Category: SharePoint

In Small Business Server 2003 the standard port for companyweb was 444 but for Small Business Server 2008 this changed to port 987. A major problem in some cases is the fact that many companies are very restrictive when it comes to having ports open in their firewalls. This makes companyweb useless for many users. The solution is to put companyweb on the same port as the site SBS Web Applications, port 443 which is open in almost all firewalls out there.

This is achieved by running the below command from the directory \inetpub\adminscripts. Note though that you have to put in the ID of the SBS SharePoint site which can be found by marking “Sites” in IIS Manager.

cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set /w3svc/<IDFORSBSSHAREPOINT>/SecureBindings
":443:companyweb.contoso.com"

After running this command and restarting the web service the companyweb can be reached by browsing to the address https://companyweb.contoso.com. There might be some problems with for example page not displaying without adding default.aspx or browsing document libraries so do not forget to also change the alternate access mappings. This is done in SharePoint Central Administration > Operations > Global configuration > Alternate access mappings. Change the entry which points to the site with port 987 and instead enter the name as you did for companyweb.contosoe.com in the above command.

Today I faced a problem where I had to put different sites in IIS on the same SSL port which by default is 443. As you might know you cannot set more than one web site to use port 443 in the GUI of IIS Manager, and you can neither specify different host headers there. However you can put more than one web site on the SSL port by using the command line script as stated below. Run it from C:\inetpub\adminscripts but before you do, find out what the identifier for the site you want to enable SSL for is by clicking on “Web sites” in IIS Manager.

cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set /w3svc/1/SecureBindings
":443:intranet.contoso.com"

Make sure that the above command is put and run on one line and you are done. Please note that if you do not have a wildcard certificate installed (*.contoso.com) you will receive certificate warnings for one of the sites, as the certificate name will not match the host name.

In my latest posts I’ve been talking about the now released infrastructure for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, an update that would solve the automatic workflow problem once and for all. The problem with workflows not being run automatically is now solved, but be aware that installing the infrastructure update (KB951695) alone does not resolve the problem.

To permanently resolve the problem one must also apply the command that is mentioned in KB953289: A declarative workflow that is configured to start automatically when e-mail enabled items are created does not start automatically after you install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1.

So finally Microsoft have released the infrastructure update which once and for all fixes the problem with automatic workflows not working in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

More information: Description of the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: July 15, 2008
More information: Issues that are fixed in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Infrastructure Update
More information: A declarative workflow that is configured to start automatically when e-mail enabled items are created does not start automatically after you install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 

Source: SharePoint blog

Many users that are using automatic workflows in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) have experienced problems with the workflows not running automatically after applying Service Pack 1 for WSS. According to Microsoft this is a feature because of changes to security. Anyway, Microsoft have had a KB article out (see KB947284) for a possible workaround on this since February but many people including myself has found this KB article to be useless as the problem remain after performing the steps mentioned in the article.

Anyway, after working with Microsoft Product Support Services on this issue for some weeks it seems that Microsoft soon will be done with a hotfix that once and for all will resolve the automatic workflow bug. I’m holding my thumbs!