Microsoft KB Archive/315756

Knowledge Base

Ways to use Commerce Server 2000 and Commerce Server 2002 Business Desk Applications over an Internet connection

Article ID: 315756

Article Last Modified on 7/7/2006

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Commerce Server 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q315756

SUMMARY

As it is stated in the Commerce Server 2000 online documentation, "It is strongly recommended that your client computer have a high-speed connection to your Business Desk application."

In this context, a high-speed connection is a local area network (LAN) connection. Typically, this type of connection is 10 megabytes (MB) or faster. You must have a high-speed connection because large amounts of data can be transmitted across the network, depending on the functions that you perform and the data that you query, such as in Analysis reports. Two reasons that you must have a high-speed connection to use a Business Desk application over the Internet are the following:

• By default, in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), the security of the Business Desk application is set to Windows Integrated authentication or Windows NT Challenge/Response (NTCR) authentication. By default, this type of authentication only works on an intranet.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer processes an address that contains a period (.), such as in an IP address or in a DNS name, and an Internet address, and then Internet Explorer applies settings from the Internet security zone to the address.

Although a Business Desk application cannot run over the Internet by using the default client settings and the default server settings, the "More Information" section in this article discusses a different method that you can use to work around this issue.

Note Microsoft will use commercially reasonable efforts to support this workaround.

If you cannot gain access to a Business Desk application over the intranet, Microsoft recommends that you install and use Terminal Services (either on a computer that is located on the local intranet or on the computer that is running Commerce Server). By using Terminal Services, you can connect the terminal server (through remote access or PPTP, for example) to the same network as the Commerce Server-based computer. When the terminal server is on this network, you can gain access to a Business Desk application through the intranet.

Aside from configuration settings, Business Desk clients must have Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later and the Microsoft SQL Server client tools installed. See the Commerce Server 2000 online documentation for the specific software requirements.

MORE INFORMATION

Note Microsoft will use commercially reasonable efforts to support the following workaround.

To Configure a Business Desk Application to Work over the Internet

1. In Internet Services Manager:
   1. In the console tree, click the server, click the Web site, and then locate the Business Desk application.
   2. On the Directory Security tab, click Edit for Anonymous access and authentication control.
   3. Turn on Basic authentication. Accept the default Integrated Windows authentication.
2. Follow these steps on each computer for which the following conditions are true:
   • The computer is running Microsoft Internet Explorer.
   • You want the computer to connect to a Business Desk application over the Internet.
   1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
   2. On the Security tab, click the Local intranet zone.
   3. Click Sites, click Advanced, and then type the complete URL for the Business Desk application. For example: http://www.mydomain.com/retailbizdesk/
   4. Click Add, and then click OK two times.
   5. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Local Intranet zone, click Custom Level, and then turn on the appropriate ActiveX controls and plug-ins option, depending on the online documentation.
   Internet Explorer can now pass NTLM credentials to the trusted site. Therefore, the site can pass through the authentication process. Additionally, Internet Explorer will now trust the ActiveX controls that this Business Desk application presents.
3. For the Analysis functions of a Business Desk application to work over the Internet, you must configure online analytical processing (OLAP) to communicate over HTTP (or HTTPS). To do this, you must install SQL Server Enterprise Edition. For more information about how to do this, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   280431 How to enable Commerce Server 2000 OLAP reports over HTTPS with SQL Server 2000

   290638 Cannot access Business Desk Analysis Services over domains

Additional query words: BizDesk Business Desk OLAP Reports HTTPS

Keywords: kbinfo KB315756

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