Installing SAP content server on a windows 2012 with IIS 8.5

As I may have said once or twice before. SAP is "old" technology, and things built on legacy technology doesnt always hold up to modern times. A prime example is the Content Server, which certainly works on Windows 2012, and with IIS 8.5 You just can't install it with the installer (!!!)

Now, the problem isn't bigger than you have to do the installation manually (like we did before the installer tried to do everything for us). The major issue is that SAP has removed those installation guides, because the technology is no longer supported (Someone go smack the guy who decided to remove good, working knowledge from a knowledge database). So what you do is follow these simple steps (you may have to change the paths, depending on where you installed):

1. Install with the installer, as you normally would. Everything will look fine. But there will be no websites installed, even though you clicked the "install website".

2. Go to Internet Information Services Manager 

3. Right Click on Sites > "Add Website" to create a new Website.
- Site name  "SAP Content Server"
- port "1090"
- Physical Path "d:\sap\ContentServer"
- Application Pool > Select "DefaultAppPool"
- Click "OK"

4. Right click on the newly created website >> "Add Application"
- Alias "ContentServer"
- Application Pool > Select "AppPool_SAP Content Server"
- Physical Path "d:\sap\ContentServer"
- Click "OK"

5. Double Click on the website > Handler Mappings
- Select "ISAPI.dll" from the list >> Edit Feature Permissions
- Check the tick boxes for "Script" and "Execute"
- Click "OK"

6. Double Click on the website > Authentication
- Enable "Anonymous Authentication" (if it isn't already)
- Enable "Basic Authentication"
- Enable "Windows Authentication"

7. Double Click on the IIS Server name > ISAPI and CGI Restrictions >> Click on "Add"
- ISAPI or CGI Path "d:\sap\ContentServer"  > selecting "ContentServer.dll"
- Description "ContentServer.dll"
- Check the tick box "Allow extension path to execute"
- Click "OK"

8. Add rules to the windows firewall (ingoing port 1090 and 1095 if you are doing cache server too)

Lo and Behold: One running website with Content Server. And DO remember to set the storage somewhere you have enough space :)

As you may be able to imagine, the Cache Server .dll is very much the same steps.

Weird connection requests to xxxx.wdf.sap.corp in the ICM trace

Maybe you have seen one or two systems that for whatever reason fills up your wonderful log with totally useless information.
One of the more annoying ones, is when SAP accidentally leave stuff in place that should never have gone into a customer system. One of these is when you see messages like:

[Thr 139801848358656] Sat Nov 19 01:19:34 2016
[Thr 139801848358656] *** WARNING => Connection request from (8/9/0) to host: hs2086.wdf.sap.corp, service: 2000 failed (NIEHOST_UNKNOWN)
[Thr 139801848358656]  {00081aac} [icxxconn_mt.c 2108]
[Thr 139801845188352] Sat Nov 19 01:24:33 2016
[Thr 139801845188352] *** WARNING => Connection request from (7/8/0) to host: arcdev.wdf.sap.corp, service: 1080 failed (NIEHOST_UNKNOWN)
[Thr 139801845188352]  {00081abe} [icxxconn_mt.c 2108]
[Thr 139801845188352] Sat Nov 19 01:29:34 2016

These will populate your ICM logs, and clog them up forever if you dont do something about it.

Now, the smart person might quickly realize that these are http connection requests (why else would they be in the ICM ?), and you may even have guessed (either based on the name or the port) that this is a content service of some kind. But when you go to transaction OAC0, there are tonnes of SAP standard stuff in there. Which one is it that you need to get rid of ?
Well, fortunately, the answer is simple. Go to transaction CSMONITOR, fold out the "ContentServer", and keep folding out, untill you see the names of the archivelinks. (in a netweaver 7.3, it is usually named A2 and B2)
then simply go to transaction OAC0 and mark and delete these two offenders