Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Changing the name of CompanyWeb


So this one came up in the SBS public newsgroup today. How do you change the name of the CompanyWeb, so internally it doesn't respond to http://CompanyWeb, but responds to something else?

Well, what I ended up doing (since I wanted mine to be called http://FamilyWeb), I simply went into the DNS snap-in and created a new Host(A) record (similar to companyweb) and pointed it to the same place as CompanyWeb. Then I went into the IIS snap-in and right clicked on the CompanyWeb virtual server and chose properties, then on the advanced button on the General tab, I make sure that the virtual server answers to http://FamilyWeb on port 80.

I was done! But why didn't I remove http://CompanyWeb from the list?

A lot of SBS features are hardcoded to look for http://companyWeb, such as the Import Files Wizard. So in an effort to reduce the errors in the features that the SBS Team provides, I let the site answer to http://companyweb, but told everyone to visit http://familyweb. Works like a charm.

However, Marina Ross (an MVP) today posted another tactic, which would also be used if if you wanted a second site in your network. Marina pointed to the SmallBizServer.net FAQ on how to create a new SharePoint website. It includes pictures!

Enjoy this new found knowledge.

24 comments:

Greg said...

Hello,
Great post. I tried this so instead of companyweb I could bring up http://mycompanyname/default.aspx. Brings it up but asks to login and companyweb didn't not. Any thoughts on that?? Thanks!

Sean Daniel said...

Are you using a computer that's a member of the domain, are you logged into that computer using a user that has a domain account, and that domain account has access to the sharepoint website?

I just re-tried these steps and I don't get prompted for credentials at all using either http://companyweb or http://familyweb.

Anonymous said...

i tried these stpes and am promtped for login credentials. did you create an A record or CNAME record? did you change any security settings?

Sean Daniel said...

I created the same as the company web, it's a CNAME. I don't get prompted for credentials. Are you sure the user has access to the site?

I didn't change any specific settings.

Anonymous said...

I tried it with a CName and an A record - both times I've been asked for credentials. All IIS/CompanyWeb security is at the defaults - inherited permissions and Directory Security of Integrated Windows Authentication only. Any further suggestions? Thanks.

Sean Daniel said...

Is the client computer joined to the domain, what user role does the user have?

Anonymous said...

I had the same problem with changing the name of companyweb. While http://companyweb works just fine, http://NewName prompt me for credentials.
The solution is quite simple. It's a browser (IE) configuration problem. Just change the following setting within IE: Tools - Internet Options - Security - Local Intranet - Sites. You will see that companyweb is listed but your new name is missing! Just add your new name and http://NewName is working :-)

Sean Daniel said...

NICE! Thanks Leslie!

Shope said...

I tried updating my SBS 2003 server with Sharepoint Portal Server 2003. Once installed, it didn't configure correctly. So, I removed it, hoping our previous Sharepoint companyweb page would still be there. Now the companyweb page cannot be found. I tried restarting Internet Services but that didn't seem to do the trick. Can somebody help guide me on what's best to do at this point. Thank you.

Shope said...

Our company has SBS 2003 server. I tried installing Sharepoint Portal Server 2003. (more features, thus the reason on the initial install of SPS 2003)The install completed only leaving me with no companyweb page. After discovering our Sharepoint was down, I paniced and decided to remove Sharepoint Portal Server 2003, hoping the companyweb would be restored. To my dismay, it no longer functions. I tried restarting Internet Services, but no luck. ANYONE out there that can suggest what I should do next at this point. Do I reinstall Sharepoint Services for SBS 2003, or install SPS 2003, and try configuring again? I'm totally confused at this point. What's the fasteset way to get Sharepoint Services (built in to 2003) up and running again?

Sean Daniel said...

Hrm, sounds like there is quite the mess on your SBS box. I spoke with the SharePoint PM on my team and he suggests that you should un-install and re-install the intranet component from add/remove programs, by changing the Small Business Server installation settings.

In addition, KB 829114 has information on how you can re-connect to your old data if you have data that needs to be recovered.

Good luck!

Shope said...

Thanks! I'll give it a try. Yes, it is a mess.

Shope said...

Thank you! I'll give that a try. However, I don't know if I can recover the data. So yes, it is a mess. Thanks for the tips. Really appreciate it. I'll check back and post the results.

Shope said...

That sounds like true with SBS2003 but I was not able to find an article that confirms it.

I found one that states SPS 2001 is not compatible w/Server 2003; http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;820328.

Here is the SBS2003 main site, http://support.microsoft.com/ph/3208.

It could be more a configuration issue with default webpage. You might want to check this through IIS manager. You may need to uninstall SPS2003.

So far, there is no real quick way except restoring from backup. You could only restore those web page files to see it that works.

Hope this helps,

Jay Flores

Anonymous said...

Where is the DNS snap-in?
Where is the IIS snap-in?
Please advise.
Thanks,
TexasTig

Sean Daniel said...

The DNS snap-in is in Administrative tools, and so is the IIS snap-in, although alternatively the IIS snap-in is in advanced management, although it specifically says "Internet Information Services".

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for being so stupid.
Do you have a detailed how-to of
changing from http://companyweb/
to http://familyweb/
I'm new here at work and
they wanted me to setup the
internal website. I'm learning.
Thanks,
TexasTig

Sean Daniel said...

umm.. isn't that what I wrote in the blogpost above? what specifically are you looking for Texas?

Anonymous said...

When you created your new host what did you put in the box called, "Name (uses parent domain name if blank):

Did you use your server ip in the "IP address:" box?

Did you click on the box "Create associated pointer (PTR) record"?

Did you click on the box "Allow any authenticated user to update DNS
records with the same owner name"?

Anonymous said...

Sean you said, "Then I went into the IIS snap-in and right clicked on the CompanyWeb virtual server and chose properties, then on the advanced button on the General tab".

When I goto IIS and right click on the companyweb virtual server and click properties there is no General Tab.
The only tabs I have are:
website, performance, isapi filters, home directory, documents, directory security, http headers and custom errors.
I'm using sbs2003 premium.
Could you tell me where the General tab is?
And could you answer my questions in the post above this one.
Thanks

Sean Daniel said...

Sorry for my late reply on this one, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

You are correct, the tab you should use is WebSite, not General. Sorry about that.

For your question about DNS above in the alias name I put "FamilyWeb", for the fully qualified domain name, i just made it machinename.internaldomain.local. I set it up exactly like the CNAME for companyweb.

Anonymous said...

I set all this up using host headers, no problemo, but the search results still have the original name. The problem is that i set it up as http://intenalname and now i need to be able to have outside access i want it to be http://outsidedomainname.com. Which hostheaders and dns changes fixed for me no problem, but now the damn search results are still http://internalname.

Sean Daniel said...

Hrm, we're going to have to figure out how to tell SharePoint what way to return the links. Grrr. Thanks for finding a bug in my process, I'll look into it the next time I have some time.

Anonymous said...

Thnak you Leslie Kayatoe...
this was a problem for me too, and it took days to hunt down the soultion, i was a botu to give up.

thank you again Leslie