Making SharePoint folder accessible over internet - networking

I have a SharePoint document library on my intranet and I want o make this library accessible to users on internet. I know easier option is to just make the website internet facing but that is not possible for some reasons.
To workaround the thing I was thinking to map this document library to a folder on another server on intranet and make it a virtual directory; this server is internet facing and so the virtual directory can be accessed by the users.
Just wondering have any one got a better option or see any issues with this said approach?
Thank you!

You can extend the web application and essentially create an extranet web application that still require permissions. Then you can grant the external users access to either the site or that document library with unique permissions. Might be overkill but that could do it.

Related

ASP.NET Intranet Config - Get Network User ID But Access Db And Folders As Different User

I have looked at numerous articles and tried a multitude of settings, but I can't seem to achieve what I'm looking for in my intranet site. Even if I don't get a solution, a definitive "you can't do that" will help me move forward. Here is what I'm trying to do:
Web site recognizes the user's network login credentials - ONLY so I can get their user ID without a login
The website uses some generic account (IUSR or something like that) to access a SQL Server that the same network users can NOT access EXCEPT through the website
Users can upload files to a set of folders created on-the-fly by the website to contain their files for later reference by them
The website can construct web pages on-the-fly with links to the users' files - and ONLY theirs - so they can open / download them through the web pages
Users can NOT access the uploaded files through a network share on the web server
All of the folder creation, file upload, and file serving occur under some generic account like IUSR
I currently have things configured to use Windows Authentication and I could probably live with that except I don't want to require a login to the site. Apparently, in order to make this happen, I need to have the server configured as a trusted delegate and IT is dragging their feet on doing that. Also, this config allows the users to access the SQL Server and folders/files through means other than the web site and I don't really want that. I only need to pick off their user ID so I can use it to get information about them out of Active Directory and keep track of their interactions with the web app.
In reviewing your post I must first say "Yes" it seems like what you want to accomplish can be done. However the enormity of your question precludes simple posting answers. From what I gather there are three security issues you want to navigate 1) Windows Authentication, 2) Admin only SQL access, 3) User only Access to files and directories while authenticated using Active Directory.
I have been building ASP.net intranet web applications using Active Directory (Windows logins) for a few months. I would encourage you to explore this article: http://www.mikesdotnetting.com/article/216/windows-authentication-with-asp-net-web-pages for details on setting up windows authentication in an ASP.net web application. You can add elements to your web pages using a section of Visual Studio [Toolbox] called 'Login', which contains elements such as 'LoginName'.
Next I am pretty sure you can control the SQL server query access using authentication parameters of your choosing. In the portion of the connectionString that is normally 'Integrated Security=True;' you will need to switch that to 'Integrated Security=False;username=sqlAdminUserName;password=sqlAdminPassword'. For more information I suggest reviewing this post: Integrated Security = False.
For the third security issue once you have isolated the user's windows login identity you should be able to dynamically build web pages, files, directories, and whatever other resources you require all customized for that individual user. I believe the generation of all those materials can be done with an IUSR account with the only needed ingredient being the Windows login user identity.
Good Luck and I hope my suggestions help move you ahead.
Actually, the answer is not all that complex and it is a real mystery why it is so difficult to find a single source on the web to spell it out. Here is my IIS authentication for an intranet app that acts exactly how I want:
Enable ASP.NET Impersonation and edit to Authenticated User
Enable Windows Authentication
Advanced Settings->Extended Protection->Off
Advanced Settings->Enable Kernel-mode authentication->unchecked
Providers->Available Providers->Negotiate:Kerberos and move that to the top
Disable all other authentications
Most critical: Make the server a 'trusted delegate' in Active Directory
That should do it.

Cannot access image site(IIS) directly

I am talking about IIS and ASP.NET application. Currently I decide to create one web application in one site (http://domain.com) and another one site for keeping images (http://images.domain.com). After a little work, I found the problem of accessing the path for creating the images from web application site to image site. One solution that is appeared on my thought is using Web Service. But I still want to hear if there are other solution for solving this problem from you guys?
A few options, most of them applicable if both sites are on the same computer, or even on the same network domain :
Give the windows user that acts as the identity of the main site's application pool, access permissions to the Images' site folder.
use Impersonation to access the other images' site folders with the right permissions.
Another option is to have both sites run as the same windows user
other then that, haveing a web service to push files to the Images site is a great and scalable solution.

Best way to create a sandbox area on my asp .net host

I would like to create a sandbox area on my hosting provider that only the client can see. For example the production website would be at www.domain.com. However, would it be possible to create a sandbox version of the website at www.domain.com/sandbox and only provide access to the client?
If so, what is the best method? Do I manually have to create a login page etc in the sandbox folder? Or, can I publish the test website in the sandbox area and restrict access through my hosting provider?
Generally a sandbox/staging/test version of your production site would be a complete duplicate of your production deployment, not just the login page.
You'd have a separate copy of the application and the database, and then serve it via another hostname/IP address or on an entirely different machine.
For instance, you could have www.domain.com and test.domain.com, each with the own isolated version of the software. This way your client can play as much as they want in the sandbox without fear of damaging the production environment.
To restrict access you could use access control lists in IIS to restrict the sandbox to a specific ip address (or range), or enable basic support on it with a username/password required security.

Is there any free web based web.config editor?

Does anyone know a web based editor for the web.config? I want to offer the possibility of changing and adding settings through a nice web interface.
Update: I am aware of the security issues but still i want to make it possible. The application is an internal app which is not available for outside. I configure authorization within web.config and want be able to administer the users who are able to access the app. Furthermore I have some app settings which i want to be updateable. E.g. mailserver, Connectionstring, etc..
I tend to agree with GregD on this point... Exposing the web.config is not a good idea at all. If you really want the user to be able to configure some settings, provide an interface for it, which allows the user to set the values as per requirement. Check out the built-in ASP.NET website administration tool if you need an example.
There is a good reason why the web.config is not readable from the internet. Don't do it.
Edited to add
What is it that you wish to accomplish by opening up the web.config? The web.config is where you store database connection strings, turn debug off/on, show error messages locally or remotely, etc., etc. Opening up your web.config to "editing" via a web interface, is really asking for someone to hack it, thus gaining full access to your application.
I agree you probably shouldn't do this.... but in going against the grain since we are all adults here...
It is possible to modify the web.config if your website is running in full trust mode. If you're hosted on GoDaddy for example then you are probably out of luck.
That being said you could leverage an admin page I wrote for BlogEngine which will allow you to edit any file you have granted the AppPool service permission to edit. You would probably want to remake this into a user control and then add it to a protected url address and/or folder.

Setting up IIS7 as a basic web host (website w/ attached ftp site)

Am I becoming a lazy researcher? If I don't find good answers via Google, instead of continuing to try various research methodologies, here I am at SO again...
I want to host a few websites on IIS7 on Windows Server 2008. I am familiar with how to setup/configure the website. What I would like to do is setup a ftp site for each website allowing a specific user to manage the files for that site. I do not understand enough of how to administer the new FTP server and do not know the best practices for how to setup the security for the directory/website/ftpsite.
Does anyone have experience in this area or know of any good online resources?
Thank you.
You have to use the old IIS6 interface to setup FTP websites. Then you set permissions on directories as you would for regular file system access. I don't really like this very much, but it does the job.

Resources