The Administration Web Site

A Few Differences
You set up a virtual directory in the Administration Web Site the same way you do in the Internet Information Services snap-in. However, the Administration Web Site has a bug that might discourage you from using the Web site to change a physical directory into an application directory. When you use the snap-in to convert a physical directory into an application directory, IIS changes the directory's key type in the metabase from IISWebDir to IISWebVirtualDir. The Administration Web Site doesn't properly change the key type; thus, the Administration Web Site will continue to display the application directory as a physical directory, not as an application directory. The snap-in makes the change correctly.

The Administration Web Site also lacks some of the snap-in's error-checking features. The site performs no error checking when you use it to set up script mappings. You can type in the wrong path or any other information, and the Administration Web Site accepts and saves it. If you access the Script Mapping tab in the snap-in, you won't see the incorrect script mapping. If you want to correct or delete the misconfigured script mapping, you might need to do so in the Administration Web Site or in the metabase (if you can't access the misconfigured information in the Internet Information Services snap-in). The Administration Web Site also lets you type in a nonexistent filename when setting up an Internet Server API (ISAPI) filter. The site tells you that the file doesn't exist, but if you click OK and then click Save in the bottom right corner of the page, it adds the ISAPI filter anyway. If you subsequently try to access the ISAPI Filter tab through the Web site's Properties dialog box in the snap-in, you get the error The specified metadata was not found. If you then click OK, you'll see the ISAPI Filter tab, but it won't list the bad filter. Again, you must use the Administration Web Site or edit the metabase to correct the problem. A bad script mapping or bad ISAPI filter can leave some or all of your Web site inoperable until you resolve the problem.

In the Internet Information Services snap-in, when you change a property at the site level, you might see a dialog box asking whether you want any or all of the child objects listed in the box to inherit the change. The Administration Web Site asks whether you want to inherit the change, but your decision affects all or none of the child objects—you can't select one or more objects. The Administration Web Site's box, which Figure 3 shows, gives you the option to prevent the box from reappearing. Your choice is permanent for the current session. If you want to change your inheritance choice, you must close IE and reopen it.

The Administration Web Site's Permissions Wizard is also limited. You can use the wizard to set Web site security values such as Anonymous access by selecting templates you've installed on your system. But you can't change a server's file permissions the way you can with the snap-in.

You can't use the Administration Web Site to create or install SSL certificates, but you can use it to modify some simple SSL settings. You can set up FTP sites and virtual directories with the Administration Web Site the same way you set up Web sites and Web site virtual directories. However, you can't perform the following tasks with the Administration Web Site: configure server extensions, set up membership server mappings, configure SMTP settings, and rename physical directories.

Despite the problems and limitations I've pointed out, the Administration Web Site is a helpful tool for experienced administrators to use for simple tasks such as creating Web sites and virtual directories, modifying and removing unwanted script mappings, or simply verifying a setting from a remote location. Just remember that securing the Administration Web Site is the first thing you should do after installing it.

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