Remote Connection to IIS7 using ServerManager.OpenRemote

Question

I am trying to connect to IIS7+ using ServerManager.OpenRemote("[IP Address]"). I am connecting from a HyperV Host Machine to its client virtual machines. I keep getting the following error: 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException: The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)'. I can connect to the the client's IIS using the IIS Manager (server) connecting through the Management Service (client). Since I am unable to connect using Server Manager, I am guessing that the management service uses HTTP and ServerManager uses COM to connect. Can someone steer me in the right direction as to how I would allow this remote connection?

EDIT: I have verified DCOM communication between the 2 computers using netmon. I have the following descriptions to/from the client machine "DCOM:RemoteGetClassObject Request" and "DCOM:RemoteGetClassObject Response". The response also has "ORPCFNULL" in the description which indicates to me that the client cannot find the requested COM object. Can anybody verify?

Answer 1

I found my solution. Added notes to help others.

By default, Windows firewall blocks port 135 (used for handshaking this connection). Once I opened up this port, I was still getting issues.

After the handshake, a dynamic port between 1024-65535 is used for communication. Windows firewall will block this also if not allowed.

Because my operations were purely internal, I created an allow rule for all 10.1.10.0/24 IPs for that port range.

You can also configure this DCOM to have a static port of your choosing and set a firewall rule for that port.

More info here: http://mvolo.com/connecting-to-iis-70-configuration-remotely-with-microsoftwebadministration/