Visual Studio 2010 + IIS Express + Umbraco multi site = either "port 80 in use" or second homepage not detected

Question

I am trying to make a proper setup with Visual Studio 2010, IIS Express (WebMatrix) and Umbraco v4.9.0 for developing a multi site website.

I have edited the hosts-file to include:

127.0.0.1       umbraco.local
127.0.0.1       umbalt.local

I have edited the applicationhost.config file for my website in IIS Express to either have:

<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:8001:umbraco.local" />
<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:8003:umbalt.local" />

or

<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:80:umbraco.local" />
<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:80:umbalt.local" />

And I have used a command like:

netsh http add urlacl url=http://umbalt.local:80/ user=everyone

to allow the above 4 URLs to work without problems as a standard user with WebMatrix/IIS Express. And in Umbraco I have used "Manage hostnames" on the two roots, so one for example either contains: umbraco.local:8001 or plain (without port number): umbraco.local

My problem is that I am stuck between two alternate bugs:

A) If I use the above variations for port 80, the website starts fine in WebMatrix, and Umbraco can identify the two different home pages depending on which of my own local domain names I use. But when I try to start the website from Visual Studio, I get an "Port 80 in use" popup error message - it is as if it tries to open port 80 twice on localhost instead of my two alternate domain names!?

B) If I use the above variations for port 8001 and 8003, then Visual Studio can start IIS Express without any problems, but now Umbraco fails to recognize the second home page - umbalt.local:8003 will display the homepage for umbraco.local:8001 (although for sub-pages below umbalt.local:8003 Umbraco will correctly identify the right website)

Note: I websites I am working on will in the final version be released on two domains but with some shared data - that I why I need one Umbraco installation to service two websites, and why I need this development setup.

Any suggestions for either handling the Umbraco bug regarding multiple websites with port numbers, or for Visual Studio's handling of multiple websites with port 80 - one that results in a smooth development environment in Visual Studio for working with multiple Umbraco websites?

Answer 1

Ok, in a moment of inspiration, using "Manage hostnames" on the two root folders in umbraco, I added the domain name without port number - and that works!

The property tab of the page will then show two alternative links, one with and one without the ":8003" port number, and that way Umbraco can both separate the two sites and you have a link with correct port number to open previews.