Finally, set the domain-based Windows Access Method account you previously created. This account is also known as the WWW Service account. IIS 4.0 doesn't use the Registry for most of its configuration settings; instead, it uses the IIS Metabase. This metabase doesn't have a GUI; therefore, you must use Windows Scripting Host (WSH) to manipulate it. By default, IIS doesn't associate WSH with this metabase, so you need to use Cscript to manually create an association with WSH.
To make this association and set the Windows Access Method account, go to the \%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv directory and type
adsutil enum W3SVC
This command provides the Cscript association. After the command finishes, a message pops up to tell you that the Cscript registration was successful. From the \%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv directory, type the previous command again, or press the up arrow to recall the command and press Enter. The IIS systems' configuration parameters will scroll past, so you know the Cscript association was successful and you're ready to set the WWW Service account. To set the account, go to the \%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv directory and type
adsutil set W3SVC/WAMUserName <domain_name>\<IWAM_name>
In this command, domain_name is the domain in which your service account exists and IWAM_name is the name of your service account. Next, set the WWW Service account password from the \%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv directory by typing
adsutil set W3SVC/WAMUserPass <IWAM_Password>
in which IWAM_Password is your WWW service account's password.
Creating a Clustered Web Site
From NT Explorer or a command prompt, create a \www root directory in one of your IIS cluster resource group's shared drives. In the IIS MMC, select the option under node A to create a new Web site. Set your new Web site's IP address to an IP address in your IIS cluster resource group, and assign the newly created directory on the shared drive as your site's home directory.
Next, in Cluster Administrator, right-click the IIS cluster resource group and select New Resource from the drop-down menu. Name the resource (e.g., My First Web Site), and select IIS Server Instance as the resource type. Click Continue, and the system prompts you for resource dependencies. Select the IIS cluster resource group's IP address and the shared drive on which your Web site will exist. Although the IIS Server Instance isn't dependent on the shared disk resource, you set the shared drive as a dependency so users can't access your Web site if the shared drive is down. The system then asks whether the resource is a Web site or an FTP site. Select Web site, and identify the directory that you previously created.
You can return to the IIS MMC and remove any nonclustered Web sites except for the administrative site. After configuration, MSCS controls clustered Web services, so if you need to start or stop your IIS site, use the Cluster Administrator tool.
After you finish configuring node A, you've created a clustered Web site. Luckily, you don't need to repeat this process on node B to provide successful failover services. Instead, go to the \%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv directory on node A, and type
iissync <node B>
in which node B is the server's name. This command synchronizes all configuration information between node A and node B. After you complete this step, you can return to the Cluster Administrator interface, bring your Web site online, and take advantage of its increased availability.
To create additional Web or FTP sites on your cluster, repeat the steps to create a clustered Web site. You can also create resource groups for each additional Web site, or you can maintain all your Web sites in the same resource group; however, if you plan to manually load balance processing between nodes, create a resource group for each Web site. You don't need to recreate, modify, or move the distributed transaction coordinator (DTC) resource in your initial IIS cluster resource group.
You can manage your clustered Web site from your IIS MMC by adding your IIS site's virtual server name to your IIS MMC. If you use this method, you don't need to use the Iissync utility to synchronize Web site information.
Sweet Dreams
After you create an MSCS system that provides high-availability IIS 4.0 service, you can configure your Web site the same way you would configure it in a nonclustered environment. Users connect to your Web site via the network or IP address that exists in your IIS cluster resource group, rather than the cluster node name or physical node names. In addition, if your Web-based application requires middleware or client software, install the software on both cluster nodes and configure them in the same way. Then, if a failover occurs, your application will still run smoothly.