August 03, 2006
In previous versions of classic ASP and ASP.NET 1.x, there has always been a requirement
that an attachment exist on the hard disk before it can be attached to an outbound
email. For example, if you want to attach a file to an email in ASP.NET 1.x, you
need to reference a location on the disk using a file path. Makes sense right? To
attach a file you must have a file. However, in ASP.NET 2.x, you add an attachment
without having a file, all you need is a Stream.
April 13, 2006
In previous versions of classic ASP and ASP.NET 1.x, there has always been a requirement
that an attachment exist on the hard disk before it can be attached to an outbound
email. For example, if you want to attach a file to an email in ASP.NET 1.x, you
need to reference a location on the disk using a file path. Makes sense right? To
attach a file you must have a file. However, in ASP.NET 2.x, you add an attachment
without having a file, all you need is a Stream.
Feburary 09, 2005
Sometimes you want to take an SSL certificate that you already own that is installed
on your web server and import it into the ISA firewall’s machine certificate store.
This allows for encryption of outbound SSL from the ISA server to the published
Web site in an SSL to SSL bridging scenario. One example is publishing your Outlook
Web Access (OWA) site through your ISA firewall. This article guides you through
the steps required to export your SSL certificate from you Internet Information
Server (IIS) 6.0 Web site and import that certificate into the ISA firewall’s machine
certificate store
Back in November of 2000, I wrote an article for ASP 101 called "Extending Your
Page Names". Based on the number of people that contact me with questions and praise,
it was one of the most successful articles I have ever written. Since then we have
seen the launch of Windows 2003, IIS 6.0, ASP.NET, and the rise of Google. So I
felt it was time to make an update to the article....
July, 2003
The Performance tool that ships with Windows 2000 is a good means for monitoring
Microsoft IIS's traffic, stress, and workload. The Performance tool (known as the
Performance Monitor in Windows NT) is an open interface that Microsoft and third-party
services and products use to report statistical and trend information about their
status.
December, 2002
Ensuring IIS security and optimal performance requires metabase changes that you
can’t typically make with ISM. However, you can use MetaEdit to make these changes.
September, 2002
Security improvements have been a top priority in the evolution of IIS. IIS 6.0,
which will be part of Windows .NET Server, has improved security features and a
new approach to server configuration. New security-related tools for IIS, including
IIS LockDown, make securing your server against attack easier than ever. The author
explains how and why you can shut down services with IIS LockDown. He discusses
limiting port access with TCP/IP filtering, controlling how files are served with
extension mapping, what's new for Secure Sockets Layer, the use of URLScan, and
more. Wayne Berry - September 2002
August, 2002
Does IIS seem unstable to you? In reality, IIS is an extremely dependable platform.
The real culprits of IIS downtime are probably your custom static files, CGI applications,
ISAPI extensions, ISAPI filters, ASP files, and COM objects.
July 02, 2002
Learn about a built-in IIS 5.0 safeguard that can help you prevent a destabilization
of your Web server.
March 14, 2002
As IT professionals try to reduce the cost of operating their Web sites, they should
consider reducing the amount of bandwidth usage. Current compression technologies
can do this; however, their implementation is limited by current bugs in both the
browser and the server. Learn how to successfully compress your HTML output and
save money on your monthly bandwidth.
Feburary 06, 2002
Running a Windows Web server is becoming expensive and will soon cost even more.
The next version of Windows .NET Server will be more expensive than Windows 2000.
Factoring in the additional costs of ongoing maintenance for endless security patches
and service packs, and the expense of rapidly depreciating hardware has left me
thinking about how to handle my Web-server load on the fewest number of servers.
September 07, 2000
Caching happens at all levels, on the hard drive, in RAM, and within the operating
systems. It is a performance fundamental of computer science. In 1999, a wave of
caching products swept the Internet to serve graphics faster. These products drove
the stock of companies like Akamai Technologies, Inc., and Inktomi Corp. into the
sky. However, they were focused on caching graphics and streaming media.
November 08, 2000
This article shows how you can get a static-looking page name and dynamic pages
at the same time.
This article will show you how to hide the identity of your web site by making some
configuration changes to IIS and using URLScan or by installing an ISAPI filter.This
article will show you how to hide the identity of your web site by making some configuration
changes to IIS and using URLScan or by installing an ISAPI filter.
March 16, 1998
ADSI is a powerful COM interface that allows you to programmatically configure IIS,
NTLM, and Exchange Server. A previous 15 Seconds' article entitled: "Understanding
ADSI", described how ADSI works and gave some examples for configuring IIS. This
article will discuss how to configure NTLM using ADSI, including the manipulation
of groups, users, and domains.
Ocotober 15, 1998
Nowadays there are all sorts of ways to catch errors in your Active Server Pages.
When writing the code you can use fancy tools like Visual InterDev’s Server Side
Debugging or use the good old method of writing your variables out to the browser
in HTML. However, once your code goes into production how do you find the errors?
A better question to ask first is, “Does my production code have errors?” (ya right).
Feburary 10, 1998
In this issue, we will discuss how to use custom error pages with IIS 4.0. With
IIS 4.0, you can return special pages for each web site error instead of the default
pages. So instead of the message "404 File Not Found," the user could have a list
of optional links with your company header and an apologetic message. We will demonstrate
how to get the most from custom error pages by using Active Serve pages to customize
the message.
January 01, 1998
In this issue, we discuss two built-in states of the Internet Information Server,
session and application. We will also continue where we left off with the Nov 08,
1997 - Sharing Cookies Across Domains Issue, and show how to maintain session state
across multiple servers in a web farm. Also discussed, will be user state and the
use of personalization to maintain user state. Two begin, we need to define state
and illustrate it's occurrence in executables and the Internet Information Server
Feburary 20, 1998
Many sites that are content specific depend on banner advertisement for revenue.
Such is the case for 15 Seconds. A banner is displayed at the top of the page for
every page viewed. Clients usually buy a set number of banner impressions and these
impressions are rotated amongst all the clients over a period of time. In order
to do this there must be a dynamic quality to the banners. In other words, the banner
to display is not determined until that page is requested.
May 05, 1997
In this issue we will discuss and demonstrate how to create Microsoft Excel worksheets
from Active Server pages. Though there are many ways that this can be done, we have
chosen a method for the example that conserves server load and puts the majority
work on the client.
March 16, 1997
In this issue we are going to demonstrate how to write to the Event Log, and how
to debug an Active Server Object. The big advantage to Active Server Objects, over
writing VB Script in an Active Server Pages, is that you can debug the Active Server
Object. Since Active Server Pages do not have a debugger, there is no way to step
through loops or view variables. This makes it hard to program big Active Server
Pages successfully. However, if you write Active Server Objects you can debug them.
Before you can debug code you have to have code to debug. So in this issue we are
showing you how to write to the Event Log.
January 01, 1997
Mod 10 is a technique for checking the validity of credit card numbers. You can
use this code to check credit card numbers that are entered through a form to your
web site.
December 14, 1997
If you are an Active Server page (ASP) developer, you have already used COM objects
to create your ASP pages. However, unless you have developed COM objects or read
a detailed book on COM, you might not understand COM enough to make use of the multitude
of COM objects that are available to use in ASP. Also, without sufficient COM knowledge
you might not be able to read some of the documentation that comes with other COM
objects or infer the methods and properties that must exist. One of the wonderful
things about COM is that once you learn the standards and the restrictions, you
can use this knowledge to quickly learn how to implement other COM objects. In this
Tutorial, we will try to explain how COM works from a Visual Scripter's reference
point and give you the knowledge you need to master the world of COM.
April 06, 1997
In this issue we are going to show you how to create an HTML-based list server.
October 18, 1997
If you are getting started programming Active Server Pages, there are a few standardized
programming practices you can use to make your code more readable. If you are already
an advanced Active Server programmer you will probable have many of your own. Programming
standards have been common practice in many programming languages for years. However,
unlike most things in computer science there is more than one way to format your
code, some better then others, and all controversial. We have written down our thoughts
on Active Server page standards in the following article
August 28, 1997
IIS 4.0 allows you to have multiple web sites on one machine. Though IIS 3.0 has
this capability, IIS 4.0 expands the functionality of multiple web sites by adding
additional characteristics to sub-directories, and allow for multiple applications.
Special considerations need to be made when designing and administrating multiple
web sites on a single machine, including when to use sub-directories, when to use
virtual directories, how to handle security, and the handling of multiple applications.
July 20, 1997
The next version of the Internet Information Server, version 4.0, is a major change
from version 3.0. One of the biggest improvements is the ability to run ISAPI applications
in another process space. Version 3.0 of IIS and the previous versions required
that all ISAPI applications run within the process space of the server.
March 08, 1997
On Feburary 17, Microsoft released Active Template Library (ATL) version 2.0, a
predecssor to ATL 1.0. This release was in anticpation to the relase of Visual C
5.0 that will hit the streets March 17. ATL will be shipped in Visual C 5.0, but
you can get an early start with Visual C 4.2b and ATL 2.0.
Feburary 17, 1997
In this issue we will demostrate how to create a COM Object using Mircosoft's Active
Template Library. The COM Object that we will create can be used in an Active Server
Page to provide additional functionality. Before you begin createing your COM Object,
you must instal ATL 1.1 from Mircosoft's web site.
April 22, 1997
This issue is a rewrite of part one of a four-part series on Active Server objects.
In the issue is a simple example of creating a Active Server Component in Visual
Studio 5.0 using the Active Template Library 2.0. The component that we are going
to create will get the user's cookie, or assign a cookie if the user doesn't have
one.
September 11, 1997
In this issue we discuss how to use the Last-Modified header and the Expires header
in Active Server pages to save network bandwidth and server resources. Along with
the If-Modified-Since header there is a rich client server interaction that can
benefit the Active Server developer if they program correct. Included is example
code and a complete discussion of the three headers.
November 08, 1997
In this issue of 15 Seconds we will show you how to share the same cookie across
multiple sub-domains and multiple domains. We will also discuss sharing state information
across web farms using SQL Server. The examples in this issue highlight the power
of redirection within Active Server page and enforce the concepts that are related
to cookie manipulation.
July 31, 1997
In this issue we will implement a catalog site that is build with Active Server
pages and SQL Server. Along with the implementation there is source code and a discussion
of the advantages and disadvantages of creating a catalog site that gets it's content
from a database. Included are pages for displaying products, creating a menu page,
category page, and running a search across a database. , Before we begin let us
make a distinction between content and format. Content is the actual meat of the
pages, it is the thing that draws the user to the site and gives the most value
add. Format is how the content looks. Different formats allow content to look differently
and give your site character
June 10, 1997
If you're a web programmer or site designer, you have created a HTML form to collect
data about users. These forms usually end up writing right to a database. However
when you go to analyze the data, you realize that many users have typed in all 'X's
or incorrectly entered the information. This becomes more of a problem when there
is something behind the form, such as a free download or a restricted area, and
the user receives the "prize" without having to fill in the form correctly. XCheck
can significantly reduce this type of invalid data entry.
September 20, 1997
In this issue we will discuss Page Caching, including different browsers cache schemas.
We will also discuss how Microsoft Proxy page caching works, how to get your pages
cached, and how not to. Examples will be given in the Active Server pages about
manipulating the Cache-Control header.
December 10, 1997
In this issue of 15 Seconds, we traveled to Texas in the shadow of the Ballpark
in Arlington to visit with Sunny Vanderbeck, CEO of Data Return to discover how
to host a multitude of sites successfully.
December 20, 1996
In this issue we tackle a common problem of redirecting a lost user with an ISAPI
Filter Extension. Here is the scenario, a user visits a site, likes it and adds
the site to his/her favorites, later they return to find the page gone. The situation
that we want to prevent is the user seeing a "HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found." This
situation arises with site redesigns where pages are removed, most content providers
do this without really thinking of the circumstances. A common solution is too keep
the page in place, but make it only a link to the correct URL. Using the 404Redirect
this situation can be prevented in a clean simple fashion with out extra pages.