Assigning Custom Error Messages

It is an administrative duty to assign custom error pages to errors. The Custom Errors property sheet lists what is returned to the browser in the event of an HTTP error. Administrators have the option of using the default HTTP 1.1 errors or customizing these error messages with their own content.

The F & M developers chose to customize messages for the four errors generated as a result of the security measures described in Setting Up Security in BackOffice Server. This customization consists of assigning custom-built .htm files to specific errors. For more information, see Displaying Run-Time Errors.

The following procedure can be used to implement these error messages.

To assign custom Web pages to error messages

  1. Start the Internet Service Manager. Do this by clicking Start, pointing to Programs, and clicking Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. Then click Microsoft Internet Information Server and then Internet Service Manager (ISM).
  2. Expand the Internet Information Server node, and expand the node of your server.
  3. Expand Default Web Site, and expand the FmLib folder.
  4. Right-click the FmLib folder and click Properties.
  5. Click the Custom Errors tab.
  6. Select error 401;1 in the error message list.
  7. Click Edit Properties.
  8. In the Error Mappings Properties dialog box, click Browse to locate the Inetpub\Wwwroot\FmLib\errors folder. Double-click 401-123.htm in the Open dialog box.
  9. Click OK to close the Error Mapping Properties dialog box.
  10. Repeat steps 5 through 8 for errors 401;2 and 401;3.
  11. Repeat steps 5 through 8 for error 403;6, clicking 403-6.htm in step 7.
  12. Click OK to close the Error Properties dialog box.