Release Notes

Latest Update: April 7, 1998

Welcome to the Microsoft® Proxy Server Web Administration Tool (WAT). You can use the WAT to configure and administer Proxy Server from any computer on your network using a Web browser. The WAT can be used instead of Internet Service Manager (ISM), which is provided with Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS); it provides functionality similar to that of ISM for administering Proxy Server.

Please review this entire document before you install the WAT. It contains important information about installing and using the WAT with Proxy Server, and it supplements the online Help that is installed with the product.

This document contains the following information:
Software Requirements
Before You Begin
Starting the WAT
Defining a Static Filter
Installing WAT in a Secured Directory
Changing the WAT to Use SSL Connections
Administering a Proxy Server from the Internet
Using HTTP 1.0 With Internet Explorer 4.01
Enabling Cookies
Changing to a Non-default Web Publishing Port
Proxy Server Administrative Account
Uninstalling and Reinstalling WAT
Troubleshooting
Warranty and Copyright Information

For general information on Proxy Server, see the online Installation and Administration Guide that is provided with Proxy Server version 2.0.

Software Requirements

The following software must already be installed on the Proxy Server computer before you can install the Web Administration Tool:

Server-side software:

• Microsoft Proxy Server version 2.0 (including all prerequisite software for Proxy Server). The Administration component of Proxy Server is not required.
• Active Server Pages (ASP). ASP is an optional component of Internet Information Server (IIS) version 3.0. ASP is an integral component of IIS version 4.0.

Client-side browsers:

• The WAT allows you to administer a Proxy Server from many different platforms including the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, Unix, Macintosh and, Linux. The WAT requires a Web browser that supports JavaScript and cookies such as Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 3.02 or 4.01. For best performance and view use the WAT with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01. Internet Explorer 3.02 is included on the Proxy Server compact disc. Netscape Navigator 3.0 (or 3.0 Gold), and the most recent version of Netscape Communicator 4.04 are adequate. It is recommended that Macintosh users use IE 4.01 or later.
• The WAT is designed to support the default font settings in your browser and the default font size is recommended for all browsers on any platform. For Microsoft Windows users (Windows 95 or Windows NT®) it is recommended that the you accept the default (small) font size setting. If you are using a browser that can be configured to override document-specified fonts, make sure that this option is disabled.
• If you are using Japanese Windows NT® and IE 3.x, you must select Japanese (Shift JIS) as your default character setting.

Before You Begin

There are several points that should be kept in mind when using the WAT with your Web browser:

• A particular Proxy Server computer should not be administered from more than one computer at the same time (whether using the WAT or ISM.)
• You should use only the navigation buttons that are on the Web pages of the WAT. Do not use the navigation buttons (such as the left and right arrows) that are on the toolbar of your Web browser when administering the Proxy Server computer.
• You should close any open Web browser windows within which you are running a WAT session before starting another WAT session.

Starting the WAT

To start the WAT from a Web browser on the Proxy Server computer, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Proxy Server, and then click Web Administration Tool.

To start the WAT from a Web browser on a remote computer, open your Web browser and type http://servername/prxadmin/default.htm, where servername is the name of the Proxy Server computer that you are administering. If you are using SSL, type https://servername/prxadmin/default.htm.

If the administered server is running Internet Information Server 4.0, type http://servername:9080/prxadmin/default.htm or, if you you want to use an SSL connection type https://servername:9443/prxadmin/default.htm. (Port 9080 is the default port set during Setup.)

Note  The port can be changed if it conflicts with other IIS sites or services on your machine, but any change must be explicitly configured in IIS. In addition, you must configure your browser URLs and Start menu shortcuts accordingly.

Defining a Static Filter

If you want to administer a Proxy Server from the Internet and are using IIS 4.0 and Proxy packet filtering is enabled, a static filter must be configured to specify 9080 as the fixed local port, or 9443 if you want to use an SSL connection. For more details see the Microsoft Proxy Server online Installation and Administration Guide.

Note: If you have previously changed the default publishing port to another port, specify the new port as the fixed local port in the filter.

If you are using IIS 3.0 and want to administer a Proxy Server over the Internet, you should use a predefined filter for HTTP (port 80) or HTTPS (port 443).

Installing WAT in a Secured Directory

During Proxy Server Web Administration Setup, you are given the option of installing the Web Administration Tool in a directory secured with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) keys. This option is recommended because the information that is transferred between the remote Web browser and the Proxy Server computer will be encrypted. You can switch between the secured and unsecured options by running Web Administration Setup again. For information on installing SSL keys, see your IIS documentation.

Changing the WAT to Use SSL Connections

You must change the URL by which you access the WAT if, after installing the WAT, you switch to using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to connect to the Proxy Server computer. Instead of using http://servername/prxadmin/, you must use https://servername/prxadmin/ for SSL connections.

If you are using IIS 4.0, use https://servername:9443/prxadmin. You can use the following procedure to change the URL that is created by the WAT Setup in the Start menu.

Note: You do not need to change the URL if you have already selected to use SSL connections when installing the WAT.

To change the URL for SSL connections

1. Right-click Start and then click Explore All Users.
2. In the left pane under All Users/Start Menu, double-click Programs and then double-click Microsoft Proxy Server.
3. In the right pane, right-click Web Administration Tool and then click Properties.
4. In the Web Administration Tool Properties dialog box, click the Internet Shortcut tab, and in Target URL, replace http with https and append a colon (:) followed by 443 to the computer's name. If you are using IIS 4.0, replace http with https and enter the path //servername:9443/prxadmin.

Administering a Proxy Server from the Internet

The WAT can be used to administer a Proxy server from the Internet. When using IIS 3.0, to administer a Proxy server from the Internet using the WAT, you must configure the publishing properties to Enable Web publishing and specify that incoming Internet requests be sent to the local Web server.

Note:When using IIS 3.0, if you disable publishing while administering a Proxy Server over the Internet, you will not be able to access that Proxy Server from the Internet to make further changes.

To log on to the WAT, you must use a password. When you administer a Proxy Server using the Web Administration Tool over the Internet, your password should be secured. If you do not use an SSL connection to send information over the Internet, configuration information such as your password will be sent in clear text, which may be captured by unauthorized persons. To maximize security the of your password it is recommended that you implement the following policies:

• Use SSL to secure your password when logging on over the Internet.
• Do not make your password available to others.
• Choose a password consisting of seven or more random characters that include numbers and letters.
• Periodically change your password.

Note If you are using IIS 4.0 or later, you can limit access to the WAT by specifying the IP addresses to which you want the MS Proxy Administration Web site to respond in the IP Address property on the IIS MS Proxy Administration Web Site Properties page. For more details refer to your IIS 4.0 documentation.

If you are using an SSL connection to administer a Proxy Server from the Internet, and your browser is configured to use a Microsoft Proxy Server, and the Proxy server has packet filtering enabled, you should allow SSL connections to port 9443. Refer to the Registry Entries topic in the References section in the Proxy Server Installation and Administration Guide for more details. This procedure is not necessary if you are using Winsock Proxy to connect to the administered server.

Using HTTP 1.0 with Internet Explorer 4.01

If you are using IIS 4.0, make sure that IE 4.01 is configured to use HTTP 1.1.

Enabling Cookies

To use the Microsoft Web Administration Tool, your browser must be configured to enable cookies. If you are using Internet Explorer 4.01, and cookies are not enabled, you will receive an error message when you attempt to log on to the WAT. It is recommended that you close all open browser windows before you open your browser to enable cookies. It is also recommended that you close the browser window within which you enabled cookies before starting the WAT again.

Changing to a Non-default Web Publishing Port

The Web publishing port is set using the IIS administration tool. You must change the URL by which you access the WAT if, after Web Administration Setup, you switch to using a Web publishing port other than the default. Although you can use http://servername/prxadmin for port 80, you must specify the port explicitly using the following format http://servername:portnumber/prxadmin for any other port number.

You can use the following procedure to change the URL that is set by Web Administration Setup.

Note:You do not need to change the URL if you have already set the nondefault port number before installing the WAT.

To change the URL for non-default ports

1. Right-click Start and then click Explore All Users.
2. In the left pane under All Users/Start Menu double-click Programs and then double-click Microsoft Proxy Server.
3. In the right pane, right-click Web Administration Tool and then click Properties.
4. In the Web Administration Tool Properties dialog box, click the Internet Shortcut tab, and in Target URL, type the applicable port number (preceded by a colon) in the URL after the server name.

Proxy Server Administrative Account

To maximize network security, you should create a Proxy Server administrative account that is separate from the Windows NT domain administrative account. You should create the Proxy Server account in the domain that is used to administer Proxy Server computers. This account should have administrative privileges on all computers running Proxy Server, including all computers in a Proxy Server array.

Uninstalling and Reinstalling the WAT

If the WAT is installed to a directory whose name has a space in it (such as "Program Files") it will not be possible to uninstall it automatically. It is, however, possible to uninstall the WAT after installing it in the default directory suggested by Setup.

During Setup, temporary installation files are installed, which are later deleted to save disk space. Therefore, to reinstall the WAT it is necessary to either run the installation application again, or uninstall the WAT and install a fresh copy.

Troubleshooting

If a JavaScript runtime error message of the form "xxx is not an object " is displayed on more than one Web page while you are using the WAT, you should reinstall the latest version of your Web browser.

Warranty and Copyright Information

These materials are provided "as-is," for informational purposes only.

Neither Microsoft nor its suppliers makes any warranty, express or implied, with respect to the content of these materials or the accuracy of any information contained herein, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow exclusions of implied warranties, the above limitation may not apply to you.

Neither Microsoft nor its suppliers shall have any liability for any damages whatsoever including consequential, incidental, direct, indirect, special, and lost profits. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow exclusions of implied warranties, the above limitation may not apply to you. In any event, Microsoft's and its suppliers' entire liability in any manner arising out of these materials, whether by tort, contract, or otherwise shall not exceed the suggested retail price of these materials.