Clean MOSS Farm Install Error - 403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.

After finishing the MOSS 2007 64bit SP2 on Windows Server 2008 base OS, I went ahead to create a web application and then a site collection as per document's instructions: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262714.aspx

The problem I experienced was that when I hit the new site, everything loads except for the graphics. I went ahead to figure out the directory for the image and I can go to the directory to see the picture. Since the pictures weren't showing up, I also tried to directly access the image through the URL: http://99.99.5.91/_layouts/images/navshape.jpg and this is where I get a:

· 403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.

You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

I have no issues with all the images in the Sharepoint Administration page and when I browse the image via http://server1:32873/_layouts/images/recycbin.gif I can see the recycling bin.

I went ahead to try to review the permissions to see if they were set appropriately and they were (Users and WSS_admin_wpg were listed). As a troubleshooting step, I also added “everyone” and the “IUSER” account to read access but even by doing so, I was still getting the 403 error.

After spending some more time to troubleshoot the issue, I noticed that both:

1. Allow unspecified CGI modules

2. Allow unspecified ISAPI modules

…were both unchecked. This was when I finally found a workaround here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/942065

This fixed the problem but it was only for this site. As soon as I deployed another site, it would have the same issues.

With a bit more troubleshooting, I realized that there was a missing component required for IIS and that was the “ASP.NET” in the Web server role services.

This was not included in this document: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731760.aspx

I asked a Microsoft engineer as to why this was not included in the document and he pointed me to this link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263408.aspx I wasn’t able to find a list of components required either so I ended up documenting the information in the following table so I have a reference list of what is required to be installed in case I need it in the future.

Description

Front-end Server

Roles

Web Server (IIS)

· Common HTTP Features

· Static Content

· Default Document

· Directory Browsing

· HTTP Errors

· Application Development

· ASP.NET

· .NET Extensibility

· ISAPI Extensions

· ISAPI Filters

· Health and Diagnostics

· HTTP Logging

· Logging Tools

· Request Monitor

· Security

· Basic Authentication

· Windows Authentication

· Request Filtering

· Performance

· Static Content Compressions

· Management Tools

· IIS Management Console

· IIS 6 Management Compatibility

· IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility

Features

Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0 Features

· .NET Framework 3.0

· XPS Viewer

Remote Server Administration Tools

· Role Administration Tools

· Web Server (IIS) Tools

Windows Process Activation Service

· Process Model

· .NET Environment

· Configuration

Reinstalling MOSS and Required Components (IIS 7.0)

This was one of the problems I encountered a year or two ago while during a project at a college when installing MOSS 2007 on a Windows 2008 server:

One of the problems I encountered while reinstalling a MOSS farm front-end servers was when I had removed IIS 7.0 from Windows Server 2008 and tried to reinstall it. What happened was that it would keep failing when I tried to reinstall IIS 7.0 and the various components required for the installation. After troubleshooting for a bit, I realized that in order for IIS 7.0 to reinstall properly, you need to uninstall Windows Process Activation Service in the Features section. This component is required component and is automatically installed when you install IIS 7.0 but is not automatically uninstalled if you remove IIS 7.0 from the roles. The following is a screenshot of where it can be found:

MOSS 2007 TCP/IP and Named Pipes Requirements

Yes, I know SharePoint 2010 is out but in case anyone is interested in knowing what I found out 3 years back:

As per the documentation in the MOSS installation guide, it’s been noted that both TCP/IP and Named Pipes are supposed to be turned on. What’s interesting is that I’ve come across an environment with a farm setup that only had TCP/IP turned on yet was still functioning. I spoke with a Microsoft Engineer about this and they couldn’t really explain it either. In any case, best practice is to follow the guide to ensure this is turned on.

Configure surface area settings in SQL Server 2005

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2005, point to Configuration Tools, and then click SQL Server Surface Area Configuration.

2. In the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration dialog box, click Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections.

3. In the tree view, expand the node for your instance of SQL Server, expand the Database Engine node, and then click Remote Connections.

4. Select Local and Remote Connections, select Using both TCP/IP and named pipes, and then click OK.