How Internet Information Services7.0 Benefits the Business Professional

Document:

How Internet Information Services7.0 Benefits the Business Professional

Version Number: 1.0

Working Date: Nov. 10, 2007

Table of Contents:

Introduction 3

Built on a Proven and Trusted Platform 3

An Industrial Strength Web Server 3

Modular Design Improves Performance and Enhances Security 4

Simplified Configuration and Deployment 4

Simplified Management and Automation 5

Reduce Costs by Delegating Administration 5

Robust and Secure Remote Administration 5

Better Diagnostics and Faster Troubleshooting 6

Powerful, Integrated Hosting and Development Platform 6

Improved Support for Centralized Web Configuration 7

Scalable Reliability with Sandboxing 8

Windows Media Services and the IIS7.0 Media Pack 8

Enhanced FTP Server Technology 8

Summary 9

Introduction

The number of Web sites that IT support staff must configure and manage has dramatically increased in recent years. Hosters and enterprises of all sizes routinely host Web sites to provide information and services to customers and partners. These Web sites provide electronic storefronts and company portals, facilitate business operations between corporate divisions, and serve other purposes as well. All of these Web sites must be efficiently managed, monitored, and supported with a minimum of cost to the organization. To meet this need, Microsoft® WindowsServer®2008 includes Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7.0). IIS7.0 is a scalable, reliable, and unified platform that enterprises can use to deploy, configure, and manage Web applications and services—even services with advanced capabilities, such as streaming audio and video. IIS 7 supports a variety of popular Web hosting and development technologies, including the Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, ASP, PHP and other Fast-CGI compliant Web applications, and XML Web services. IIS7.0 improves upon the security and reliability of Internet Information Services6 (IIS6) with improved server performance to support advanced capabilities, such as streaming audio and video, and enhanced security for Web sites.

Built on a Proven and Trusted Platform

Businesses can build their online presence with IIS7.0, which builds on the solid and safe platform of IIS6. Its reputation as a Web server capable of meeting needs of even the largest online businesses has been established by the more than 54 percent of Fortune 1000 businesses that rely on IIS, as well as popular sites like Match.com that get 30 million pages views daily. Other well-visited sites such, as MySpace.com with 23 billion page views each month, and MSN.com, have already upgraded their Web servers to IIS7.0. Since its release, the IIS6 platform has had only three updates that were rated moderate or less in severity. Also, IIS has no unpatched security issues. This is a substantial improvement over previous versions of IIS, which reflects upon the focus Microsoft has on building the most secure and reliable Web server on the market. This approach makes software more secure and less vulnerable, resulting in fewer Web site outages, decreased downtime, and reduced support costs.

Businesses can see a greater return on investment and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) because of the ability that IIS7.0 has to support a large number of Web sites on one server while maintaining a high level of performance. Pipex, a provider of integrated telecommunications and Internet services, is an example of a company that does this. According to Jarrod Robinson, Hosting Products and Development Director at Pipex, “In our internal environment, we push the product quite hard. I already have solutions where we have tens of thousands of sites running on the IIS6 platform, and hope to have 100,000 sites with IIS7.0. From what we’ve seen so far, we think it will be possible to significantly reduce the amount of ‘tin’ in the data center. IIS7.0 appears to offer a great TCO benefit.”[1]

An Industrial Strength Web Server

WindowsServer2008 provides a unified platform for Web publishing that integrates IIS7.0, ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and .NET Framework 3.0. IIS7.0 is a secure and easy-to-manage platform designed for developing and reliably hosting Web applications and services. It includes tools that simplify site management, increase site security, and improve the performance and extensibility of Web sites.

Modular Design Improves Performance and Enhances Security

IIS7.0 has been redesigned from the ground up to incorporate a modular architecture that enables administrators to customize their Web servers by selectively installing or removing modules. These modules encapsulate standard and optional server functionality such as authentication, encryption methods, and application-specific functionality. This modular design offers many benefits. Administrators can install only the options that address the needs of the business while eliminating the server performance reductions and security risks that come with running unused server functionality. Administration costs are reduced as the number of modules that need to be updated are minimized. Web servers are more flexible with IIS7.0 as modules can be easily and quickly added or removed as business needs change. The servers are also more reliable as a modular design reduces the chance that problems in one module will affect the others.

DiscountASP.net is an online Web hosting service that has made use of the modular architecture of IIS7.0. Says Takeshi Eto, Vice President of Marketing, “A key advantage we’ve seen is the ability to do customization with IIS7.0, versus the older versions. IIS7.0 is factored into more than 40 feature modules that can be independently installed on the box. It provides us with more control over the server environment which, in turn, allows us to provide our customers with even more control over their individual Website account configuration. We are extremely happy with what we have seen so far.”[2]

The core server functionality of IIS7.0 tools is extensible, enabling organizations to develop custom modules that add to the functionality of the web service or any of the IIS7.0 maintenance tools. These modules can call native Win32® APIs or managed .NET Framework APIs. Administrators can download free modules provided by Microsoft on http://www.iis.net for example; a new secure FTP server and bit-rate throttling module that helps organizations reduce their total cost of ownership for delivering media content. IIS7.0 will also work with existing automation scripts, and is fully compatible with applications that work with earlier versions of IIS.

IIS7.0 enables organizations to better meet the unique and changing needs of their Web presence and network by tailoring Web servers to provide only the required functionality, improving security, reducing administration and support costs, and making it easier to add custom capabilities.

Simplified Configuration and Deployment IIS6 and earlier versions had all configuration data for the Web server stored in a central database called the Metabase. The configuration settings of each Web server were stored separately in the Metabase, which made it difficult to synchronize the contents of Web sites residing on different servers. In IIS7.0, the configuration settings for all Web servers are stored in one location, in easy-to-manage XML files. This makes IIS7.0 configuration settings easier to apply to new server machines and more easily migrated between machines. Standard tools like XCopy can be used to deploy, migrate, or back up Web sites, or to roll back the contents of a Web site to a previous version. This simplifies many Web site administration tasks, and saves organizations time and money.

Scripts and applications that access configuration data in the Metabase will still work in IIS7.0 with the optional Metabase Compatibility support feature. After installing this IIS7.0 feature, legacy scripts and applications operate as they did in IIS 6. The Metabase Compatibility support feature gives organizations the opportunity to convert their IIS6-native scripts and applications to work natively under IIS7.0 on their own schedule, preventing business disruptions and reducing IT administration cost.

Simplified Management and Automation IIS 7.0 features a new suite of GUI-based and command-line management tools that provide an easy-to-use interface for managing Web servers and for obtaining diagnostic information about Web applications and services. IIS7.0 includes a new administration tool called IIS Manager, which provides a logical, unified interface for managing ASP.NET and IIS functionality, and for quick access to any system configuration setting. In addition, IIS7.0 introduces a new command-line utility called AppCmd, which helps administrators automate IIS server maintenance tasks. IIS7.0, like all applications running on WindowsServer2008, works with the many automation enhancements in WindowsServer2008, such as WindowsPowerShell™. PowerShell offers an organized and easy-to-use interface for automating tasks on local and remote servers. The interoperability of IIS7.0 with PowerShell and the new managed Microsoft Web Administration object enables administrators to automate Web server administration tasks in more powerful and efficient ways. IIS7.0 management tools are also extendable, making it possible for organizations to write their own custom modules that extend the functionality of the tools. All functionality provided by these modules is accessed through the IIS7.0 management tool interface. IIS7.0

In addition, IIS7.0 supports remote administration over firewall-friendly HTTPS protocols that allow Web servers to be easily managed from remote locations. Configuration settings for the Web server and the services it provides are now stored in a single folder in XML format. Because the XML format has become the industry standard for portable and extensible data representation, IT personnel can use many third-party utilities, such as XCopy, to further automate maintenance operations.

These new management and automation features in IIS7.0 save costs by reducing support of existing Web sites and streamlining the deployment of new Web sites, while making Web services more reliable and robust. This results in fewer costly helpdesk support calls, more satisfied customers, and more revenue for the organization.

Reduce Costs by Delegating Administration with IIS7.0, IT administrators can delegate administrative capabilities to clients who host or administer Web sites and services. For example, an administrator may delegate the ability to maintain Web site properties, such as the default document to a content developer maintaining a Web site. The clients, who may be customers, partners, developers, or other business units, can assume the responsibilities and costs of managing these features. While these capabilities can be easily granted and revoked; administrators can lock specific IIS7.0 configuration settings to ensure that these security policies are not changed by clients who have been delegated administrative capabilities. This allows the hosting organization to retain full control of critical server settings and security policies.

For the Web site owner, this removes the total reliance on support staff to perform routine maintenance tasks. For the hosting organization, this reduces costs by reducing the workload required to support hosted Web site.

Robust and Secure Remote Administration

Many organizations have a number of Web servers running on separate computers, and many of these computers may be located in different rooms or facilities. While the hosting organization usually administer distributed Web servers from a central location, there are times an administrator or a customer may need to manage Web servers from a remote location or while travelling. IIS has long provided remote administration capabilities for this purpose; however, the Secure Shell (SSH) technology used to ensure the security of the remote communication session sometimes did not work well with network firewalls.

IIS7.0 includes remote administration clients for Windows®XP, WindowsVista®, WindowsServer®2003, and WindowsServer®2008 that use the firewall-friendly Secure HTTP (HTTP-S) communications protocol. Using these tools, administrators can manage all of an organization’s Web servers from any location, through reliable and secure communication channels. Used in conjunction capabilities in IIS 7.0, this feature allows support personnel, developers, and Web site owners to remotely manage their Web servers from anywhere. This technology enables organizations to consolidate many Web sites on few host servers. The enhanced remote administration technology in IIS7.0 allows organizations to optimize their IT staff resources and to benefit from greater flexibility in supporting Web sites.

Better Diagnostics and Faster Troubleshooting

Resolving support problems with Web applications and services is a constant challenge for IT support staff. Applications are often written by one group of developers and maintained by another group who are not familiar with the application code. Support staff are usually the first line of defense in dealing with issues that arise, and in many cases they have only cryptic error messages to help them identify the problem. This is costly and time consuming for the organization and can result in dissatisfied customers and site owners who need their Web sites and services to be reliable and available 24 hours daily.

IIS7.0 provides a set of troubleshooting and analysis tools that are powerful yet easy to use. These tools enable administrators to quickly address problems as they arise by monitoring real-time diagnostic information about all aspects of server operation. This information is presented to the administrator in an organized format that allows crucial data to be quickly accessed. IIS7.0 also simplifies troubleshooting by providing informative error messages instead of abstract error codes, as well as information about potential causes of the problem, and suggestions for resolving the problem.

IIS7.0 includes Automatic Failed Request Tracing technology, which helps administrators troubleshoot complex and intermittent problems by automatically monitoring the activity of Web applications for specified error conditions. When an error occurs, detailed information about the error is written to log files that aid administrators in the troubleshooting process. Error conditions can range from “slow” or “hung” requests to more severe errors, such Server 500 errors. Administrators can enable this feature only for the Web sites that need it, which helps to reduce the impact of using Automatic Failed Request Tracing on overall server performance. When the defined condition occurs, tracing happens automatically. This saves time in reproducing the problem, while working to find a resolution.

With WindowsServer2008 and IIS7.0, IT departments will save time, effort, and reduce support costs by having better diagnostic tools that simplify the detection, diagnosis, and resolution of server problems. This reduces unscheduled downtime and delivers the results that site owners and other customers expect.

Powerful, Integrated Hosting and Development Platform

The cost of Web application development and deployment has increased for organizations because of the vast number of software technologies and hardware platforms that applications must reliably use. Customers now expect robust and full-featured Web applications and services that rely on a variety of languages, such as classic ASP, ASP.NET, and PHP. A Web hosting platform that supports all of these languages while offering powerful and easy-to-use management tools enables organizations to run all of their Web applications on one platform. This can reduce or even eliminate the need to run multiple host platforms, and lower support costs. Web hosting platforms that do not support all of these languages in an integrated way can add to the cost of development and maintenance, result in lost business, and reduce the ability of their applications and services to adapt to changing business needs.