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Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 with the Microsoft Windows Server 2003
operating system provides integrated, reliable, scalable, secure, and manageable
Web server capabilities over an intranet, the Internet, or an extranet. IIS is a
tool for creating a strong communications platform of dynamic network applications.
Organizations of all sizes use IIS to host and manage Web pages on the Internet
or on their intranet, to host and manage FTP sites, and to route news or mail using
the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP). IIS 6.0 leverages the latest Web standards like Microsoft ASP.NET,
XML, and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) for the development, implementation,
and management of Web applications. IIS 6.0 includes new features designed
to help organizations, IT professionals, and server administrators achieve their
goals of performance, reliability, scalability, and security for potentially thousands
of Web sites either on a single IIS server or on multiple servers
Important:
To help minimize the attack surface of the server, IIS 6.0 is not installed
on Windows Server 2003 by default. When you first install IIS 6.0, it is locked
down — which means that only request handling for static Web pages is enabled,
and only the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW service) is installed. None
of the features that sit on top of IIS are turned on, including ASP, ASP.NET, CGI
scripting, FrontPage® 2002 Server Extensions from Microsoft, and WebDAV publishing.
If you do not enable these features, IIS returns a 404 error. You can enable these
features through the Enabling and Disabling Dynamic Content in IIS 6.0 node in
IIS Manager
IIS-6 was designed to provide the following benefits and features
This version of IIS was designed to provide the following benefits and features.
IIS 6.0 Feature
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Description
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Reliability
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IIS 6.0 uses a new request-processing architecture and application isolation
environment that enables individual Web applications to function within a self-contained
worker process. This environment prevents one application or Web site from stopping
another, and reduces the amount of time administrators spend restarting services
to correct problems related to applications. The new environment also includes proactive
Application Pool Health.
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Scalability
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IIS 6.0 introduces a new kernel-mode driver for HTTP parsing and caching, specifically
tuned to increase Web server throughput and scalability of multiprocessor computers,
thereby significantly increasing the following:
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The number of sites a single IIS 6.0 server can host
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The number of concurrently-active worker processes
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Also, by Configuring Startup and Shutdown Time Limits, IIS allocates
resources to active sites, as opposed to wasting resources on idle requests.
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Security
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IIS 6.0 provides significantly improved security over earlier versions of IIS.
To reduce the attack surface of systems, IIS is not installed by default on the
operating systems in the Windows Server 2003 family. Administrators must explicitly
select and install IIS. IIS installs by default in a locked-down state, capable
of serving only static content. Using the Web Service Extensions node, Web site
administrators can Configuring IIS For Dynamic Content IIS functionality based
on the individual needs of their organization. IIS 6.0 includes a variety of
Security in IIS 6.0 features and technologies to help ensure
the integrity of your Web and FTP site content, as well as the data transmitted
through your sites. IIS security features include the following security-related
tasks:
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Manageability
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To meet the needs of a diverse set of organizations, IIS provides a variety of manageability
and administration tools. Administrators can configure an IIS 6.0 server using
IIS Manager, Using Command-Line Administration Scripts, or by directly
Enabling Edit-While-Running in IIS 6.0. Administrators can
also Administering Servers Remotely in IIS 6.0 IIS servers and
sites.
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Enhanced Development
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Compared to earlier operating systems, the Windows Server 2003 family offers an
improved developer experience with About ASP.NET and IIS integration. ASP.NET recognizes most
ASP code while providing greater functionality for building enterprise-class Web
applications that can work as a part of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Using ASP.NET
allows you to take full advantage of the features of the common language runtime,
such as type safety, inheritance, language interoperability, and versioning. IIS 6.0
also offers support for the latest Web standards, including XML, SOAP, and Internet Protocol Version 6 Features.
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Application Compatibility
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IIS 6.0 is compatible with most existing applications, based on feedback from
thousands of customers and independent software vendors (ISVs). Also, to ensure
maximum compatibility, IIS 6.0 can be configured to run in IIS 5.0 Isolation Mode in IIS 6.0.
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