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Understanding FrontPage Server Extensions (Part 2)

In the last article I wrote in this series, I defined what the FrontPage Server Extensions are. In this article I want to get a bit more specific, and talk about how they are used.

Server Compatibility

When you install FrontPage, the server extensions are automatically installed on your local server. So, you don't have to worry about how your local webs are going to work. However, even if your hosting service says that they support FrontPage server extensions, you may have to do a little homework.

There are now 3 versions of FrontPage in the world: FrontPage 1.1, FrontPage 97, and FrontPage 98. I doubt that many hosting services are still using the FrontPage 1.1 server extensions. However, there are still quite a few that do not have the FrontPage 98 server extensions installed, and are still using the FrontPage 97 extensions. While each version of the server extensions is fully backwards-compatible, the reverse is not true. If your hosting service is running the 97 extensions, there are a number of FrontPage 98 "components" (known as "WebBots" with FrontPage 97) that won't work on the remote server. The following is a list of FrontPage components which will not work on a server using FrontPage 97 server extensions:

1. Channel Definition Format (CDF) Wizard
   You may still publish a page created using the CDF Wizard, but you will have to use the option to "browse and not author" when publishing. What this means is that you will not be able to edit the remote page.
2. Text on images
   This will not work in the browser or the FrontPage Editor (when editing the remote pages).
3. Database Region Wizard
   While you may certainly create ASP pages that will work on the remote server, using the Database Region Wizard to create these pages will cause the pages to not work on the remote server.
4. Themes, Shared Borders, Image Bullets, Navigation Structure, and Page Banners
   None of these components will work on the remote web site, if it isn't running the FrontPage 98 server extensions.

When you publish from a local server running FrontPage 98 server extensions to a remote server without them, if you have pages with any of these components in them, you will be alerted during the publish as to the situation, and offered several choices, depending on which components(s) cause the confilict. Usually, you will have to opt to publish the pages without the components. If you're using Themes, Shared Borders, or Navigation Structure, the results can be disastrous.

Hosting Issues

FrontPage server extensions run on a variety of servers, including NY, UNIX, Apache, O'Rielly, and a number of others as well. If your hosting service does not provide support for FrontPage extensions, encourage them to download the extensions for free from the Microsoft FrontPage web site.

Some hosting services charge extra for web sites that use the server extensions. If this is the case with your hosting service, you may need to evaluate whether you want to stay with that hosting service. Most hosting services do not charge extra for the server extensions. Those that do may not be as technically proficient, and it is well worth a little more money to have a "headache-free" hosting service. On the other hand, if you're satisfied with the service that you recieve in other ways, you may wish to stay with your present hosting service. It's not a "cut and dried" issue. Only you can make that determination. However, the presence of the server extensions on the remote web site make for a much easier web publishing and maintenance scenario.

One thing to keep in mind is that, even though a hosting service supports FrontPage extensions, when you sign up for the first time, and you are going to have your own domain on the server, you will need to alert them to the fact that you are using FrontPage. Each domain must have its' own set of server extensions set up by the hosting service initially. Once the server extensions are installed on that domain, you may create your own sub-webs without any help from the hosting service. When you create a sub-web, the server extensions will be "cloned" from the root web of the domain, for each web you create additionally.

If you are using FrontPage 97, and a publish is interrupted by a break in the connection, for one reason or another, you may see a "Web Root is Busy" message the next time you attempt to publish. You will have to ask the hosting service to reboot the server in this case. What has happened is that the server extensions have gone into an "infinite loop." They are waiting for a message from your machine which will never come. Thankfully, FrontPage 98 addresses this issue, and it no longer has this problem.

If you receive an "NTLM Authentication Failed" message when publishing, it is most likely due to the hosting service having NT's "Challenge and Response" turned on. The remote machine looks at your network settings, for the user name and password you logged on with. If you don't log on to your computer, this will generate the error. If this happens, there are 2 ways of dealing with it:

1. Ask the hosting service to turn of "Challenge and Response."
2. Install Client for Microsoft Networks on your computer and set it up to ask you for a logon user name and password when you start your system. It doesn't matter whether this is the same as the user name and password you will be using on your remote web. If it is not, the remote server will prompt you for a user name and password. On the other hand, if you only have one web site, you may want to make it the same. In this case, you won't be prompted, but will get instant access to your web site.

In my next article, I will deal with using the server administrator to work with your server extensions. This is not something which you are likely to have to do, but there are times when you may, and it will be helpful to have some idea of how to work with the extensions if you have to.

Until then, then.

Author: Kevin Spencer
Date: 04/27/98

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