WCF Deployment to IIS 6 Results in 403 Permission Error

Question

I've never deployed a WCF service to IIS 6 before. I've got a service that I'm deploying to IIS 6 by using the default configuration as part of the WCF project. I since simplified the configuration thinking that might have been the issue. Here is the error I'm getting if I browse to the service in a browser:

HTTP Error 403.1 - Forbidden: Execute access is denied.

My configuration now looks like this:

<system.serviceModel>
    <services>
        <service name="MyCompany.WebServices.MyService">
            <endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="MyCompany.WebServices.IMyService" />
        </service>
    </services>
</system.serviceModel>

If I try adding it as a reference in ASP.NET MVC, I get the following:

There was an error downloading 'http://ws.mycompany.com/MyService.svc'. The request failed with HTTP status 403: Forbidden. Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved: 'http://ws.mycompany.com/MyService.svc'. The HTTP request was forbidden with client authentication scheme 'Anonymous'. The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden. If the service is defined in the current solution, try building the solution and adding the service reference again.

Any ideas what might be going on?

UPDATED:

It appears to be a configuration issue on my IIS 6 box. I'd assume this because I've created a brand new ASP.NET 3.5 WCF Application and deployed it to a new URL at http://ws.unitedoneresources.com/Service1.svc. If I try to call that service, I get the same HTTP Error listed above. The entire service configuration is the following:

  <system.serviceModel>
    <services>
      <service name="WcfService1.Service1" behaviorConfiguration="WcfService1.Service1Behavior">
        <!-- Service Endpoints -->
        <endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="WcfService1.IService1">
          <!-- 
              Upon deployment, the following identity element should be removed or replaced to reflect the 
              identity under which the deployed service runs.  If removed, WCF will infer an appropriate identity 
              automatically.
          -->
          <identity>
            <dns value="localhost"/>
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
        <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
      </service>
    </services>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="WcfService1.Service1Behavior">
          <!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information, set the value below to false and remove the metadata endpoint above before deployment -->
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
          <!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes, set the value below to true.  Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing exception information -->
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
  </system.serviceModel>

Again, this is a brand new ASP.NET 3.5 WCF Application so I haven't modified anything on the project itself.

Answer 1

You don't really give us a lot to go on here - what's missing are the server side configuration bits that show us how you set up security - can you please update your question and show us everything inside the <system.serviceModel> tag on your server side config and on your client calling the server??

Just guessing from the system defaults, using the basicHttpBinding would result in a default security setting of nothing - and it would appear as if your server-side config requires some form of security. It almost seems as if your security settings are out of sync, thus resulting in this error.

Another point is: how did you set up the IIS side? Did you create a virtual directory for your service? Basically, when hosting in IIS, your service URL is determined by server name (plus possibly the port), the virtual directory your *.svc file lives in, and the name and extension of the svc file itself.

Answer 2

I wacked the I wacked the website, installed WCF on IIS 6 (using ServiceModelReg.exe /i /x at a command prompt), and redeployed. It worked!

Thanks!