Welcome to WebSite Professional 2.0. This initial release of version 2.0 includes many new features and enhancements. Once you install the server software, start the server and select the WebSite Pro Resources item from the WebSite Professional folder on the Start menu or click here.

WebSite Pro Resources provides information on features, examples, the server's self-test, online documentation, troubleshooting, and online registration.

For more information before you install, go to WebSite Central.

Please see the two volumes of documentation--Mastering the Elements and Creating Dynamic Content--for instructions on installing and using WebSite Professional 2.0 and accompanying tools. These release notes provide specific additional information of which you should be aware.

Initial product release notes are detailed below [15-Sep-97]:

1. Upgrading and multiple identities (virtual servers) - If you are upgrading from any previous version, note that the way the server handles multiple identities has changed. No longer are identities bound strictly to IP addresses; rather, the server reads the Host: header field sent by the browser to determine the identity for the request. This new feature increases the number of identities you can support with fewer IP addresses. However, if you used IP address and host names interchangeably as references to your web, the IP addresses will fail unless added as specific identities to the server. See Chapter 8 in Mastering the Elements for a complete discussion of multiple identities.

2. Anonymous account passwords - WebSite Pro 2.0's identities can run under specific NT anonymous accounts, with passwords that do not need to be stored. Every time the server is started or reinitialized, it changes the password on each anonymous account to a new random string unique to that account only. Under most conditions, this works well. However, you may want to use a fixed password with an anonymous account for some special need. You can do this by entering the account username and password separated by a colon (acctname:password) into the anonymous account field of the Identity page of the server's property sheet, for example

   wspro_anon:break%dance
   

   See Chapter 10 of Mastering the Elements for a discussion of using the NT anonymous account feature.

3. Domain authentication in the NT Native realm - When you define an access control point that uses the NT Native realm, the available users and groups are taken from the Windows NT native users and groups. These are taken from the local system and/or the default domain controller, if present. It is not possible to use NT accounts in domains other than the default domain for the system on which the server is running. Of course, you can use locally-defined accounts.

   If the system on which the server is running is part of a domain and also has local accounts, a problem may arise when an account with the same name exists in both places and access control is set for the domain account. The standard NT account search algorithm looks for a local account first, then for an account on the domain controller and uses whichever account it finds first. If a local account is found but it is not authorized for access by the access control point (because the access control point is set for the domain account), access fails. There is no opportunity to try the domain account. You can override this search behavior by entering the fully qualified account name in the standard DOMAIN\USERNAME format (for example, yourdomain\yourname) in the username/password authentication dialog. Specifying the domain forces authentication to use the account on the domain controller.

   See Chapter 10 of Mastering the Elements for a discussion of using the NT Native realm feature.

4. Using ISecure with iHTML Merchant - Shopping basket submissions to ISecure include, as part of the transaction, a reference back to the Merchant site to return the customer back to the Merchant site when the transaction with ISecure is complete. For this feature to work correctly, the URL you enter in the Merchant Site Configuration, Property Config, Site URL field, must be in the following format:

   http://domain.name/merchant_directory   <---[no trailing slash] 
   

   For example, the sample Merchant comes preconfigured with /~wsdocs/merchant/. To make this sample work properly with ISecure, change the Site URL to http://your.domain.com/~wsdocs/merchant

   If you prefer to have the Site URL appear differently, you can also edit the code in the Merchant file basket5.ihtml as follows:

   Change the line

   <INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="ReturnCGI"
   VALUE=:url/basket6.ihtml?oid=:oid&custid=:custid>
   

   to

   <INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="ReturnCGI"
   VALUE=http://your.domain/full_path_to/basket6.ihtml?oid=:oid&custid=:custid>
   

   See Chapter 5 of Creating Dynamic Content for a discussion of iHTML Merchant.

5. Due to WebSite Pro 2.0's support for impersonation of NT accounts, launching the property sheet from the server icon has been eliminated for security reasons. As a result, the context menu no longer appears when running as a system service.