This topic provides an overview of some of the typical tasks you can accomplish with IIS. To locate more specific topics, use the table of contents, or see the Quick Tour of the Documentation. For scenarios showing specific examples of how to use IIS, see IIS in Action.
Note Many configuration tasks involve changing settings in property sheets. There are three ways to open property sheets for a site, directory, or file. On the Action menu, select Properties; or right-click the site, directory, or file and select Properties; or click the Properties icon in the toolbar. In Internet Service Manager (HTML), select the site, directory, or file, and click Properties in the left pane.
As a scripter, designer, or provider of access to databases and files, with IIS you can:
- Run scripts from your Web pages With Active Server Pages (ASP), you can embed scripts in HTML pages and use ActiveX server components to create dynamic content and powerful Web-based business solutions. Scripts can be written in Microsoft® Visual Basic® Scripting Edition, Microsoft® JScript™, or any other ActiveX scripting language for which you have an engine.
- Access databases If you write or implement programs for database access, you can make those programs more user-friendly and more efficient by using Microsoft® Data Access Components (MDAC), a set of database technologies integrated with IIS. MDAC includes Microsoft Remote Data Service (formerly ADC), Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), OLE DB, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). In addition, with Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), you can structure database interactions as transactions (multiple-step operations that succeed or fail as a whole).
- Manage multiple pages With Microsoft® FrontPage® Server Extensions, you can easily manage multiple Web pages on your Web site. With Microsoft Content Analyzer, you can view your entire site through WebMaps, an easy-to-understand visual format that makes it easy to manage files and links.
- Give users search capabilities With Microsoft Index Server, you can offer customized forms that allows users to search for information in Web pages or other Web site files. Index Server indexes the full text and properties of documents stored on a server running IIS. Users can send search queries through any World Wide Web browser by filling in a simple query form.
For server administrators, IIS provides efficient ways to:
- Establish Web and FTP sites You can establish, configure, and monitor Web and FTP sites using Internet Service Manager, the graphical IIS administration interface. You can configure each site and directory differently, even when multiple sites are hosted on one computer; there are even some configuration properties (such as access permissions) that you can set on individual files.
- Simplify routine administration You can use scripting to perform all IIS administrative tasks, making your routines simpler. These tasks include adding or changing Web sites, adding groups, changing access permissions, and managing logging.
- Secure your site IIS gives you a variety of security options, including all the security elements built into Windows NT, such as Windows NT user accounts and the Windows NT File System (NTFS). IIS includes additional security features, including blocking of access-attempts made from specific IP addresses, as well as protection of communication between computers through the use of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Included with IIS is Microsoft Certificate Server, which can issue client or server certificates.
- Use server management tools You can easily access IIS and other server management tools (such as Microsoft Transaction Server) through Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which brings management tools together into one interface.
- Give users search capabilities With Microsoft Index Server, you can offer customized forms that allow users to search for information in Web pages or other Web site files. Index Server indexes the full text and properties of documents stored on a server running IIS. Users can send search queries through any World Wide Web browser by filling in a simple query form.
- Post or receive Web pages You can use Microsoft Posting Acceptor to receive Web content from Microsoft Web Publishing Wizard and Netscape Navigator 2.02 or later. You can post content by using Microsoft Web Publishing Wizard.
- Log activity and tune server performance You can use Windows NT Performance Monitor and Event Viewer to monitor your server, along with IIS logging, which records Web activity on your sites. With Microsoft Usage Import and Report Writer , you can further analyze your IIS log files, to identify trends and make decisions. Then you can tune server performance through use of Windows NT administrative tools and also through IIS settings. You can also improve server performance by using features listed in the next section of this topic, For Creators of Scripts and Applications.
- Support transaction processing With Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), installed automatically by IIS Setup, you can group components (discrete units of code) into packages, which use the MTS environment to run as transactions. A transaction is a server operation that succeeds or fails as a whole, even if the operation involves many steps (for example, ordering, checking inventory, and billing). With this version of IIS, you can run not only applications but also scripts within transactions.
As a scripter or programmer, by using IIS, you work within a run-time environment that manages threads and processes efficiently, increasing scalability. You can use Windows NT Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, and IIS configuration settings to tune server performance. In addition, you can take advantage of these IIS features to provide additional support to your scripts, components, or distributed applications:
- Process isolation You can configure IIS to isolate applications, that is, run them within a separate memory space. This means that if they fail, they won't affect the running of other applications or the server.
- Integration with data-access technologies If you write or implement programs for database access, you can use Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), a set of database technologies integrated with IIS. MDAC includes Microsoft Remote Data Service (formerly ADC), Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), OLE DB, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC).
- ODBC connection pooling ODBC connections are often a limited resource. You can use IIS to make the most of them by pooling them for a given application.
You can also take advantage of the following features in Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), which is included with IIS:
- Transactions With MTS, you can run a script or application within a transaction. A transaction is a server operation that succeeds or fails as a whole, even if the operation involves many steps (for example, ordering, checking inventory, and billing). Transaction processing is crucial for many business applications. When you start the MTS Explorer and register the components needed by the script or application, MTS provides the complex functionality needed to run the components within a transaction.
- Just-in-time activation of objects MTS components are activated when needed and deactivated when not needed. This conserves server resources and increases the number of users who can concurrently run your application.
To find more detailed information about software in IIS, you can use the table of contents, or see the Quick Tour of the Documentation or IIS in Action.
© 1997 by Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.