exchange 2003 / owa / non default web site

this is post re the use of a non-default web site to hold the virtual
directories installed by OWA on exchange 2003.

first up i hope i have posted to the correct newsgroup - there seem to
be a whole that i could have posted to - if not let me know and i will
repost

we are looking to host an additional web application on the same
instance of IIS, but which definitely is not supported on an
installation to anything other than the default web site (i assume by
way of a hardcode to the site identifier with value = 1).

to get a logical separation of the two applications (ie different IP
etc ) i was looking to set up the server such that the 'unfriendly'
app is installed in the 'default web site', and exchange owa is
installed in a 2nd web site

on the assumption that this in fact a supported operation /
configuration, is there a way of getting the owa / exchange to install
in to a site other than the 'default' web site, or may be even moving
it to there once installed ?

help in this will be glaldy received.

Graham

Mark
Mon Sep 01 09:05:09 CDT 2008

On Mon, 1 Sep 2008 05:55:35 -0700 (PDT), Graham Turner
<ipcomp1@gotadsl.co.uk> wrote:

>this is post re the use of a non-default web site to hold the virtual
>directories installed by OWA on exchange 2003.
>
>first up i hope i have posted to the correct newsgroup - there seem to
>be a whole that i could have posted to - if not let me know and i will
>repost
>
>we are looking to host an additional web application on the same
>instance of IIS, but which definitely is not supported on an
>installation to anything other than the default web site (i assume by
>way of a hardcode to the site identifier with value = 1).
>
>to get a logical separation of the two applications (ie different IP
>etc ) i was looking to set up the server such that the 'unfriendly'
>app is installed in the 'default web site', and exchange owa is
>installed in a 2nd web site
>
>on the assumption that this in fact a supported operation /
>configuration, is there a way of getting the owa / exchange to install
>in to a site other than the 'default' web site, or may be even moving
>it to there once installed ?
>
>help in this will be glaldy received.
>
>Graham
>

You can put OWA somewhere other than default. It's a bad idea to do so
with an application that you don't fully understand (in terms of its
interaction with Exchange) and where that application is
insufficiently well written to be put where you want it to.
You're taking a bit of a risk here. If I were you I'd be looking at
virtualising the FE and this application onto one bit of tin. It keeps
everything separate and is exactly why people do virtualization in the
first place.

Graham
Mon Sep 01 09:18:40 CDT 2008

On Sep 1, 3:05=A0pm, "Mark Arnold [MVP]" <m...@mvps.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 1 Sep 2008 05:55:35 -0700 (PDT), Graham Turner
>
>
>
>
>
> <ipco...@gotadsl.co.uk> wrote:
> >this is post re the use of a non-default web site to hold the virtual
> >directories installed by OWA on exchange 2003.
>
> >first up i hope i have posted to the correct newsgroup - there seem to
> >be a whole that i could have posted to - if not let me know and i will
> >repost
>
> >we are looking to host an additional web application on the same
> >instance of IIS, but which definitely is not supported on an
> >installation to anything other than the default web site (i assume by
> >way of a hardcode to the site identifier with value =3D 1).
>
> >to get a logical separation of the two applications (ie different IP
> >etc ) i was looking to set up the server such that the 'unfriendly'
> >app is installed in the 'default web site', and exchange owa is
> >installed in a 2nd web site
>
> >on the assumption that this in fact a supported operation /
> >configuration, is there a way of getting the owa / exchange to install
> >in to a site other than the 'default' web site, or may be even moving
> >it to there once installed ?
>
> >help in this will be glaldy received.
>
> >Graham
>
> You can put OWA somewhere other than default. It's a bad idea to do so
> with an application that you don't fully understand (in terms of its
> interaction with Exchange) and where that application is
> insufficiently well written to be put where you want it to.
> You're taking a bit of a risk here. If I were you I'd be looking at
> virtualising the FE and this application onto one bit of tin. It keeps
> everything separate and is exactly why people do virtualization in the
> first place.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Mark, thanks for the post back. i dont think i explained it well !!

are you saying it 'bad working practice' to move the exchange / owa to
the non-default web site ? or do i misread your reply ?

the 'other app' is intended to have NO interaction with ms exchange -
hence the intended logical separation.

Mark
Mon Sep 01 09:29:06 CDT 2008

No, you explained it perfectly well. What you will find people here
trying to tell you is that if the application is inside the same copy
of Windows you are going to have interaction. Memory will be contended
for, disk IO will be shared and contested, processor will be
contested. When you want to troubleshoot either of the applications
you're going to have to try and work your way through both of them,
possibly turning one off.

Don't do it.
But if you must (and don't!!) move it though: (Quoted from one of
Simon's reply's in another forum)
Go to ESM, Servers, Protocols, HTTP. Right click on the HTTP and
choose New, HTTP Virtual Server. Then follow the prompts.
Ideally you should have at least a second internal IP address on the
server. OWA doesn't play very well with host headers

Graham
Mon Sep 01 09:50:36 CDT 2008

On Sep 1, 3:29=A0pm, "Mark Arnold [MVP]" <m...@mvps.org> wrote:
> No, you explained it perfectly well. What you will find people here
> trying to tell you is that if the application is inside the same copy
> of Windows you are going to have interaction. Memory will be contended
> for, disk IO will be shared and contested, processor will be
> contested. When you want to troubleshoot either of the applications
> you're going to have to try and work your way through both of them,
> possibly turning one off.
>
> Don't do it.
> But if you must (and don't!!) move it though: (Quoted from one of
> Simon's reply's in another forum)
> Go to ESM, Servers, Protocols, HTTP. Right click on the HTTP and
> choose New, HTTP Virtual Server. Then follow the prompts.
> Ideally you should have at least a second internal IP address on the
> server. OWA doesn't play very well with host headers

duly noted re host headers - second ip looks best

i have got the 'new' http virtual server, and i see in here the
'exchweb' virtual dir.

what we need is the supported (or otherwise !) procedure for the
creation of the other virtual directories - / oma / exadmin / public /
exchange etc that as i understand can be re-created by a restart of
the Exchange SA but under the default web site !