IIS 6 Administration

Now that we’ve examined the new architecture of IIS 6 and learned how to deploy it, we’ll move on and start looking at how to administer this exciting new platform. This chapter will provide an overview of the tools for administering IIS on Standard and Enterprise Edition; we’ll defer looking at administering Web Edition until the next chapter, “Administering Web Edition.” The focus in these two chapters will be on administration using the GUI, while command-line administration will be covered in Chapter 11, “Working from the Command Line.”

Whether you plan to have a few or hundreds of machines running IIS 6, you need to be able to administer these machines. Ideally, you’d like to be able to do this remotely and from a single, centralized location, such as the desk in your administrator’s office. It turns out this is possible, but there are a few hurdles you need to overcome along the way, and that’s what this chapter is all about.

Administration Methods

Microsoft has provided an abundance of tools and methods for administering IIS 6 and other aspects of Windows Server 2003. These include

• Microsoft Management Console (MMC) tools ( .msc files) that can be used over a LAN or WAN connection to administer most aspects of Windows Server 2003. These are available in the Administrative Tools program group and can be customized as desired.

• The Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack, which allows you to install all MMC administrative tools on Windows .NET member servers and some on Windows XP Professional machines.

• Remote Desktop, the latest incarnation of Terminal Services and installed by default in Windows Server 2003. Using Remote Desktop, you can connect to a remote IIS 6 machine and manage it as if you were sitting at its local console.

• Remote Desktop Web Connection, which allows you to access the Remote Desktop feature using Internet Explorer and lets you manage your IIS 6 machines over the Internet from anywhere in the world.

• Remote Administration (HTML), the latest incarnation of the IIS Administration website that allows you to manage IIS using Internet Explorer (this is installed by default in Web Edition).

In addition to these GUI methods for managing Windows Server 2003 machines, there are command-line tools for managing them, including a collection of VBScript scripts in \System32 for managing various aspects of IIS 6, the ADSUTIL.VBS script in the \Inetpub\Adminscripts folder for editing the metabase, various Windows commands, and Telnet. The rest of this chapter deals with the GUI administration methods just listed.