I have fought the good fight. I have stood on the high ground and battled with the enemy. And I have lost.

It’s not that much of a battle, you know. I’m just trying to make Microsoft’s Internet Information Server to accept a new IP address. I have fought the configuration dialogs, I have wrestled in the early morning with httpcfg. I have stared down registry settings; stood face to face with knowledge-base articles; googled for many an article and bellowed with rage at the mute, silent error dialog.

“Network location cannot be reached.”

I edit the configuration; remove ip adresses at will; create new websites. I restart the website, restart the IIS, beat it with sticks and stones. I revert the configuration to the original settings, inspect the network card settings. I ipconfig, netstat and ping. I restart and restart again. And nevertheless, that impenetrable brick wall still looms in front of me. It… just… won’t… understand…!

“Network location cannot be reached.”

I am a user of Microsoft server products. I am a weary soldier on the battlefields of the Internet. I am a broken man.