807 Chapter 16 Solutions in this chapter: ■ Accomplishing Tasks Using IIS Manager ■ Accessing Information Using AppCmd.exe ■ Confi guring and Using Trace Log Data with AppCmd ■ Writing Scripts Using the New WMI Provider ■ Managed Code Administration: Inside Microsoft.Web.Administration ˛ Summary ˛ Solutions Fast Track ˛ Frequently Asked Questions Administration of an IIS 7.0 Web Server 808 Chapter 16 • Administration of an IIS 7.0 Web Server Introduction The IIS Manager of the past, albeit familiar by now, was clunky and diffi cult to familiarize yourself with. The goals of the IIS 7.0 user interface took the strong points of the old MMC-based user interface and added intuitive, useful scenario-based usage patterns. So out came the all-new IIS Manager, built to be task-based and extensible in order to ensure that Web administrators could tackle the most common tasks with little effort. For many, IIS Manager simply doesn’t scale since it isn’t capable of managing large Web farms where a multitude of Web servers exist for a single site or application. The environments need more automated ways of making changes, and to do so as quickly, and with as few errors, as possible. IIS 7.0 offers users a plethora of options in this space with AppCmd.exe, WMI, and Microsoft’s Web.Administration API for managed code. Accomplishing Tasks Using IIS Manager With a rewritten user interface, the fi rst question that arises is how one can accomplish the same tasks using this new IIS Manager. The IIS Manager included with IIS 7.0 gets away from tabs (like IIS 6.0’s IIS Manager) and uses feature-based access for its confi guration. To confi gure the most popular features, a wizard will walk you through step-by-step instructions to fully enable the feature. It is important to understand how to do the most important tasks, such as creating new Web sites, application pools, and applications. Beyond that, the most common task is to change the security settings and diagnostics settings using the IIS Manager. BEST PRACTICES ACCORDING TO MICROSOFT The all-new IIS Manager is available for Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, and also for Windows Server “Codenamed” Longhorn. To use IIS Manager on Windows XP and Windows 2003, download the IIS Manager from www.iis.net/ downloads/default.aspx&tabid=3. IIS Manager: Getting Started IIS Manager in IIS 7.0 gets away from the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and instead was built using .NET’s Windows Form technology. It offers most of the features available in the IIS 6.0 Manager, yet accessing these features is drastically different. Based on categories, the features are easily exposed at different levels of IIS Manager, such as the server, site, or application level. Beyond that, IIS Manager fully supports IIS 7.0’s delegation features at the various levels. A typical example of the delegation is allowing the server administrator to delegate administration to other users such as modifying authentication, default document settings, and much, much more. Lastly, IIS Manager is built using managed code and is constructed on a nicely formed Web services architecture that allows developers to build custom modules and add them to IIS Manager to help you better manage their custom features. This is very useful for administrators since you can do tasks in IIS Manager for built-in IIS features and also for custom applications added later that are not part of IIS. The one downside to the new IIS Manager is that it only supports administering IIS 7.0 servers. It doesn’t support connecting to previous versions of IIS and making confi guration changes. For customers needing this functionality, you should install the IIS 6.0 Management Tools. The end result is that you can have both IIS Manager for IIS 6.0 as well as the new IIS Manager. The IIS Manager Overview IIS Manager will always provide you with a view of only the objects you have permission to access. These permissions, though, do not change the primary view you will always see when using IIS Manager. The user interface is divided into three columns, with a left, center, and right column. In the left column, you will always be presented with a tree hierarchy, as shown in Figure 16.1. Based on your selection in the left column, the appropriate screen will appear in the center column (Figure 16.2), often referred to as the home page. The right column (Figure 16.3) is your task pane, offering you options based on your selection as well as helpful alerts, such as warning and informational text. Administration of an IIS 7.0 Web Server • Chapter 16 809 810 Chapter 16 • Administration of an IIS 7.0 Web Server Figure 16.1 IIS Manager Administration of an IIS 7.0 Web Server • Chapter 16 811 Figure 16.2 IIS Manager Center Column (e.g., Home Page) . ways of making changes, and to do so as quickly, and with as few errors, as possible. IIS 7.0 offers users a plethora of options in this space with AppCmd.exe, WMI, and Microsoft’s Web.Administration. understand how to do the most important tasks, such as creating new Web sites, application pools, and applications. Beyond that, the most common task is to change the security settings and diagnostics. settings, and much, much more. Lastly, IIS Manager is built using managed code and is constructed on a nicely formed Web services architecture that allows developers to build custom modules and add