Installation Troubleshooting Guide

Community Server and Community Server Evolution are not your average applications. That is, they are not like desktop applications that many of us are accustomed to installing on our personal computers. Community Server/Evolution require external applications to function. These external dependencies make configuration exponentially more difficult. We're committed to making the installation and configuration process easier with each release so we welcome your feedback on how we can make the process better.

We recognize that today you might install Community Server or Evolution and the install might look like it worked (or you might not be able to tell if it was successful or not – another article for another day) but when you browse to the site you are confronted with errors and other issues. The purpose of this article is to provide you with guidance on how you can troubleshoot your installation.

If you received an error while running the MSI installation problem then these steps may not be of assistance to you. If you installed Community Server or Evolution using the web installer or manual installation then these steps will probably be of more assistance.

Step 1
Do you get the same result when you browse to http://yourcsurl as you do when you browse to http://yourcsurl/default.aspx (note: specifying the actual default page is key here)?

If you answered "Yes" to the step 1 question then proceed to step 2.

If you answered "No" to step 1 then you need to make sure that default.aspx is added to the Default Document list in Internet Information Server (IIS). To add default.aspx to the Document list, you first open the IIS administrative console.

Using the IIS administration console, you need to open the properties dialogue for your Community Server/Evolution website.

Finally, you navigate to the Documents tab. If you don't see default.aspx listed in the listbox then you need to add it.

Please attempt to browse http://yourcsulr/  and http://yourcsurl/default.aspx again to see if this has resolved the issue.

Step 2

Do you get a 404 Not Found error when browsing your Community Server site at the URLs used in step 1?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

• Ensure that IIS is pointing to the correct directory for your installation. If you are unsure how to find and use the IIS administrative console then follow the instructions in step 1 to get you to the IIS administrative console.
  
  
  
  The default directory used by the MSI installer is C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\. If you used the default install directory then you'd want your IIS website pointed at C:\Program Files\Telligent\Community Server <version number>\Web (where <vesion number> is replaced by the version you installed – i.e. 2008.5).
• Ensure that the user account used by IIS/your website has the appropriate permissions to access the Community Server files. If you are running Windows XP/IIS 5.1 then your website files are accessed using the MACHINE\ASPNET account. If you are running IIS 6.0+ on Windows 2003+ then your website files are accessed using the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account. If you have questions about what account your website will be using then please see this ASP.NET identity matrix.
  
  The root folder containing your website files needs READ & EXECUTE, LIST FOLDER CONTENTS, and READ permissions.
  
  
  
  The filestorage folder (found in the Web folder) is unique to CS. The filestorage folder, by default, holds all of the files you upload to your community so Community Server needs to be able to write files to that folder. You'll need to navigate and ensure that the ASP.NET account (on WinXP/IIS 5.1) has MODIFY and WRITE permissions (in addition to the priveleges outlined in the previous step) to this folder.
  
  

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 3.

Step 3

Do you get a page full of markup?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to ensure that ASP.NET is installed on the machine in question. Then you need to read and follow the instructions here.

If you answered "No" then proceed to step 4.

Step 4

Do you get a blank page when browsing your Community Server/Evolution site?

If you answered "Yes" then you need to do the following:

• Ensure that the folder where you installed Community Server/Evolution is marked as a Virtual Directory and Application in IIS.
  
  
  
  Take notice that there is an application name in the Application name field. Also, take note of the icon in the tree view on the left as it is markedly different than the aspnet_client folder for example.
• Ensure that there is a Global.asax file in the Web folder where you installed Community Server or Evolution.

We hope that this guide has served you well in getting Community Server or Evolution installed and running properly. If you have further questions then you should consider posting your question on the community forums or if you desire professional support directly from Telligent then you will need to go here.