Install of FastClose Server in Internet Information Services (IIS)

Introduction

The instructions below aren’t the only way to configure FastClose in IIS, but they are the steps which we have tested. You could create a separate website with a different port number rather than using the default website, it’s completely up to you.

Installing FastClose Server under IIS is optional: the software includes a built-in web server, so can simply run it as a Windows service, and many of our customers are happy with this. Only install under IIS if you require TLS for https connections, for example.

Prerequisites

IIS and Roles

To run FastClose server inside IIS you should Install IIS Server and IIS Manager on the server. The following roles/services are also required: Application Initialization, WebSocket Protocol, Dynamic Content Compression and Windows Authentication. The steps to add those roles are as follows:

In Server Manager, click the Manage menu, and then click Add Roles and Features.
In the Add Roles and Features wizard, click Next. Select the installation type and click Next. Select the destination server and click Next.
On the Server Roles page, expand Web Server (IIS), expand Web Server.
Tick the boxes for:
- Dynamic Content Compression in the Performance folder
- WebSocket Protocol in the Application Development Features folder
- Application Initialization in the Application Development Features folder
- Windows Authentication in the Security folder

The IIS module 'WebDAV Publishing' must not be installed as it prevents the FastClose Server API from receiving PUT and POST requests.

When completed, verify that IIS is installed and running by visiting http://localhost.

ASP.NET Core Runtime

Then install Microsoft’s ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.0.x Windows Hosting Bundle from Download .NET 8.0.

There are a number of downloads on that page, so make sure you select the Hosting Bundle. The design and contents of this page will change over time of course, but at the time of writing it looks like this:

We do not recommend running FastClose Server on the same server as your ERP web server as we have not verified that the hosting bundle will not have an effect on the ERP. Given that the hosting bundle is provided by Microsoft, it is less likely to have any issues but we cannot be sure.

IIS must be installed before installing the ASP.NET Core Runtime.

FastClose Server Install

Double click the FastClose Server installer. You can either install to:

[DriveLetter]:\Program Files\FastClose\FastCloseServer
- This is the default location but you will have to grant IIS Read and Execute permissions to this folder
[DriveLetter]:\inetpub\wwwroot\FastClose
- This will not require additional permissions.

The port number you choose during the install won't matter as this will be managed by IIS.
Once installed, open Windows Services, stop the FastClose Server service and change its Startup Type to 'Disabled'.

Configure the App Settings

This section is no longer applicable as of version 3.3. If you are installing 3.3 or higher, skip this section.

In Windows Explorer, browse to the FastClose Server install folder selected above. If the file appsettings.customer.json does not already exist, create it by copying and renaming the file appsettings.customersettings.json. Then edit it using Notepad, run as administrator. Within the file, change the setting IsHostedByIIS from false to true and save it.

{
	...
	"AuthenticationOptions": {
		...
		"IsHostedByIIS": true
	}
}

IIS Configuration

Create IIS Website

Start 'Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager' from the Windows Start Menu
Right Click on the 'Sites' item, and select 'Add Website', configuring as below:

Note that the Physical Path should match the install location you specified when installing FastClose Server e.g. [DriveLetter]:\inetpub\wwwroot\FastClose or [DriveLetter]:\Program Files\FastClose\FastCloseServer.

The Port can be any value you want that is available on your web server but 5101 is the convention for FastClose.

You can use https instead of http if you have a suitable certificate registered on the web server. You may need to specify a host name which matches the certificate.

If using a port other than 443 with TLS, your users will need to explicitly type https://... in their browser and FastClose desktop clients since these will otherwise assume http:// by default and fail to connect e.g. "This site can’t be reached. The connection was reset."

Adding Windows Authentication

Although you may not use Windows Authentication it is required to be available for the Server to run.

Double-click on Authentication in IIS Manager.

You should see at least 2 options: Anonymous Authentication and Windows Authentication.

Ensure both are set to Enabled.

The following image shows the correct configuration in IIS with Windows authentication.

Allow Background Tasks

FastClose Server needs to carry out background tasks periodically, such as checking for scheduled tasks and carrying out housekeeping/maintenance. By default, IIS will terminate the FastClose process or 'app pool' after it has been idle for 20 minutes. It will also not restart the app pool automatically if it gets 'recycled': stopped by IIS periodically to conserve resources. Both of these behaviours will prevent FastClose from working properly.

To resolve this, right click on the FastClose entry within Application Pools and choose Advanced Settings. Set the Start Mode property to 'Always Running' and the Idle Timeout property to zero. Make sure that Recycling settings have their default values: no memory limits, no request limit, no specific times, and a regular time interval of not less than 1740 minutes (29 hours). We suggest 10,000 minutes (7 days) or even disabling it with zero.

Then, open the Advanced Settings dialog for the FastClose web site and change 'Preload Enabled' to true.

Permissions

If you installed FastClose Server anywhere other than in [DriveLetter]:inetpub\wwwroot, then you will have to set Read and Execute permissions on the folder for the IIS_IUSRS group.

Right Click on your FastClose Website and choose 'Edit Permissions...'. Select the 'Security' tab in the properties window which is displayed:

Click 'Edit...' and then 'Add...'

Add IIS_IUSRS and ensure it has 'Read & Execute' permission.

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory C:\ProgramData\FastClose and set the permissions on this folder such that the IIS_IUSRS group has full control of it.

Testing

You might need to restart the World Wide Web Publishing Service within the Services app before all the changes above take effect.

Right-click on your FastClose website, select 'Manage Website' and then 'Browse' as below:
This will launch the default web browser and if all goes well you should see this:

There may be a message stating the the repository requires upgrading. If so, click the link and then click the “Upgrade Repository” button.

Once the repository is upgraded, you can log in with the Administrator user. The default password is supplied separately and we recommend changing this as soon as possible.

Completing the Install - Clients, Templates and Firewalls

As your desired port is not usually open, it will probably be necessary to open it on the server firewall.

It is also necessary to install the templates, and desktop clients on user machines.

Instructions as to how to do all of this can be found in the standard installation instructions.

Installing FastClose Server in IIS