Helicon Ape not working on IIS7

[tomlei Profile]

Hi,

I am hoping somebody will be able to help. We have been using Helicon Ape on a Windows Server 2008 R2 / IIS 7.5 and it had been working perfectly fine. However, we have just moved to a new server, exactly the same OS and IIS versions, but the rewrite just wouldn't work. Rewritten pages keep returning the following error:

HTTP Error 404.0 - Not Found
The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

Started a log but it is not logging any information - I guess it never got that far before throwing the above error.

Are there any required default settings or extensions that need to be installed on a new server before this will work? Any help is much appreciated thanks!

Tom

[Anton]

Hello, Tom

> Are there any required default settings or extensions that need to be installed on a new server before this will work?

If Helicon Ape installed without errors and warnings, it means that all required modules are present.

Let's start with checking the most basic test rule working. Please put the following lines into httpd.conf:

LogLevel debug
RewriteLogLevel 9

RewriteRule testtest - [G]

Then request somesite.com/testtest
Report what result you get in the browser
And check eror.log and rewrite.log for possible records.

[tomlei Profile]

Hi Anton,

Thanks for your reply. I have added the lines to httpd.conf and requested the test URL, but the browser is still displaying the same error.

Error log says:

[26/03/2015 18:30:15] [LicenseManager] Site with id=5 is working with free license
[26/03/2015 18:30:15] [LicenseManager] Site with id=1 is working with free license
[26/03/2015 18:30:15] [ConfigLoader] C:\Program Files (x86)\Helicon\Ape\httpd.conf(14): Invalid command 'RewriteLogLevel 9' on line 14, perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
[26/03/2015 18:30:15] [ConfigLoader] C:\Program Files (x86)\Helicon\Ape\httpd.conf(16): Invalid command 'RewriteRule testtest - [G]' on line 16, perhaps misspelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
[26/03/2015 18:30:15] [cache_module] items stored in the cache: 0; bytes available for the cache: 1774190592, physical memory limit: 99%
[26/03/2015 18:30:15] [LicenseManager] Server mode: Trial days left 43. (SiteId= 4)

There is nothing in the rewrite log.

Thanks!

[Anton]

Hello, Tom

This is weird that the log says about free licenses first and then about trial period.
Please specify what exact installation package you used to install Ape on your new machine.
Did you register it with a license key?
Or did you enable free licenses?
Please provide your entire httpd.conf file.

[tomlei Profile]

Hi Anton,

We have re-installed the trial version of Helicon Ape but still no joy. Attached in our support ticket the entire error log and httpd.conf files.

Thanks

[tomlei Profile]

Hi Anton,

Just noticed another thing as well. According to the existing rewrite rule, if the non-www url is entered, it should be automatically redirected to www.alphaholidayrentals.com. However, when I typed in alphaholidayrentals.com into the address bar, the page will load without problems but did not redirect to the www version. Furthermore, there is nothing in the rewrite or error log.

According to the error log, it looks like somehow, activities from other websites (website ids other than 5) are recorded.

Our server migration period is coming to an end soon, please advise.

Many thanks,
Tom

[tomlei Profile]

Hi Anton,

We have discovered that by changing the .NET verison from 4.0 to 2.0, this will enable the rewrite to function properly. However, the site does require .NET 4.0.

Please advise what further settings we need to check or change.

Many thanks,
Tom

[tomlei Profile]

Hi guys,

We are still none the wiser why Helicon Ape is not working on our new server with IIS 7.5. We had the exactly same settings on our old server and everything was working fine. The interesting thing is that it will work when .NET is switched to 2.0 in the app pool. When it is switched back to .NET 4.0 (which is required by our website) the rewrite will no longer function and simply return a 404 error. When this error is received, there is also no error or rewrite log information recorded. We have entered a valid per-site license for this site as well.

Anyone experienced the same? Any help is much appreciated!

Tom

[tomlei Profile]

Hi Anton and Support Team,

We are still struggling to get the rewrite to work under .NET 4.0. One more bit of information we would like to share is that the .NET version is slightly different on the new server:

New .NET 4.5.1 (4.5.50938)
Old .NET 4.5.0 (4.5.50709)

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Any reply is appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

[emanweb Profile]

We are having exactly the same problem. I am trying several things but still can't figure out. The odd thing is that on our old server it was running just fine on App Poll 4.0. I will keep trying and let you guys know if we solve this problem.

[tomlei Profile]

We got it working in the end, but since we tried so many different things, we were not sure exactly what rectified the issue. We suspect it was the re-installing of .NET that helped in the end. Hope it helps.

[emanweb Profile]

That was it tomlei! Thanks