PRB: Component Services Administrative Tool Incorrectly Allows Property Editing for Tunneling TCP/IP Protocol

Consider the following scenario:

1. You have configured the computer to use Tunneling TCP/IP as the DCOM transport protocol.
2. You have configured the Tunneling TCP/IP protocol to use a range of ports, by using Component Services Administrative tool or the DCOMCNFG utility.

You observe the following:

• On Microsoft Windows 2000: DCOM applications work correctly, but the HTTP packets use port 80 even though Tunneling TCP/IP protocol is configured to use a range of ports.
• On Microsoft Windows NT: DCOM applications don't work and you may receive the following error message in the event log:
  Event ID:7023
  Source: Service control Manager
  Description: The world Wide Web Publishing Service Service terminated with the following error: Not enough resources are available to complete this operation.

Selecting the Tunneling TCP/IP protocol property in the Component Services Administrative tool or DCOMCNFG, brings up the property page of the TCP/IP protocol. This can be used to configure TCP/IP to use a range of ports that are specified by the user, instead of using the DCOM dynamic port allocation feature (which uses any free port between 1024 and 65535). Tunneling TCP/IP transport protocol is designed to let the DCOM traffic go through the existing hole in the firewall, which is port 80, and therefore this property page does not apply to the Tunneling TCP/IP protocol.

Do not change the properties of Tunneling TCP/IP protocol to use a range or ports. If you have changed the properties of Tunneling TCP/IP protocol to use a range of ports, follow these steps:

On Windows 2000:

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, Administrative Tools, and then click Component Services to bring up the Component Services Administrative tool.
2. In the console tree of the Component Services Administrative tool, right-click the computer on which you want to configure the protocol, to display the context menu.
3. Click Properties to display the Computer Properties dialog box.
4. Click the Default Protocols tab.
5. Click to select Tunneling TCP/IP protocol, and then click Properties.
6. Click Remove All to remove the internet and intranet port ranges.
7. Restart the computer.

On Windows NT: Run the DCOMCNFG utility and follow the steps 3 to 7.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a a problem in the Component Services Administrative tool and DCOMCNFG utility.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

The DCOMCNFG utility that is included with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 (SP4) provides a property page that allows you to configure port restrictions without having to edit registry entries. Unfortunately, if you use this property page, many of the applications that use RPC on your computer may stop functioning properly the next time your computer is restarted. If this problem occurs, please delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Rpc\Internet registry key and restart your computer.

For further information on Tunneling TCP/IP protocol, please see the following COM Internet Services Web page: For procedural information on COM+ administrative tasks, please refer to Component Services Administrator's Guide.