Access to IIS via WAN Port

Hi,

I have been experimenting with setting up my own web server. I am on a DSL connection with a dynamic IP Address. (I am using a service with a small program on your computer that posts your IP to their server every 30 minutes.) I am hoping to get this setup so that eventually I can serve my own website with my own server.

The trouble I am having, is that when I connect to the PC via the URL on the service (and via the actual IP Address of the machine) I am prompted to enter a username and password. I know that this is to do with IIS on the machine because I have to enter the IP Address of a user account on the machine, not my username and password for the service I am using.

Obviously, this is a major security issue, because passwords are being sent over the internet unencrypted. This feature would be ideal if you had to keep the site secure, but the site I eventually intend to run will be getting anonymous users, users that don't know a username and password.

I have tried setting the security permissions on the folder to Everyone, and even attempted this with Full Control, but dod not get anywhere.

Does anyone know anything about this out there? It would be a great help !

Thanks in advance

P.s. I am using Windows XP Pro SP2

SOme general information, IIS normally operates as the IUSR_computername user account. Perhaps that user account doesn't have the necessary permissions to your web files? You can use Windows Explorer to navigate to the actual files & folders and use the security tab to make sure the IIS user has permissions, or you may be able to use the permissions wizard in the IIS management console to fix the permissions.

Hi, I sorted the problem. I think it was because I was not using the HTTP port. Once I reconfigured my settings to use the HTTP (80) port, it worked witohut a problem.

Thanks

Your answer doesn't use such key terms as "router" and "port forwarding"

Basically, Matthuxtable configured his router to route all incoming requests on Port 80 to the internal IP address of his IIS machine.

Note that this only applies if you have a router on a network, and not all routers support port-forwarding.

The procedure is slightly different for USB modems (besides, you shouldn't really use USB ADSL modems thesedays... too unsafe)

Hi, Thanks for filling in the details I missed 1337_d00d! I wrote the last message in a hurry!

When I first tried this on a USB modem away from my desk, it worked without any settings needing to be changed, simply because it was connected straight to the computer and all incoming requests get sent to that computer. When you are connected to a network with a router, you have to tell the router what to do with requests on different ports, and what IP Address the request should be sent to. (So in this case, I sent it to my Web Server's IP Address). This is basically what Port Forwarding is.

There is an excellent website over at portforward.com which contains guides for setting up port forwarding on hundreds of different makes/models of routers, and it also has a load of information about which ports are used by certain applications.

P.s. I totally agree with 1337_d00d!

USB Modems "suck" because:

a) Your public IP address is also the IP address of your computer
b) So anyone connecting to that IP address is contacting your computer directly
c) I've yet to see a single USB modem that has drivers that don't cause a BSOD in Windows
d) ...Or have FOSS Linux drivers
e) And you'll need a software firewall

Network Routers are great because
a) You don't need firewall software on every computer
b) Your computers are inherently protected from 90% of all nasties out there
c) Script-kiddies can't ping-bomb you anymore