Installation and Upgrade Guides › Web Agent Installation Guide for IIS › Configure an SiteMinder Web Agent on an IIS 6.0 Web Server › How to Configure a SiteMinder Web Agent on IIS 6.0 › Put the Agent Filter and Extension Before Other Third-Party Filters

Put the Agent Filter and Extension Before Other Third-Party Filters

The IIS 6.0 Web Agent consists of an ISAPI filter and an ISAPI extension. The majority of Web Agent processing occurs in the extension.

When the Web Agent is installed on an IIS 6.0 Web Server with other third-party software, such as WebSphere or ServletExec, the Agent has the following restrictions:

• The Web Agent filter and Web Agent extension must be configured to run before other third-party filters installed on the web server.
• The Web Agent must be configured as the first wildcard application map if it is going to protect applications running as or spawned by an ISAPI extension.
• The IIS 6.0 web server does not enforce how third-party filters and extensions behave. IIS 6.0 processes ISAPI filters before calling ISAPI extensions, including the Web Agent extension. Therefore, the SiteMinder Web Agent for IIS 6.0 is unable to authenticate or authorize access to applications implemented as pure ISAPI filters. This limitation impacts Web Agent integration with other third-party offerings for the IIS 6.0 web server, if those offerings are implemented as ISAPI filters that process and/or redirect the request before ISAPI extensions are called.

When you install the Web Agent on an IIS 6.0 web server, the Agent’s filter is automatically placed at the top of the ISAPI filters list. However, if you install any other third-party plugins after installing the Web Agent, those filters may take precedence.

After you install and configure an IIS 6.0 Web Agent, you must ensure that the siteminderagent ISAPI filter and extension is listed before any third-party filter or extension. This enables the Web Agent to process requests before a third-party.

To put the agent filter and extension before other third-party filters

1. Check the ISAPI filter by doing the following steps:
   1. Open the IIS Manager.
   2. Select Web Sites then right-click and select Properties.
   3. Select the ISAPI Filters tab.
   4. Check the list of filters and ensure that siteminderagent is the first entry in the list. If it is not, use the Move Up button to place it at the top of the list.
   5. Click OK.
   6. Exit the IIS Manager.
2. Check the ISAPI extensions by doing the following steps:
   1. Open the IIS Manager, and then expand the web server.
   2. Right-click the Default Web Site folder, and select Properties.
   3. Click the Home Directory tab, and then click Configuration.
   4. The following file should be at the top of the Wildcard application maps (order of implementation) field:

      web_agent_home\bin\ISAPI6WebAgent.dll
      

      web_agent_home

      Indicates the directory where the SiteMinder Agent is installed.

      Default (Windows 32-bit installations of SiteMinder Web Agents only): C:\Program Files\CA\webagent

      Default (Windows 64-bit installations [SiteMinder Web Agents for IIS only]): C:\Program Files\CA\webagent\win64

      Default (Windows 32-bit applications operating on 64-bit systems [Wow64 with SiteMinder Web Agents for IIS only]): C:\Program Files (x86)\webagent\win32

      Default (UNIX/Linux installations): /opt/ca/webagent