Deltek Costpoint Web 6.1 SP2 Configuring IIS to Run as a Proxy Server to Weblogic September 30, 2009 13880 Dulles Corner Lane Herndon VA 20171 TEL: 703.734.8606 FAX: 703.734.1146
While Deltek has attempted to verify that the information in this document is accurate and complete, some typographical or technical errors may exist. The recipient of this document is solely responsible for all decisions relating to or use of the information provided herein. The information contained in this publication is effective as of the publication date below and is subject to change without notice. This publication contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or translated into another language, without the prior written consent of Deltek, Inc. This edition published September 2009. 2009 Deltek, Inc. Deltek s software is also protected by copyright law and constitutes valuable confidential and proprietary information of Deltek, Inc. and its licensors. The Deltek software, and all related documentation, is provided for use only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of the program or any portion thereof could result in severe civil or criminal penalties. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ii
Contents Overview... 1 Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 5.0 and 6.0... 2 Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 7.0... 5 Optimizing Costpoint Web Performance in a WAN Environment.... 9 Does Network Latency Affect My Costpoint Web Performance?... 9 Does Bandwidth Affect My Performance?... 9 Using IIS Page Expiration Options to Address Latency Issues... 10 Using IIS and Weblogic Compression Options to Address Bandwidth Issues... 12 Static Content Compression... 12 Dynamic Content Compression... 13 Overhead Considerations... 13 iii
Contents iv
Overview This document explains how to set up IIS as a proxy to Weblogic server that is running Costpoint Web. It does not explain how IIS works. For additional help on using IIS, refer to the IIS console online help. For additional information on Installing Microsoft IIS Proxy plug in to Weblogic, see http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs92/plugins/isapi.html. 1
Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 5.0 and 6.0 Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 5.0 and 6.0 DEWebApp folder (C:\deltek\costpoint\61\applications\enterprise\) is the folder for service by IIS. Developers can either use the same folder and configure it to be served by IIS or make a copy of the folder to a location that is accessible by IIS server. 1. Determine the DEWebApp folder that will served by IIS (default is C:\deltek\ costpoint\61\applications\enterprise\dewebapp). 2. iisproxy.dll must be picked from win\32 folder. On 64-Bit operating systems, users can get the file from the \win\64 folder. 3. Create an empty file named iisproxy.ini under \DEWebApp folder. The contents of this file should be updated using CPWebConfigurationUtility (discussed at a later step). 4. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Console (via Control Panel» Administrative Tools» Internet Service Manager in Windows 2000). 5. Select Default Web Site, and right-click to open the Default Web Site Properties dialog box. 6. Click the Home Directory tab: a. In the Local Path field enter or click Browse to select C:\deltek\costpoint\61\applications\enterprise\DEWebApp. b. In the Execute Permissions field, select Scripts and Executables. c. Click Configuration to open the Application Configuration dialog box. 7. On the Application Configuration dialog box, click Add to add a new mapping for extension cps. 2
8. In the Extension field, enter.cps with the executable where iisproxy.dll for Weblogic is located (C:\deltek\costpoint\61\applications\enterprise\DEWebApp\iisproxy.dll). Clear the Script engine and the Check that file exists options. Sometimes the OK button is not enabled on the screen above. If this happens, it is probably because the path to iisproxy.dll is too long and the window shows " " in the path, as displayed above. Set focus on the Executable field and it will revert to how it is supposed to be, enabling the OK button. If you are using a virtual directory instead of a default Web site, make sure you add PathTrim=/<Directory Name> to your iisproxy.ini file. This is not done by Configuration utility. If you are configuring for IIS 6.0 or later, be sure to clear the Check that file exists check box. The behavior of this option has changed from earlier versions of IIS: it used to check that the iisproxy.dll file exists; now it checks that files requested from the proxy exist in the root directory of the Web server. If the option does not find the files there, the iisproxy.dll file will not be allowed to proxy requests to the WebLogic Server. 9. Go back to the Default Website Properties dialog box, and click the Directory Security tab. Click Edit for Anonymous Access to open the Authentication Methods dialog box. To enable no security on IIS, select the Anonymous access option (Authenticated access is not covered in this doc). 3
Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 5.0 and 6.0 10. Click the Documents tab on the Default Web Site Properties dialog box, and add costpoint.htm as displayed in the following screen shot. 11. Return to the IIS Console, and highlight Default Web Site. Click Stop on the top tool bar to stop IIS. Click Start to restart IIS. 12. Start the Weblogic application server. 13. Open Configuration Utility to fill in the values on the IIS tab. This step will populate the iisproxy.ini file with the correct Weblogic server/cluster settings. Please refer to section IIS Page in \Doc\config\CPWebConfigureUtility.doc for details. 14. Open the browser and start the Costpoint Web session with http://localhost. There is no need to enter the port number after localhost since IIS defaults to using port 80. However, you can verify the port number setting on the Web Site tab of the Default Web Site Properties dialog box. 4
Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 7.0 DEWebApp folder (C:\deltek\costpoint\61\applications\enterprise\) is the folder for service by IIS. Developers can either use the same folder and configure it to be served by IIS or make a copy of the folder to a location that is accessible by IIS server. 1. Determine the DEWebApp folder that will served by IIS (default is C:\deltek\ costpoint\61\applications\enterprise\dewebapp). 2. iisproxy.dll must be picked from win\32 folder. On 64-Bit operating systems, users can get the file from the \win\64 folder. 3. Create an empty file named iisproxy.ini under \DEWebApp folder. The contents of this file should be updated using CPWebConfigurationUtility (discussed at a later step). 4. Open Server Manager (Start» Administrative Tools» Server Manager). Select Roles on the left side, Scroll to Web Server section and click to Add Role Services. 5. Add ISAPI Extensions, and click Next to run through the wizard through finish. 5
Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 7.0 6. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Console (via Control Panel» Administrative Tools» Internet Service Manager). Right-click the default Web site to add the CPWeb virtual directory. Set the Alias name of the directory as CPWeb and point the physical folder to C:\deltek\Costpoint\61\...\DEWebApp 6
7. Choose the newly created CPWeb folder and click the Default Document icon. Right-click and choose Add to add costpoint.htm as the default page. 8. Click the newly created CPWeb folder and choose to add Handler Mappings on the right side. 7
Setting Up the Document Root Folder for IIS 7.0 Right-click to add Map Script. 9. Add *.cps to be mapped through iisproxy.dll and set a convenient name to the mapping. Click Ok. When prompted with following message, click Yes. 8
Optimizing Costpoint Web Performance in a WAN Environment. Running Costpoint Web in a WAN environment presents its own set of performance challenges typically related to the following two factors: Network latency Network bandwidth Network latency is defined as the time it takes a signal (one bit of information) to travel between the browser and Web Server. As distance between the browser and Web server increases and/or additional hardware/software (for example, a Satellite connection) is utilized, the latency typically increases as well. Network bandwidth is defined as data volume (number of kilobytes) per second that can be transferred between the browser and Web server. A network may have serious latency issues even though it may have more than sufficient bandwidth and vice versa; although, it is rather common for both problems to be present in WAN environments. The information in the following sections will help you troubleshoot whether your network is affecting Costpoint Web performance as well as offer ways to optimize your environment depending on the type of problems you are experiencing. Does Network Latency Affect My Costpoint Web Performance? To determine whether network latency is having an adverse impact on your Costpoint Web performance, complete the following steps: 1. Measure how long it takes you to log in to Costpoint. 2. On the browser's Tools menu, click Internet Options. 3. On the General tab of the Internet Options dialog box, click the Settings button. 4. For the Check for newer versions of stored pages setting on the Settings dialog box, select Never. 5. Click OK. Again measure how long it takes you to log in to Costpoint. If the first login time is significantly slower than the second login time, then you probably have a latency issue. A possible solution to your latency issue may be found in the "Using IIS Page Expiration Options to Address Latency Issues section of this guide. Once you ve finished comparing the two login times, make sure to reset the Check for newer versions of stored pages setting to Automatically. Does Bandwidth Affect My Performance? Network bandwidth problems can be diagnosed with Network utilization tools if you have access to them. Also, if you are able to log in to Costpoint Web through Citrix so that the browser runs in the same LAN as Weblogic server, you might also be able to diagnose a bandwidth problem by comparing how well your system performs when accessing Costpoint through Citrix with how well it performs when accessing Costpoint over the network. If you think bandwidth restrictions are negatively impacting performance, the "Using IIS and Weblogic Compression Options to Address Bandwidth Issues section of this guide offers a possible solution. 9
Using IIS Page Expiration Options to Address Latency Issues Using IIS Page Expiration Options to Address Latency Issues Much of the content that is loaded into the user s browser when running Costpoint does not change very often. Such static content includes image files, JavaScript files and certain HTML files. Normally, the browser keeps copies of these files in a cache on the user s computer. If the browser gets a request to load such files, it can get them out of the cache on the user s computer, rather than having to get them from the server, thus speeding the process of loading the files into the browser. But before the browser uses a file out of the cache, it first checks the server to see if there is a newer version of the file on the server. If there is not a newer version, the browser will go ahead and load the cached copy. If there is a newer version, it will get the newer version from the server. This process of checking for newer file versions on the server increases the time it takes for a Costpoint screen to load onto the browser. In fact, for small files like image files, this roundtrip to the server to check for a newer version can take just as long as getting the original file. For the static files mentioned above, particularly image files, checking for newer versions every time the user opens Costpoint is unnecessary and delays the loading of pages. Fortunately, IIS provides a way to prevent the browser from checking for newer versions of a file. It does this by attaching an expiration period to the file, which tells the browser that the file will be fresh until the end of the period. If a file is in the cache and the browser determines that the file has not yet expired, the browser will use the cached version without checking for a newer version on the server, thereby saving a round trip to the server. If the browser determines that the file has expired, it will first check the server for a newer version before using the cached copy. Deltek recommends that Costpoint customers consider taking advantage of this Expiration setting. IIS provides two options for attaching an expiration period to a file. The first is the Expire after option, which allows the user to specify a fixed amount of time during which the file can remain in the cache before it expires (for example, a day or an hour). When the fixed amount of time has elapsed, the browser checks for a newer version of the file on the server. At that point, a new expiration period of the same fixed length is attached to the file and the process starts all over again. This process will repeat itself indefinitely until the expiration setting is changed or turned off. For reasons explained below, most Costpoint customers will want to choose the Expire after option. IIS also provides an Expire on option, which allows the user to specify a particular date on which the file will expire. Before that date, the browser uses the cached copy without checking for a newer version. After that date, the browser checks the server for a newer version before using the cached copy. Note that if you choose the Expire on option, the expiration period runs only one time. When the period has elapsed, a new period will not automatically start. To start a new period running, the Administrator has to enter a new date and time manually. For this reason, the Expire on option only makes sense if you want to set a very long expiration period, (for example a year). Since most Costpoint customers would not want to set such long expiration periods, the Expire on option would not be appropriate for them. If you plan to use the IIS Expiration setting, the most important consideration to keep in mind is that even the relatively static files in Costpoint sometimes do change. This can happen when Deltek sends out a new version of Costpoint or a hotfix for a particular problem. In that event, even if you load the updated files on your server, an individual Costpoint user at your company will not automatically see the changes until the end of whatever expiration period has been set. In order to see the changes immediately, the individual user would need to clear the cache on his or her browser manually. The fact that users would need to clear their caches to see changes immediately determines how long your expiration period should be. If it is acceptable to require all Costpoint users at your company to clear their browser caches manually whenever Costpoint is updated, then it would 10
make sense to set a long expiration period (for example, two years from now). In that case, you might want to choose the Expire on option discussed above. For many companies, however, requiring users to clear their caches manually is not a realistic alternative. Such companies, therefore, would want to set a much shorter expiration period, and for these companies the Expire after option would be the appropriate choice. The shorter expiration period should be long enough to allow users to enjoy the performance benefit of using cached files, but short enough to allow users to see updates quickly without having to clear their caches. A period somewhere between 4 to 8 hours is suggested, keeping in mind that users will not see any updates to Costpoint during that period. With an expiration period of 4 to 8 hours, an update or hotfix could be applied in the evening and Costpoint users would see the fresh files the next morning without having to clear their caches. While 4 to 8 hours may be a suitable period for HTML files and JavaScript files, a longer period may be appropriate for image files. This is because image files are less likely to change, and the risk posed by not seeing a change to an image file is not so serious. Because IIS allows you to set different expiration periods for different folders, you can set a longer expiration period for image files than for other files. You might also choose to set an expiration period only for image files, and not for any other type of file. To set the expiration time for the static files in Costpoint, complete the following steps: 1. In IIS Manager, right-click the Costpoint Web site, and click Properties on the shortcut menu. (The Costpoint Web site is the root Costpoint folder in IIS where Costpoint s HTML files can be found.) 2. On the Properties dialog box, click the HTTP Headers tab. 3. Select the Enable content expiration option. 4. Take one of the following actions: Click the Expire after option and specify a period of time (in minutes, hours, or days) after which the content will expire. Once the content has expired, the browser will check for a newer version on the server, and the expiration period will start all over again. Click the Expire on option and specify a particular date and time on which you want the content to expire. After that date, the browser will start checking the server for newer versions again. With this option, the expiration period will not start all over again. 5. Click OK. 6. To set a different expiration period for image files or to set an expiration period only for image files, right-click the images folder which is under the root Costpoint folder and follow the same steps described above. 11
Using IIS and Weblogic Compression Options to Address Bandwidth Issues Using IIS and Weblogic Compression Options to Address Bandwidth Issues Costpoint s Web content is sent to the user s browser in the form of HTTP traffic. IIS can be configured to compress this HTTP traffic before it is sent to the browser. Compressing it can reduce the volume of the HTTP traffic significantly, thereby conserving network bandwidth and speeding the loading of Costpoint pages. This is particularly true when a user connects to Costpoint through a low bandwidth connection. IIS offers the user three compression options: Compress static content only Compress dynamic content only Compress both types of content at the same time The term static refers to content that already exists and is stored by IIS and ready to be sent to the browser. The term dynamic refers to content that is newly created by the Costpoint system in response to a browser s request. If a customer is concerned that bandwidth restrictions may have an adverse impact on Costpoint s performance, Deltek recommends that the customer consider using the IIS compression feature for Costpoint s static content. IIS cannot be configured to compress dynamic content from Weblogic Server (the application server used by Costpoint). For dynamic content, Costpoint takes advantage of the compression mechanism built into the HTTP protocol itself, which is fully supported by Weblogic Server. Static Content Compression To turn on the IIS compression feature for static content, complete the following steps: 1. In IIS Manager, right-click the Web Sites folder and click Properties on the shortcut menu. 2. On the Properties dialog box, click the Service tab. 3. On the Service tab, select the Compress static files option in the HTTP Compression section. 4. Restart IIS for the change to take effect. Costpoint has three main types of static content: HTML files JavaScript files Image files Deltek recommends that customers use the IIS compression feature for HTML files and JavaScript files. Deltek does not recommend using IIS compression for image files. When turned on for static content, the IIS compression feature compresses HTML files by default, so no extra steps are needed to compress HTML files. In order to compress JavaScript files, IIS must be manually configured to compress JavaScript files by editing the metabase.xml file. It takes a little effort, but it is necessary to reap the significant benefit of using the IIS compression feature. 12
To configure IIS to compress JavaScript files, complete the following steps: 1. Make a backup copy of the metabase.xml file, located in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv folder. 2. Locate the root IIS Manager folder, which is labeled Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. 3. Right-click that folder, and click Properties on the shortcut menu. 4. On the Properties dialog box, select the Enable Direct Metabase Edit option. Selecting this option allows you to edit the metabase.xml file while IIS is running; otherwise, IIS must be shut down before you can edit the file. 5. Using a text editor such as Notepad, open the metabase.xml file. Within the metabase.xml file, there are three IIsCompressionScheme tags. Two of these tags have an HcFileExtensions attribute. In each of those tags, the value of the HcFileExtensions attribute consists of a list of file extensions. 6. Add the extension js to the list of file extensions for each HcFileExtensions attribute, like this HcFileExtensions="htm html txt js" 7. Save the changes to the metabase.xml file. Dynamic Content Compression As mentioned above, Costpoint has its own built-in compression feature for dynamic content. This feature can be switched on or off by setting the gzip property in the Enterprise Properties file, which is in the Properties folder under the DEWebApp folder of your Costpoint installation. By default, the gzip property is set to false. To turn on the compression feature, set it to true. The change will not take effect until you either restart Weblogic or use the Reload Global Settings application. Overhead Considerations Before adopting the compression solution described in the previous sections, you should be aware that compression options may involve some overhead for both the server and the browser. On the server-side, compressing dynamically generated files in Weblogic typically involves more overhead than compressing static files in IIS because static file compression uses caching. In cases where low bandwidth is an issue, the cost of any overhead is usually far outweighed by the benefit provided by compression. Moreover, such overhead can be mitigated by using a faster PC on either the client or the server, depending on where the overhead is more noticeable. Testing is needed in each particular environment to evaluate if compression improves overall performance. 13