Installing more than one instance of a Web Active Directory application on the same server

Installing more than one instance of a Web Active Directory application on the same server

Description 
You can install multiple instances of the same Web Active Directory application–including PeopleSearch, PeopleUpdate or PeoplePassword–on the same web server. This is handy if you want to target different applications to different audiences while using separate configurations. Generally though you could avoid having to do this by installing on multiple virtual servers. Note that additional licensing fees may apply if you choose to use the same or a different server.

Notes 
This procedure details how to set up more than one instance of a Web Active Directory product on the same web server. You cannot use the product installer in this case because it will not install an additional instance and will instead either try to upgrade the current instance or will not install at all. Instead, you need to manually set up the additional instance(s) of the same product following the directions below.

The process below works for the following versions and later of Web Active Directory products. Versions prior to these releases may require additional steps, particularly to ensure the registry keys are correct, but the majority of the procedure is the same. Contact Web Active Directory support for more information about these scenarios.

To install an additional instance of a Web Active Directory product on the same web server:

1.Log in to the web server already hosting the first instance of the application.

2.Copy the source product’s web application root directory and all subdirectories and files contained in the root–typically located at %Program Files%\WebActiveDirectory\–to a new location. Web Active Directory support personnel recommend that you put this in the %Program Files%\WebActiveDirectory directory with a name like or something similar.

3.Go to the IIS Manager on the server by using Start > Run > inetmgr.

4.Create a new IIS website and name it appropriately. The directory permissions for the site should not allow Anonymous access and should use Integrated Windows, Digest or Basic authentication while site permissions should ensure that scripts are allowed to run. Set the home directory for the site to the directory you created previously.

5.Modify the web application configuration file (Web.config) for your new web application instance(s) to set the appropriate configuration values. These values vary by product and please refer to the appropriate section below for more information about setting up each product’s configuration file.

6.After configuring the Web.config file for the new web application instance, test the application instance to ensure it works and is accessing the correct configuration information. You should make a change to the configuration and then check to see if the new application instance reads the proper value from the data store.
Note: If an application instance doesn’t seem to be reading the correct configuration, please check to ensure you properly set the configuration store reference values for the product.

To set up a PeopleSearch or PeopleUpdate configuration file:

1.Open the Web.config file in the application root’s Web directory.

2.Locate the elements in the section.

3.Set the proper path to the configuration and error log files for the application instance in the value attribute for each key.

4.Locate the element in the section.

5.Set the proper path to the trace log file in the logfilename attribute.

6.Save the file.

7.Test the application to ensure it accesses the correct configuration data from this Web.config file.

To set up a PeoplePassword configuration file:

1.Open the Web.config file in the application root’s Web directory.

2.Locate the element in the section.

3.Set the proper data source value in the connectionstring attribute for this connection to the database.

4.Locate the element in the section.

5.Set the proper path to the trace log file in the logfilename attribute.

6.Save the file.

7.Test the application to ensure it accesses the correct configuration data from this Web.config file.

Additional Information
Web Active Directory’s products comprise versatile web applications that allow you to extensively configure them for your unique needs. In the end, these products are ASP.NET web applications that you can manage and deploy in a very similar fashion to other ASP.NET apps, basically by using XCOPY and changing the Web.config settings.

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