Section 5.2: Managing IIS 6.0

IIS 6.0 is managed by using the Internet Information Services Manager console in Administrative Tools. The Internet Information Services Manager console can also accessed through the Computer Management console under the Services and Applications node.

The Internet Information Services Manager console allows you to manage all IIS server instances centrally, from one computer. The Internet Information Services Manager console can be used to set up and manage Web sites, FTP sites, SMTP servers, and NNTP servers. It can also be used to stop and restart IIS servers, Web servers, FTP servers, NNTP servers, and SMTP servers.

You can use the Internet Information Services Manager to set up Web sites and FTP sites by rightclicking the Web Sites node or FTP Sites node, respectively, selecting New from the pop-up menu and then Web Site or FTP Site. This starts the Web Site Creation Wizard or the FTP Site Creation Wizard. You can also use Internet Information Services Manager to configure SMTP and NNTP virtual servers.

5.2.1: Process Accounting

Process Accounting allows you monitor the way the Web sites utilize the server's CPU resources. The information gathered through Process Accounting can be used to determine which sites are using disproportionately high CPU resources or that may have malfunctioning scripts or Common Gateway Interface (CGI) processes.

5.2.2: Backing Up and Restoring IIS

The Internet Information Services Manager includes options that allow you to backup and restore the IIS metabase, which stores the IIS configuration setting as XML entries. The metabase has two components: the metabase.xml and the metabase schema file, both of which are backed up when you backup the metabase. This allows you to backup and restore your Web server configuration, but not the content files or the settings that remain in the registry.

5.2.3: Distributed File System

IIS 6.0 makes use of the Windows Server 2003 distributed file system (Dfs). Dfs is a means for uniting files on different computers into a single namespace. Dfs lets system administrators build a single, hierarchical view of multiple file servers and file server shares on the network, making it easier for users to access and manage files that are physically distributed across a network. With Dfs, you can make files that are distributed across multiple servers appear to users as if they reside in one place on the network. Users no longer need to know and specify the actual physical location of files in order to access them.