- Community Server Quickly
- Anand Narayanaswamy
- 2002字
- 2021-04-29 17:38:40
Installing Community Server Using the Web Installer
Firstly, you have to download the installation file and extract the contents to the root directory (Inetpub/wwwroot
), as explained previously. In case you plan to install Community Server on a remote web server then you will be required to upload the folders and files inside the Web
folder to the wwwroot
directory of the appropriate domain. In some servers, you will be required to upload the files inside httpdocs
folder.
Refer to Appendix A for more information regarding how to properly deploy Community Server in different environments.
As we discussed earlier, there are separate builds available for ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0 for version 2.1 of Community Server. We will make use of the installation package meant for ASP.NET 1.1 to demonstrate the installation process in this section. Locate the downloaded file on your hard drive after downloading it and extract the contents of the folder.
The extracted folder contains two folders named SqlScripts
and Web
, some license agreement files (EULA), and a readme file. The SQLScripts folder contains a number of SQL script files that are mainly used for upgrading from a previous version of Community Server to the current version, and not for a fresh installation.
The folder named Web
contains lots of files and folders, which are required for successfully running Community Server. You need to copy the contents of this folder either inside the root directory of your local system (Inetpub/wwwroot
), or upload inside the root directory (wwwroot
or httpdocs
) on a remote web server. For the purpose of our discussion, we will examine the installation process as if you are performing it in a local system.
Creating a Database Using SQL Server
The next step in the installation process is to create a SQL Server database using SQL Server. You can use either SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 to create a database. For the purpose of our discussion, we will create a database using SQL Server 2005. It includes a robust interface for the creation and management of databases named SQL Server Management Studio. You can launch it from Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and log in by supplying the correct Server name, Login, and Password.
Once you log in to the management studio, pull down the Databases tree from the left side and right-click on it. Select the menu item named New Database as shown in the following screenshot:

The New Database dialog box pops up. Enter the required database name and click the OK button. We will use CommunityServer as a name for our database. SQL Server 2005 will show the progress while the database is being created and will display the same under the Databases tree. You can now disconnect from the management studio by selecting File | Disconnect Object Explorer menu option.
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is available as an alternative to the full blown developer edition of SQL Server 2005. Even though it is free of cost, the main disadvantage of express edition is that the size of each database is restricted to 4 GB. In order to use it, you should download and install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (53.8 MB) and SQL Server Management Studio Express (38.5 MB) from http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/. Once you have installed both of them, you can log in to SQL Server Management Studio Express by supplying the credentials that you gave at the time of installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition. The look and feel of the studio interface looks similar to that of developer edition and the process of database creation is also the same as explained above.
We have now successfully created a database required for the installation of Community Server. The next step is to launch the web-based installation wizard to install the application.
Community Server ships with a built-in web-based installer along with the web installer package in ZIP format. It will automatically create the required tables and stored procedures for the successful installation of the application.
Using the Installation Wizard
By default, the Installation Wizard is disabled and you should enable it before attempting to install Community Server. To enable the installer, you need to navigate to the folder Installer inside the Web directory and open the default.aspx file. You can open the file using any editor of your choice such as Notepad, Visual Studio 2005, or Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition.
In the default.aspx
file, locate the statement
bool INSTALLER_ENABLED = false;
You should modify the value of the above statement to true to enable the installer. You are now ready to launch the web-based installer to install Community Server.
For the purpose of our discussion, we have modified the name of the folder Web
to cs21
. Hence, we need to enter http://localhost/cs21/Installer/default.aspx
on the browser to launch the installation wizard. Now, you will have to fix an error message (see the following screenshot) before proceeding further with the installation process.

This error can be easily resolved by navigating to the folder cs21
using Internet Information Services (IIS) and making it as an application.
Launch Internet Information Services (IIS) by navigating to Start | Control Panel | Administrative Tools. Double-click the icon labeled Internet Information Services and pull down the server name from the left side panel. Expand the tree labeled Web Sites | Default Web Site and locate the folder cs21
. Right-click on it and select Properties. The following dialog box is displayed:

Click the Create button to transform the folder cs21
to an application. The Application name field will now display our folder name.
We are now ready to launch the installer by navigating to http://localhost/cs21/installer/default.aspx
. You will be required to walk through a series of wizards to proceed with the Community Server installation. You need to click the Next button on each screen to proceed further with the installation process.
If you have installed .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 and version 2.0 is your default framework then the system will throw a The resource cannot be found error message. In order to resolve this error, click the button captioned Configuration from the IIS Properties dialog and double click the extension .aspx. The Add/Edit Application Extension Mapping dialog pops up. In the Executable field, modify the .NET Framework version number from 2.0.50727 to 1.1.4322.
During the course of installation, you will be asked to supply the required credentials for connecting to the SQL Server database as shown in the following screenshot:

You need to enter either the actual server name of your local SQL Server installation or the IP address that needs to be connected to if you are running the installer on a remote server. The IP address should be that of your remote SQL Server installation, and not that of the web server. Nowadays, the majority of hosts separate web and database servers to increase the performance of websites. You will need to contact your service provider if you are not sure as to what to give as the server name. We have already discussed Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication. If you use SQL Server Authentication then you should supply the required username and password.
If the entered credentials are correct then the installation wizard will automatically populate the SQL Server 2005 databases available on the system. For the purpose of our discussion, we earlier created a database named CommunityServer. If you are running the installation on a remote web server, then the wizard will display the list of all databases available on the remote database server. Click on the Next button to continue with the installation process after selecting the appropriate database from the list.
The wizard automatically prompts you to choose the installation options as shown in the following screenshot. It is recommended you checkmark all the options for the sake of simplicity.

After investigating the above options, click Next button to proceed further. The wizard will prompt you to enter the requested information for the creation of an administrator account such as Username, Password, and an Email address as shown in the next
screenshot. You will need to log in using these credentials after successful installation to manage Community Server. It is highly advisable to checkmark the entry titled Create Sample Data so that the wizard will automatically create a sample blog and a photo gallery. You can simply leave the Community Url field as it is without any modifications. Community Server automatically populates this field with the required web address as shown in the following screenshot:

The installer will automatically create tables, stored procedures, and the required sample data as soon as you click the Next button from the screen in the above screenshot. This process may take some time to complete, and a page with the required link for navigating to the home page will be displayed after the completion of the installation process.
The remote web server sometimes displays a timeout error when you perform the above installation step. In such a case, you should attempt to perform the installation at a time when the server traffic is not at its peak. You must either delete the current database and create a new one when you install again or just create a new one at the time when you again perform the installation process. Otherwise, the installation will not be successful.
You have now successfully completed the installation of Community Server.
If you used the Web Installer for performing the installation process, it is highly recommended that you remove the folder Installer. Alternatively, you can disable the installation wizard by undoing the changes we made to the default.aspx file earlier. This will enable you to again run the installation wizard if required at a later point of time.
Testing the Installation of Community Server
Since we have successfully completed the installation process, let us now look at how to test and view the final output. For this purpose, navigate to http://localhost/cs21
using your browser.
You may receive a Directory Access Denied error message when you attempt to access the site using the above-mentioned address. To fix this error first navigate to Start | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Internet Information Services. Then locate the folder cs21
, right-click, select Properties, and then choose the Documents tab as shown in the screenshot below:

Initially, default.aspx is not added as a default document inside the default documents list box. You can add it by selecting the Add button and entering the required file name as shown in the screenshot opposite. You will not get the above-mentioned error message when you install Community Server using Windows Installer. This is because the installer automatically configures the relevant Virtual Directory during the installation process.
We have already seen the final output earlier (see the screenshot that is a 'Welcome' page, in the section Launching Community Server) when we discussed the installation of Community Server using Windows Installer file package. At the top of the home page, you will see five links as shown below:

You should note that a sample Blog and a Photo gallery have been automatically created by the installer. You can set up remaining applications such as forums or photo and file galleries using the administration control panel. We will examine the creation and management of all applications included within Community Server in the following chapters.
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