New Sharepoint Install non-functional over WAN, but works on LAN

Question

I recently installed Sharepoint with SQL Server Express for a low-cost solution to our small companies lack of a collaboration tool. It is configured and working properly across all aspects of our five-server farm, or at least appears to be. It is configured internally on port 8000.

To facilitate ease of use across our different locations, I would like to make this WAN accessible. So, I forwarded port 8000 on the firewall to the static IP. However, in the browser when I type the e-mail, I get the following error:

Directory Listing Denied
This Virtual Directory does not allow contents to be listed.

I did some research, and according to some other tips, I have already tried the following:

1. Under the IIS home directory tab of the Sharepoint website, I have allowed directory browsing.

2. Under IIS configuration tab, ensured that the wildcard application map is C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_isapi.dll, and that verify file is unchecked.

3. Ensure default content pages for the IIS configuration are Default.htm, Default.asp, index.htm, and Default.aspx, in that order.

What can I do next?

Answer 1

If I understand correctly you have it running at http://servername:8000 internally and want it to work with the IP on port 80 over the WAN. For that to work you need to extend the web application to a different address and port. Right now it is picking up the default website on port 80 which is not hosting your SharePoint content.

I would recommend that you register an alias in DNS and not use the IP address since those tend to change over the life of the system. Set that up, and then extend the web app.

Here are instructions for extending the web app: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287954(office.12).aspx

Extend an existing Web application

You can extend an existing Web application if you need to have separate IIS Web sites that expose the same content to users. This is typically used for extranet deployments where different users access content by using different domains. This option reuses the content database from an existing Web application.

Extend an existing Web application In the SharePoint Central Administration Web site, on the Application Management page, in the SharePoint Web Application Management section, click Create or extend Web application.

On the Create or Extend Web Application page, in the Adding a SharePoint Web Application section, click Extend an existing Web application.

On the Extend Web Application to Another IIS Web Site page, in the Web Application section, click the Web application link and then click Change Web application.

On the Select Web Application page, click the Web application you want to extend.

On the Extend Web Application to Another IIS Web Site page, in the IIS Web Site section, you can select Use an existing IIS Web site to use a Web site that has already been created, or you can choose to leave Create a new IIS Web site selected. The Description, Port, and Path boxes are populated for either choice. You can choose to use the default entries or type the information you want in the boxes.

In the Security Configuration section, configure authentication and encryption for the extended Web application.

In the Authentication Provider section, choose either Negotiate (Kerberos) or NTLM.

Note: To enable Kerberos authentication, you must perform additional configuration. For more information about authentication methods, see Plan authentication methods (Windows SharePoint Services). In the Allow Anonymous section, choose Yes or No. If you choose to allow anonymous access, this enables anonymous access to the Web site by using the computer-specific anonymous access account (that is, IUSR_).

Note: If you want users to be able to access any site content anonymously, you must enable anonymous access for the entire Web application. Then later, site owners can configure how anonymous access is used within their sites. For more information about anonymous access, see Choose which security groups to use (Windows SharePoint Services). In the Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) section, select Yes or No. If you choose to enable SSL for the Web site, you must configure SSL by requesting and installing an SSL certificate.

Important: If you use SSL, you must add the appropriate certificate on each server by using IIS administration tools. For more information about using SSL, see Plan for secure communication within a server farm (Windows SharePoint Services). In the Load Balanced URL section, type the URL for the domain name for all sites that users will access in this Web application. This URL domain will be used in all links shown on pages within the Web application. By default, the text box is populated with the current server name and port.

In the Load Balanced URL section, under Zone, select the zone for the extended Web application from the drop-down menu. You can choose Intranet, Internet, Custom, or Extranet.

Click OK to extend the Web application, or click Cancel to cancel the process and return to the Application Management page.

For information about how to perform this procedure using the Stsadm command-line tool, see Extendvs: Stsadm operation (Windows SharePoint Services).