I'm trying to make a Web Service Connection to a WSDL and getting the follow

Is this WSDL Web Service IOP 1.1 compliant? Can you verify this first?

It's likely that there is a bit more information in the logs. If not, you can turn on debug logging for the web services component by uncommenting this in appian_log4j.properties

log4j.logger.com.appiancorp.ws=DEBUG

The error that you are seeing is usually associated with a malformed WSDL. For instance, if it's not proper XML or doesn't start with the tags that a correct WSDL 1.0 or 1.1 document must start with.

They wsdl is SOAP 1.1 compliant. I turned logging on but it didn't give me anything to focus on in the log. What should I do next?

Here is what was in the log:2013-10-22 18:04:47,551 [http--0.0.0.0-8080-9] ERROR com.appiancorp.process.design.presentation.ProcessDesignAccess - An error occurred while parsing the WSDL (hqcsotu01:8080/.../ContentService. Received the following HTTP response from the remote server: 404
2013-10-22 18:04:47,553 [http--0.0.0.0-8080-9] ERROR com.appiancorp.process.design.presentation.ProcessDesignAccess - com.appiancorp.ws.WSClientException: Received the following HTTP response from the remote server: 404 (APNX-1-4045-001)
com.appiancorp.ws.WSClientException: Received the following HTTP response from the remote server: 404 (APNX-1-4045-001)
          at com.appiancorp.ws.WSClient.parseWSDL(WSClient.java:101)
          at com.appiancorp.ws.WSClientUtils.parseWSDL(WSClientUtils.java:26)
          at com.appiancorp.ws.WSClientUtils.parseWSDL(WSClientUtils.java:20)
          at com.appiancorp.process.design.presentation.ProcessDesignAccess.getWSDLDescription(ProcessDesignAccess.java:2004)
          at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
          at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
          at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
          at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
          at com.metaparadigm.jsonrpc.JSONRPCBridge.call(JSONRPCBridge.java:1122)
          at com.metaparadigm.jsonrpc.JSONRPCServlet.service(JSONRPCServlet.java:163)
          at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:847)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:329)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
          at com.appiancorp.ap2.EntryFilter.doFilter(EntryFilter.java:40)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:280)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
          at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.IteratingFilterChain.doFilter(IteratingFilterChain.java:46)
          at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:77)
          at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:280)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.handleRewrite(RuleChain.java:176)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.doRules(RuleChain.java:145)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriter.processRequest(UrlRewriter.java:92)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriteFilter.doFilter(UrlRewriteFilter.java:381)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:280)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.handleRewrite(RuleChain.java:176)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.doRules(RuleChain.java:145)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriter.processRequest(UrlRewriter.java:92)
          at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriteFilter.doFilter(UrlRewriteFilter.java:381)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:280)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
          at com.appiancorp.ap2.WrapFilter.doFilterInternal(WrapFilter.java:67)
          at com.appiancorp.common.web.PathMatchExclusionFilter.doFilter(PathMatchExclusionFilter.java:58)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:280)
          at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:248)
          at com.appiancorp.security.auth.ForceSetPasswordFilter.doFilter(ForceSet

Your server is giving a 404 response, which means it doesn't think you've requested the right resource (i.e., the URL doesn't point to anything the server knows about). Trying opening hqcsotu01:8080/.../ContentService in a browser. Do you see a WSDL? Is the Appian server on the same network as hqcsotu01?

It opens just fine in a browser. The Appian server is on the same network as the target server.

Gene, please try the following.
1. Try accessing the service from the Appian server (irrespective of if the Appian is in the same network or otherwise). Open a browser on the Appian server and try the URL.
2. Check if there are any Firewall rules set up (This may not be an issue with WS, but please check either-way)
3. If the URL is reachable, use the getHttpPost() function from Send-HTTP smart service (configure it within a script task of a basic process model) and try executing the same.

As Brett says, 404 indicates that the resource is not reachable. You need to identify why. Eliminating the various options would be the first step.

1. Works Fine
2.None
3.Not quite sure what this is...is Send-HTTP smart service a custom one that needs to be added? I don'r see it in Designer.

#3 - yes it is :
forum.appian.com/.../

Also, can you quickly check if you have any proxy setting done in your browser as well?