websitepanel HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable

Question

hi

i installed websitepanel 1.2 on following system without any problem:

Win Server 2008 R2

after that, i installed exchange 2010 in hosting mode. for this perpose i uninstalled AD and installed in hosting mode as per exchange requirement, and now my exchange work perfectly.

i installed websitepanel again, and now "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable" killed me! same as :

setup log:

[4/2/2012 5:32:23 PM] ERROR: Authentication error
System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 503: Service Unavailable.
   at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMessage message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)
   at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
   at WebsitePanel.EnterpriseServer.esAuthentication.AuthenticateUser(String username, String password, String ip)
   at WebsitePanel.Setup.ES.Connect(String server, String username, String password)
[4/2/2012 5:32:24 PM] ERROR: Enterprise Server connection error
[4/2/2012 5:32:29 PM] INFO: SetupCompletePage loaded.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/wspsupport/thread/f3b0948f-cdb2-4c18-8aa7-f7e6ae73da7d

i searched alot, repair users as per solution in above link. but error is still exist!

please help

Answer 1

Well.. since you uninstalled AD...

All the usernames.. (IIS, WSP, MSSQL, etc) are they all local now?

as from the error code i wonder if some of them still try and auth using AD instead of a Local user.

(so.. pretty much make sure all users do exist on your local system WITH the propper user group assigned to it).

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 2

Well.. since you uninstalled AD...

All the usernames.. (IIS, WSP, MSSQL, etc) are they all local now?

as from the error code i wonder if some of them still try and auth using AD instead of a Local user.

(so.. pretty much make sure all users do exist on your local system WITH the propper user group assigned to it).

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

thanks for your reply. all users are from AD and there are not local. before change to hosting mode, AD and were installed and websitepanel work without any problem. i tried to change exchange to hosting mode. for this propose exchange was uninstalled completely.

after that i tried to perform AD for hosting mode installation but based on system message, i uninstalled AD and installed it again and perform based on following instruction:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/meamcs/archive/2011/03/14/exchange-2010-sp1-hosting-part-3-hosting-setup.aspx

after that i installed websitepanel again with mentioned error. i checked, there are 3 user (WPPortal, WPServer, WPEnterpriseServer) in AD users. all program work well, and problem is only about websitepanel. how can i find the problem?

since the exchange work well and i can work with OWA, IIS work well. some body proposed to add Network Service in IIS user group, i did but error still exist. i deleted all related 3 users from AD and all group and install wensitepanel again, but error still exist.

Answer 3

How about the SQL user?

If your SQL has a wrong auth WSP will also pass on the same error 503.

(which depends on your setup if that used to be Active directory or not.. if it's an empty SQL you can easily re-install from scratch without any issue - if it's populated you have to preform several steps to check and/or change the MS SQL user).

You can also do a simple test if your WSP IIS site works fine (auth wise).

Simply upload a small file (html or something)  to the WSP portal / server / enterprise site. and load the url directly.

IF it still pops up an error 503 at either one of those 3 sites it is still to do with your IIS user permissions.

If all of them display correctly i would look into MS SQL.

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 4

How about the SQL user?

If your SQL has a wrong auth WSP will also pass on the same error 503.

(which depends on your setup if that used to be Active directory or not.. if it's an empty SQL you can easily re-install from scratch without any issue - if it's populated you have to preform several steps to check and/or change the MS SQL user).

You can also do a simple test if your WSP IIS site works fine (auth wise).

Simply upload a small file (html or something)  to the WSP portal / server / enterprise site. and load the url directly.

IF it still pops up an error 503 at either one of those 3 sites it is still to do with your IIS user permissions.

If all of them display correctly i would look into MS SQL.

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

thanks for your consideration

regarding SQL, i tried to login with SA user SQL enterprise manager and found that Websitepanel could insert related database and relevant tables. so is it required to install SQL again or not?

regarding IIS WPS test, i copied iisstart.htm to enterprise folder and checked, error 503 appeared again. also i changed the binding address with different IP and error 503 shown again.

i added empty site and copy iisstart.htm and tested. it is worked without error.

with considering above, i think, error 503 is for IIS user permission. is it OK? and what is your suggestion about solution?

Answer 5

Considering that HTML page is also giving error 503 it is quite certain that your IIS user / files have permission issues.

Please check the following:

1) Is the IIS user a local user?

2) Does the IIS user have permissions on the WSP files?

I'm guessing either the files or the IIS user got issues with permissions so please check it carefuly OR re-install using the following method:

1) Uninstall

2) Check IIS for any leftovers

3) Check your Disk for any leftover files of WSP

Delete anything that is still left behind by WSP.

Once totally cleaned -

Re install it again using local user.

If it still doesn't work or you feel confident you done the above steps already.. i can take a look on your server my self if you want.

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 6

Considering that HTML page is also giving error 503 it is quite certain that your IIS user / files have permission issues.

Please check the following:

1) Is the IIS user a local user?

2) Does the IIS user have permissions on the WSP files?

I'm guessing either the files or the IIS user got issues with permissions so please check it carefuly OR re-install using the following method:

1) Uninstall

2) Check IIS for any leftovers

3) Check your Disk for any leftover files of WSP

Delete anything that is still left behind by WSP.

Once totally cleaned -

Re install it again using local user.

If it still doesn't work or you feel confident you done the above steps already.. i can take a look on your server my self if you want.

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Thanks Marco

i have not any IIS local user. i have IIS_IUSER AD group which include WPS users.

also i deleted all WPS user and files and installed it again but nothing changed.

please send me your email on [e-mail] to send your user/pass of my server.

Answer 7

alrighty..

Send the email (though my mail client was updating at the time).

my mail address is m.tiggelaar (at) key4ce.eu

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 8

For the people who also ran into this problem:

The solution is to add Websitepanel Portal AND Enterprise user to Administrator & Domain Admin groups.

Once thats set it will work alright.

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 9

Hi,

I also installed website panel 1.2 and i have the same error message "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable", when i try to connect to the console. In IIS console, my application pool "WebSite Panel Application" stop.

I added the 3 websitepanel users to a new group, and this new group to Domain Admin and Administrator groups.

I still have this error 503.

Thanks for your help

---

Anaïs

Answer 10

There's lots of reasons why you can get an error 503. but first of all please assign the administrator + domain admin group to the user it self (and not indirectly) to avoid any odd behaviour (as i never tested it with indirect groups).

Make sure the file permissions are set correctly.

Make sure the connection to MS SQL is also correct (and the SQL user accurate).

Also can you please check your log and see if there's any mention in there why it gives the error 503?

If all this fails.. please check my above email and i can check in person for you too over Remote Desktop :-)

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 11

Thanks for your response!

How i assign my users to this group. On my CAS server, i have only local group but not those of the AD?

What do you mean by "Make sure the file permissions are set correctly"?

I tested and the connection to MS SQL is correct.

The only errors i have, are in the Event Viewer :

Error 1 :
Source :       Microsoft-Windows-WAS
Date :         10/04/2012 15:20:33
ID de l’événement :5002
Niveau :       Error
Description :
Application pool 'WebsitePanel Portal Pool' is being automatically disabled due to a series of failures in the process(es) serving that application pool.

Error 2:
Source :       Microsoft-Windows-WAS
Date :         10/04/2012 15:20:33
ID de l’événement :5139
Niveau :       Warning
Description :
A listener channel for protocol 'http' in worker process '2944' serving application pool 'WebsitePanel Portal Pool' reported a listener channel failure. The data field contains the error number.

Once again thanks

---

Anaïs

Answer 12

Alright..

First of all for the fix to work mentioned above: you will have to use Active Directory setup.

(so please re-configure WSP to use Active Directory.. then assign those 2 groups to the user).

Domain admin will only be working if it's actually in Active Directory :-)

IIS App pool uses a so called "Guest user" on all website files (unless you got windows auth / basic auth on.. then you need to login before viewing a website.)

So.. Websitepanel files have to be a minimum of readable by the user WSP uses (normally this is done automatically with the setup).

I would recommend installing WSP making Active Directory accounts instead of local ones.

Then assign those 2 groups to the WSP users.

That should do the trick under normal circumstances :)

Regards,

Marco

---

Key4ce - IT professionals: www.key4ce.eu

Answer 13

Thank you so much!

I installed again but this time i assigned users to AD during the installation, and the console runs.

---

Anaïs

Answer 14

Hi,

I have the same problem, but I don't use Active Directory.

My server is used to be only a webserver and therefore I didn't configure AD.

When I'm trying to configure SQL Server (Websitepanel->Configuration->Server), I also get the 503 error:

127.0.0.1:9001 -> System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. ---> System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 503: Service Unavailable.

When I'm logged in as "Serveradmin" and try to configure the SQL Server (My Server->SQL Server) and click on "Update", I get the 503 error and the WebsitePanel Server Pool stops.

I also have given WPserver, WPEnterprise and WPpool administrator rights, but still the problem occurs.

I read a lot and tried a lot, but now I'm out of options.

Can you please help me mr. Tiggelaar?

In SQL Server 2008 (R2) Managemend Studio I made a sysadmin (and I clicked on all the server roles to be sure it has all the needed rights) and still the problem occurs.

The server itself has a raid-5 configuration with the folders "WP Server", "WP Enterprise"  and "WP Pool".

I checked the folders' security tab and I made sure that the users WPServer, WPEnterprise and WPpool have the rights.

In ISS I configured the Websites "WebsitePanel Enterprise Server, Pool and Server " to have acces to de folder on the folders "WP Server", "WP Enterprise" and "WP pool".

I also give those websites "read" and "write" rights in ISS.

Why does the Server Pool stopping when I click on "Update"?

What else I have to do to made my server up-and-running?

Thanks in advance,

John Schellingerhout

NL