"Service Unavailable"

Hi People!

First….The case

Recently I "inherited" a Portal server 2003 (wooooha), and so I went on and tried to browse to the portal URL, but what I got was "Service Unavailable".

The steps I did:

First of all I checked to see if the site itself and it's application pool are running.

Once I saw they were running well, I figured it must be a Permission problem.

So in order to save me some time I googled it and fair enough I found a Microsoft KB.

To save you guys the need to go into the link I'll tell you it’s about how to make sure the Permissions groups are in order and how to change the permissions in the IIS (6.0)

Here are the steps needed to be done :

1. Verify that the application pool is configured for the virtual server. The default application pool is MSSharePointPortalAppPool.
   
   Follow these steps to determine the application pool that the virtual server is using:
   1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
   2. Expand ServerName, expand Web Sites, right-click the virtual server, and then click Properties.
   3. Click the Home Directory tab.
      
      The application pool that is configured for the virtual server is listed in the Application pool box.
   4. Click OK.
2. Verify that the password for the application pool account is correct. IIS does not automatically poll password changes in Active Directory directory service. If the application pool account is a domain account, and the password expires, you may receive the error message that is described in the "Symptoms" section of this article after a new password is specified for the account.
   
   Follow these steps to verify that the password for the application pool account is correct:
   1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, expand Application Pools.
   2. Right-click the application pool that is configured for the virtual server (for example, right-click MSSharePointPortalAppPool), and then click Properties.
   3. Click the Identity tab.
   4. In the Password box, type the password of the application pool account that is listed in the User name box, and then click OK.
   5. In the Confirm Password dialog box, type the password again, and then click OK.
3. Verify that the application pool account is a member of both the IIS_WPG group and the STS_WPG group on the server:
   
   Use one of the following methods as appropriate to your situation:
   1. If Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 is installed on a member server:
      1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.
      2. Expand Local Users and Groups, and then expand Users.
      3. Right-click the account that is used by the application pool for the virtual server, and then click Properties.
      4. Click the Member of tab.
         
         Verify that both IIS_WPG and STS_WPG appear in the Member of list. If one or both groups are not listed, add the IIS_WPG group, the STS_WPG group, or both groups (as appropriate) to the list.
   2. If Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 is installed on a domain controller:
      1. Start Active Directory Users and Computers.
      2. Expand Users.
      3. Right-click the account that is used by the application pool for the virtual server, and then click Properties.
      4. Click the Member of tab.
         
         Verify that both IIS_WPG and STS_WPG appear in the Member of list. If one or both groups are not listed, add the IIS_WPG group, the STS_WPG group, or both groups (as appropriate) to the list.
4. Restart IIS to recycle the application pools:
   1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click ServerName, point to All Tasks, and then click Restart IIS.
   2. Click Restart Internet Information Services on ServerName, and then click OK.

 

And that's all, I hope you found this post helpful.