Can't process aspx web pages after migration - 9.1 service pack 5

NPM was running slow on the virtual server it was on (resource limitations) so we bought a nice new dual quad core HP server to migrate to. I downloaded the migration doc and, with a little help from a support engineer it looked like we got it moved over to the new server. Problem is, the new server won't serve .aspx web pages. Event Viewer shows: "The HTTP Filter DLL E:\Program Files\Solarwinds\Orion\ URLRewrite.dll failed to load. The data is the error." Support says the problem is with IIS on my new server.

One of the web folks here looked at the server and said "Yeah, something's wrong. You don't have an asp.net tab on the properties page for the web site." She tried re-installing Framework but it had no effect. Still no asp.net tab and unable to process aspx pages in Orion. I moved Orion back to the old server so I could look a little closer. All the Orion services are now stopped on the new server.

I uninstalled IIS and Frameworks. I re-installed IIS and Frameworks. Then, I looked at IIS. I had an asp.net tab on the website property page now! Of course, I only had a default website; the Orion website was deleted during the uninstall/re-install of Frameworks and IIS. So, I ran the website portion of the configuration wizard to see if asp.net was going to work now. Poof...the asp.net tab disappeared and I'm pretty much back where I started; urlrewrite.dll not loading and the website unable to serve aspx content.

At this point, I have a snail slow installation of NPM running on my old server and a really fast doorstop. :-(

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Dan Goodale, Network Engineer, Triwest Healthcare

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Accepted answers

jstuner

We had a similar issue and found that the asp.net web extensions were prohibited by default in IIS 6.0 on Windows server 2003. We also thought our issue was caused by the missing asp.net tab. Below are the instructions we used to resolve our issue.

*** NOTE: You will probably have to add 2 new web service extention. Add the aspnet_isapi.dll under both the ASP.NET v1.1.4322
and v2.0.50727 frameworks***

INSTRUCTIONS:

You may get a Page cannot be found message when you browse aspx pages in a Windows Server 2003 environment.

That is because in Windows 2003, all the webservice extensions are "Prohibited" by default to ensure security.

To resolve this, do the following steps:-

1. From your Run command, type inetmgr and press enter.
2. Expand the appropriate nodes in the IIS to locate the "Webservice Extensions" Node
3. Click on the same.
4. You will find a list of "prohibited" extensions in the right.
5. Click on ASP.NET and "allow" it

All comments

bshopp

Can you tell us more about your new setup/server? Is the OS x64?

DGoodale

Sure, Brandon. :-)

My new server is a rebranded HP DL380. Cisco OEMs them. It's a dual quad core server with 4gb of memory running 32 bit Server 2003 standard, Service pack 2. 700gb of raid 5 drive space spread across 3 logical drives. SQL 2000 is the back end, running on a separate SQL cluster. (SQL upgrade is next, once I can get this server running NPM).

I installed Orion NPM 9.1 (SLX) service pack 5 on the new server. The old virtual server was running 9.1 service pack 4. It doesn't have enough resources to support the new modules we just bought; hence the new server. For the most part the migration seemed to go ok until we found out nothing that used aspx would run.

If I'm reading it right, it looks like urlrewrite.dll handles aspx in 9.1 since you still have both asp and aspx. I noticed that I had a asp.net tab on the IIS default website properties page before I installed NPM. Afterwards, the asp.net tab was gone. I'm assuming that's because urlrewrite.dll takes over and handles aspx for NPM 9.1. Unfortunately, urlrewrite.dll can't load for some unknown reason.

At this point, we've given up. My server guys are supposed to rebuild the server this week and I'll cross my fingers and try it again. (I tried every suggestion I found in the forums here that pertained to urlrewrite not loading or having issues).

jstuner

*** NOTE: You will probably have to add 2 new web service extention. Add the aspnet_isapi.dll under both the ASP.NET v1.1.4322
and v2.0.50727 frameworks***

INSTRUCTIONS:

DGoodale

Oddly enough, this sugestion worked AFTER I had my server rebuilt. Urlrewrite.dll STILL wouldn't load during the new install. We had to allow "All Unknown ISAPI Extensions" on the Web Services Extensions page to get the dll to load. Thanks for the suggestion, jstuner!

Dan Goodale - Network Engineer