New IIS 7.0 Configuration Resources

Microsoft has made available what the company referred to as new comprehensive resources for Internet Information Services version 7.0. Put together by the IIS development team, the new technical reference on IIS 7.0 configuration can now be accessed straight from Microsoft. The promise of the Redmond company is that the resources are the only online references for IIS configuration that administrators will ever need. In this regard, the software giant has centralized into the new documentation offered information related to configuration collections, elements, and attributes for IIS 7.0.

“This vast library comprehensively details all IIS 7.0 configuration settings in Windows Server 2008, including configuration collections, elements, and attributes. You can sort the configuration settings alphabetically, to easily find what you are looking for or by browsing the schema structure. Each configuration topic provides sections such as an overview, examples of how to configure the configuration, setup instructions, configuration details, and code and script samples – including AppCmd.exe, C# .NET, Visual Basic .NET, JavaScript, and VBScript,” Eric Rezabek, senior product manager IIS/Web, revealed.

Intimately connected with Windows Server 2008, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 is a step forward in evolution, compared with its precursor. One of the key aspects of moving from IIS 6.0 to version 7.0 is the new configuration system admins can leverage. While IIS 6.0 relied on a metabase, just as earlier versions of the Internet Information Services, IIS 7.0 brings to the table an XML-based configuration system, capable of dealing with all IIS settings.

“This new configuration system was introduced with ASP.NET and is based on a hierarchical system of management system that uses *.config files. The configuration files for IIS 7.0 are located in your %WinDir%\System32\Inetsrv\Config folder,” Microsoft informed. “Because of IIS 7.0's highly-customizable architecture, an element may not be configured, unless the feature that consumes the settings that are listed in this reference is also installed.”