Web Wiz - Green Windows Web Hosting
Web Wiz Homepage Search Web Wiz

  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Replies showing as wrong username
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Replies showing as wrong username
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  12>
Author
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
pete31 View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 14 March 2016
Status: Offline
Points: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pete31 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Replies showing as wrong username
    Posted: 14 March 2016 at 1:23pm
Hi

We seem to have a problem with our WebWiz Forum

When someone posts a reply to a topic, it is not showing the correct author.

It doesn't happen all the time, but we have had over 35 replies (in the last 3 days) which are all lised as being from "John_Smith".   These are from various IP addresses - so it is not one particular computer.

The IIS logs show the real usernames.

We have Active Directory setup and users do not need to logon to the forum - so their windows username matches their forum username.

Any ideas what may have gone wrong?

We have restarted the web server, but suspect this is an application or database issue - seeing as the IIS logs appear correct.

I believe we are running 10.17 (looking at the source code).


Edited by pete31 - 14 March 2016 at 1:28pm
Back to Top
WebWiz-Bruce View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar
Web Wiz Developer

Joined: 03 September 2001
Location: Bournemouth
Status: Offline
Points: 9844 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 March 2016 at 1:49pm
When using the Windows Active Directory integration the username is read in from the Windows Server in the file functions/functions_windows_authentication.asp using the lines below;

'Get windows authentcated username
    strAuthenticatedUser = Request.ServerVariables("AUTH_USER")
   
    'If the method above fails use the following
    If strAuthenticatedUser = "" Then strAuthenticatedUser = Request.ServerVariables("LOGON_USER")

This is the part that gets the username. If there the username is incorrect then it at this part that reads in the username.

There is no built in default of "John_Smith" so if this username is being displayed then this username must be being read in by the lines referred to above.
Web Wiz Forums Hosting
ASP.NET Web Hosting
Back to Top
pete31 View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 14 March 2016
Status: Offline
Points: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pete31 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 March 2016 at 1:54pm
I made up "John_Smith" to protect the identity of the real user

e.g. One real user (who has been a member of the forums for some time) is having posts showing as her that have actually been made by circa 30 different people.
Back to Top
WebWiz-Bruce View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar
Web Wiz Developer

Joined: 03 September 2001
Location: Bournemouth
Status: Offline
Points: 9844 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 March 2016 at 2:03pm
You would need to debug using the information that was given previously in my last reply to workout why the way your server is setup the line below is reading in the wrong username from Active Directory;

'Get windows authentcated username
strAuthenticatedUser = Request.ServerVariables("AUTH_USER")

Maybe after this line you could add

Response.write(strAuthenticatedUser)

To print in the browser what username is being read in from Active Directory then tweak the settings on the server to get the right user read in.

If you have applied windows updates recently possibly these have caused the issue.
Web Wiz Forums Hosting
ASP.NET Web Hosting
Back to Top
pete31 View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 14 March 2016
Status: Offline
Points: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pete31 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 March 2016 at 2:20pm
I'm not sure how that will help.   The IIS logs show the correct user.

Is this something you can provide further support on if we renew our support contract?
Back to Top
WebWiz-Bruce View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar
Web Wiz Developer

Joined: 03 September 2001
Location: Bournemouth
Status: Offline
Points: 9844 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 March 2016 at 12:25pm
Web Wiz Forums does not read in the username from the IIS logs and the two should not be considered as being related.

I would advise to try adding the line I mentioned before in order to see first hand what username is being read in by web wiz forums.

If it shows that the wrong username is being read in then it will identify that something within the servers settings is causing the forum to read in the wrong username.

If the correct username is read in but the post is under a different username it would point to the issue being in web wiz forums.

If you have support it would allow you to create a support ticket and if your forum is on a public server can look at it to see if can find the issue.
Web Wiz Forums Hosting
ASP.NET Web Hosting
Back to Top
pete31 View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 14 March 2016
Status: Offline
Points: 7 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pete31 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 March 2016 at 12:51pm
I have just this minute ran a test with one of the people affected by this user.

I ran a test.asp page from the same directory as webwiz, it reported the AUTH_USER and LOGON_USER as the correct details - e.g. the real person.

The web forums are showing a permission error when trying to reply to the topic (as I temporarily suspended the forum account for the person that is getting all of these posts attributed to her by mistake).

I removed the session ID from the address bar, and the real user was able to post - thus replying as her self.

I suspect something is up with output caching on the IIS server farm (4 x Windows 2008 R2 with F5 load balancing, DFS replication and IIS Shared Config) - that is my next thing to look at.

We've never seen this issue before, but the forum is being used for a big internal communication campaign therefore the number of visitors could be a lot more than usual.
Back to Top
WebWiz-Bruce View Drop Down
Admin Group
Admin Group
Avatar
Web Wiz Developer

Joined: 03 September 2001
Location: Bournemouth
Status: Offline
Points: 9844 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WebWiz-Bruce Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 March 2016 at 2:12pm
Load balancing does tend to cause issues with Classic ASP. I would avoid this if you can.

Even under heavy load Web Wiz Forums should run fine on a single server. We have seen web wiz forums that we host on a Virtual Server getting over 4,000 concurrent connections in IIS and coping with the traffic without issue.
Web Wiz Forums Hosting
ASP.NET Web Hosting
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  12>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.08
Copyright ©2001-2026 Web Wiz Ltd.

Become a Fan on Facebook Follow us on X Connect with us on LinkedIn Web Wiz Blogs
About Web Wiz | Contact Web Wiz | Terms & Conditions | Cookies | Privacy Notice

Web Wiz is the trading name of Web Wiz Ltd. Company registration No. 05977755. Registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: Web Wiz Ltd, Unit 18, The Glenmore Centre, Fancy Road, Poole, Dorset, BH12 4FB, UK.

Prices exclude VAT at 20% unless otherwise stated. VAT No. GB988999105 - $, € prices shown as a guideline only.

Copyright ©2001-2026 Web Wiz Ltd. All rights reserved.