Event ID 115 When Using Host Headers With IIS (186810)

We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0 running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. IIS 6.0 significantly increases Web infrastructure security. For more information about IIS security-related topics, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/IIS.mspx

SYMPTOMS

When your computer boots or when you manually start the Microsoft Internet Information Server service, Event Viewer may log the following event:

   Event ID    : 115
   Source      : w3svc
   Description : The service could not bind instance X.

NOTE: "X" is a number that corresponds to one or more of your defined Web sites that are using Host Headers.

CAUSE

Some or all of the Web sites that are using Host Headers have the same port number defined for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Internet Information Server 4.0 does not support the use of Host Headers for SSL.

WORKAROUND

To resolve this issue, perform the following steps:

From the Start menu, point to Programs, and point to Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack.
Point to Microsoft Internet Information Server and click Internet Service Manager.

NOTE: Be sure to click Internet Service Manager and not Internet Service Manager (HTML).
Expand the Internet Information Server object, expand your server object, and expand the Default Web Site object.
Right-click one of your Web sites that is using Host Headers, and then click Properties.
Delete the port information in the SSL port field.
Click Ok.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each Web site that is using Host Headers.

NOTE: The above steps will not allow you to use SSL on these Web sites. If you need secure communication on Web sites that are configured with host headers, you will need to configure each site with a different SSL port number.