialog's Mapping panel, clear the Invoke handler only if requests is mapped to: option.
    14. In the Request Restrictions dialog's Access panel, select the Script option.
    15. Click OK.
      Figure: Binding application to GAS ISAPI extension

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager binding application to GAS ISAPI Extension configuration
  4. To allow execution of the ISAPI extension perform the following steps:

    Although the GAS ISAPI Extension has been allowed automatically when you answered Do you want to allow this ISAPI extension? with Yes in the last step, these steps allow you to do it manually and set a description.

    1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, select the root node, the one that contains the host name.
    2. In the Features View panel, double-click the ISAPI and CGI Restrictions icon.
      Figure: Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Connections root node screen

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Features View screenshot of Connections root node with highlighted ISAPI and CGI Restrictions icon.
    3. In the ISAPI and CGI Restrictions feature, in the Actions area, click Add...
    4. In the Add ISAPI or CGI Restriction dialog, enter the path to the GAS ISAPI Extension DLL: $FGLASDIR\bin\isapidispatch.dll.
    5. Enter a description, for example "GAS ISAPI Extension".
    6. Ensure that the Allow extension path to execute checkbox is selected.
    7. Click OK.
      Figure: ISAPI CGI restrictions configuration

      Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager screenshot of ISAPI and CGI Restrictions configuration for GAS ISAPI extension.

After you have finished the installation, you now need to configure the GAS ISAPI Extension configuration file, see Finishing the installation .