Setting Up and Configuring IIS

Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0's numerous features can often overwhelm users familiar with IIS 3.0 or other Web servers. Two of the biggest concerns many users struggle with are how to properly set up IIS 4.0 and how to use IIS's built-in or add-on tools to resolve application problems. For example, you can easily omit a feature when you're installing IIS that you might need later. And if you're familiar with IIS 3.0, you can easily overlook many of IIS 4.0's new and helpful features, such as the debugging tools. I want to tackle these concerns this month by focusing on IIS setup and configuration. Specifically, I'll show you what you need to do during the IIS setup to use FrontPage and Visual InterDev with IIS and how to configure IIS to use Active Server Pages (ASP).

Setting Up IIS for Your Needs
The first step in using IIS 4.0 is to make sure you properly use the setup process to install the software. If you don't select the options you need during the setup process, your Web applications or Web sites might not work. Let's look at the IIS setup options.

Minimum. The Minimum option minimizes the amount of disk space IIS consumes and installs only the components required to run ASP applications and to provide database connections with ActiveX Data Objects (ADOs) and Remote Data Services (RDSs). This option also installs the Internet Service Manager (ISM) snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to manage IIS.

Typical. The Typical option loads the same components as the Minimum option. In addition, this option installs the FTP service, the HTML version of ISM for Web-based IIS management, and the online documentation.

Custom. The Custom option lets you decide which components you want to install. When you select this option, you can specify the destination of the installation files and see how much disk space each component consumes. You can also choose to install part or all of the components. For example, you might want to install all the options for Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS).

When I install IIS, I always use the Custom option because the other two options make assumptions about how I want to set up the system. I prefer to review each component and choose the ones I need to meet my requirements. Likewise, you need to select and install the components that are right for your environment. For example, if you use FrontPage or Visual InterDev with IIS 4.0, you must install the FrontPage 98 Server Extensions that come with IIS and the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. Screen 1, page 180, shows the NT 4.0 Option Pack Setup dialog box with the FrontPage 98 Server Extensions selected. If you install and enable FrontPage 98 Server Extensions for your entire Web server, you can always use MMC to turn them off later for a particular Web site.

If you use Visual InterDev with IIS, you need to use the Custom option during IIS 4.0 setup to install the Visual InterDev rapid application development (RAD) Remote Deployment Support component. If you don't add this component, your users won't be able to use some of Visual InterDev 6.0's deployment features, such as remotely installing ActiveX components or MTS packages.

You must use the Custom option to install other optional components, including support for MTS and Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSMQ). Although the Minimum and Typical options install some MTS- or MSMQ-related components, these options don't include all the detailed components you need. Make sure you know every option that you install.

The IIS setup process can take between 35 minutes and 1 hour, depending on which components you install, how many applications you have on your Web server, and how many files each application has. You can safely upgrade an IIS 3.0 installation to IIS 4.0, although you must take the server offline while you perform the installation.

Configuring Specific Web Applications
After you install IIS 4.0, you can use several configuration options to customize the software. For example, you can use these options to control ASP for an entire Web server, a virtual directory, or a particular directory. When you create a virtual directory, you are mapping the virtual directory to a physical directory. To create a virtual directory, you right-click Default Web Site in ISM, and select New, Virtual Directory from the context menu. This process starts the New Virtual Directory Wizard. The first screen of the wizard contains the permissions for the new virtual directory. If the directory will contain ASP, you must select the Allow Script Access check box or Allow Execute Access [includes Script Access] check box for the scripts to execute. You might want to clear the Allow Read Access check box to stop anyone from reading the contents of the script files. You can use the application's properties dialog box to change the same application permissions.