Mike Volodarsky announces he's leaving Microsoft. Mike was a central player in the creation of IIS 7 and was the PM for many key projects including the integrated pipeline and APPCMD.  Aside from assisting the team, he wrote the modules used in the demos for the Windows Server 2008 Hosting roadshow that went on worldwide, and saved my butt on more than on occasion with details about a switch or missing punctuation in a program or command line.

Of course, I'm sure he's up to new very interesting projects so expect to hear more from him!

IIS 7.0 Server-Side : Leaving Microsoft ...

Scott mentions in this blog entry planned updates for IIS 7. In addition "We will also shortly begin sharing details of a new web application deployment framework for IIS that enables you to easily automate the deployment of web applications on either a single server or across a web farm of machines.

.NET Web Product Roadmap (ASP.NET, Silverlight, IIS7) - ScottGu's Blog

Here's a blog post from Bill Staples on this issue. Bill is the uber manager of IIS and was the main vision and driver for both IIS 6 and IIS 7 as well as having key involvement since IIS 4.

SQL Injection Attacks on IIS Web Servers - BillS IIS Blog

Worth readin.g

Reading a Hacker's Mind : Running Multiple ASP.NET applications SECURELY on a single web server

The IIS team has released another preview of even more additions to IIS 7.

This time its the IIS 7 admin pack which adds some UI features that enhance the administration experience beyond what you get out of the box. This is possible due to the overhaul of the IIS  configuriation system which allows UI extensibility as well control over the request processing pipeline.

The admin pack adds (quote from Carlos' blog)

Request Filtering UI - This UI exposes the configuration of the IIS runtime feature called Request Filtering.

• Configuration Editor UI - This UI provides an advanced generic configuration editor entirely driven by our configuration schema. It includes things like Script Generation, Search functionality, advanced information such as locking and much more.
• Database Manager UI - This UI allows you to manage SQL Server databases from within IIS Manager, including the ability to create tables, execute queries, add indexes, primary keys, query data, insert rows, delete rows, and much more.
• IIS Reports UI - This extensible platform exposes a set of reports including some log parser based reports, displaying things like Top URL's, Hits per User, Page Performance, and many more.
• FastCGI UI - This UI exposes the configuration for the FastCGI runtime feature.
• ASP.NET Authorization UI - This UI allows you to configure the ASP.NET authorization settings.
• ASP.NET Custom Errors UI - This UI allows you to configure the Custom errors functionality of ASP.NET

Pay particularly close attention to the Database Manager UI. Carlos' had this idea a while back and did some very cool demos with it while IIS 7 was in beta. You can manage your SQL database right in the IIS 7 UI! Sweet.

Check it out http://blogs.msdn.com/carlosag/archive/2008/03/21/IISAdminPackTP1Released.aspx

-brett

Sukesh has developed and released on codeplex, a mobile application that lets your manage an IIS 7 server from your cell phone!

This is very cool application that shows off some of the great technology that is built into IIS 7 and .NET. This app uses the hostable web core, and LINQ plus the new management API, ,microsoft.web.adminsitration.

You can find his blog at http://www.awesomeideas.net/page/IIS7-Mobile-Admin.aspx which links into codeplex where you can download the source code!

Very  nice Sukesh! Keep em comin.

Thanks,

Brett

Looking over the logs for search queries that wind up here, there's a need to post some FAQs now that IIS 7 is out.

Q: Can I install IIS 7 on XP or Windows Server 2003?
A: No.

Q: Where do I download IIS 7?
A: It's on the Vista or Windows Server 2008 DVD. Don't look for IIS7 on microsoft.com, it's not there.

Q: I have Vista, but don't see IIS 7.
A: Not all versions have IIS7.  See http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/28/installing-iis7-on-vista/

Q: What happend to IIS_WPG?
A: See http://www.brettblog.com/2007/10/13/IISGroupsAndUsers.aspx

Q: What happened to the IUSR anonymous user?
A: See http://www.brettblog.com/2007/10/13/IISGroupsAndUsers.aspx

Q: Where is the mother lode of IIS7 info?
A: http://iis.net

Q: How do I disable IPv6?
A: Network properties for NIC

Q: How do I enable WebDAV (DAV) on IIS 7?
A: http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1579 Note that you will need to adust the URLFiltering section to allow DAV (see http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/354/how-to-configure-webdav-with-request-filtering/ )

Q: Where do I get the updated IIS 7 FTP Server?
A: http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1619

If you have more questions you'd like see on this list, let me know!

-brett

I just ran across these events sponsored by MSDN!

These are free sessions being held all over the country. Check it out!

http://www.msdnevents.com/

In days past, a Web server was simply a place to throw your static and dynamic pages for delivery. That’s all changed with recent releases of IIS – and IIS 7 is no exception. This session will highlight several key features of IIS that make it our most extensible, manageable and secure Web platform ever. You’ll learn about the modular design of IIS and the integrated pipeline, providing for new scenarios that involve sharing authentication across IIS, ASP.NET and other dynamic web server runtimes. We’ll explore how the new IIS protocol listeners enable IIS to host WCF services on a variety of protocols (not just HTTP), providing a scalable and manageable host for your distributed applications. You’ll see how easy it is to write modules and handlers in managed code. Plus you’ll learn about the new security aspects of IIS 7, from initial deployment to feature delegation to administrator lists. After this lively session, you’ll be raring to do much more with your Web server than simply copying over ASP.NET pages.

We’ll cover:

• Authentication methods and integration between ASP.NET and IIS 7
• Writing IIS managed handlers and modules
• How the IIS protocol listeners support hosting WCF services on TCP, Named Pipes and more
• IIS handler permissions, request filtering and administration lists
• How the XML replacement for the Metdata Config file makes it easy to duplicate Web servers
• Features and protocols that make IIS 7 secure right out of the box

Hiya,

Coming out of the Windows Server 2008 Hosting Roadshow, the same technical labs are available through MS Virtual Labs. The links to these labs are below.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Installation and the New Modular Architecture
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Installing ASP, ASP.NET and PHP/FastCGI Applications on IIS 7
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Using the new IIS 7 Configuration System featuring Delegated and Remote Administration
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: URL Authorization and Request Filtering in IIS 7
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Administering the IIS 7 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Server
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Working with the IIS Manager
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Implementing Preliminary Shared Hosting Guidelines and Shared Configuration
•	TechNet Virtual Lab: Rapid Troubleshooting with IIS 7 Failed Request Tracing

Let me know what you think or if you have questions.

-brett

A big shout out to IIS Pm Kanwaljeet Singla

File this under must have details for IIS 7. Very practical info on IIS 7 registry keys.

http://blogs.iis.net/ksingla/archive/2007/12/30/list-of-registry-keys-affecting-iis7-behavior.aspx

-brett

WebDAV is a way to publish files to your server. I've been a fan since I first saw it and have been teaching people about it for years. When you have everything setup correctly, you can open a web folder in Network Places (or neighborhood or whatever), or on your desktop, and when you drag and drop files into the folder, it publishes over the network using http to the server. Unfortunately, the story about DAV from Microsoft's end has been rather mottled. The specifics of what is possible using DAV, how it appears and behaves depends on the precise combination of which server you're using (DAV was supported on IIS 5 as well), the client (XP, 2000, Vista), and what application you use to do the DAV connection (Explorer, IE, Office, FrontPage).

However, in IIS 7, there is some very good news. Robert McMurray on the IIS team is the same guy that manages the FTP 7 project. He has improved, the DAV story for IIS 7 in many ways. I've had the chance to chat with him on numerous occasions about his vision and hopes for DAV and other publishing protocols and can tell you that he's the right guy for the job.

One of the biggest improvements is that DAV can be enabled per URL. In IIS 6, and 5, DAV was either functional for all sites or not. Now, you can use it just where you need it. The IIS 7 DAV provider integrates with the IIS 7 UI and leverages IIS 7 URL Authorization. URL Auth lets you allow or deny access to content using web.config files instead of ACLS.

This version of DAV is the SERVER side component. The client side will use one of the various providers mentioned earlier - but should work by simply creating a network connection to a dav enabled URL. One way to do this is in IE, using File, Open and selecting the checkbox "open as a web folder".

Once you setup DAV and get used to using it, you'll wonder how you managed without it.

http://blogs.iis.net/robert_mcmurray/archive/2007/12/22/webdav-module-for-windows-server-2008-golive-beta-is-released.aspx

-brett

So, say you're a developer and your thinking "gosh [like developers would say 'gosh'. How about OMG!], what If I could host IIS 7 in my application rather than have my application delivered by IIS 7".

IIS 7 has a feature that virtually no one has heard of called the hostable web core. It's purely a Developer feature but has a ton of potential so check out this blog post that has the most info released to date.

http://blogs.iis.net/ksingla/archive/2007/12/20/ins-amp-outs-of-hostable-web-core.aspx

Enjoy!

Brett

A really excellent article recently posted on MSDN about PHP and IIS 7. This walks you through creating using a managed module to provide "friendly" URLS with PHP plus using the built in cache to improve application speed. 

IIS 7.0: Enhance Your Apps with the Integrated ASP.NET Pipeline -- MSDN Magazine, January 2008

BTW, RC1 of Windows Server 2008 is released. AFAIK, this is the last release before RTM.  Expect to see the official launch Feb 28th.

You can upgrade from RC1 to RTM! So if you've been avoiding Beta releases out of concern for stability, RC1 is is solid. (Actually, the server was really solid around beta 3).

Lots of new things to be excited about including an improved TCP/IP stack that should dramatically increase file transfers between Vista/Server and Server/Server. 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/audsel.mspx

BTW, the bits for SP1 of Vista share a lot in common with server as they are same the code base. As a result, Vista benefits from a lot of work done on Server and visa vera.  In the case of IIS 7, you will also get some new features.

=brett 

It's great to see this list of changes and updates to Vista coming up in SP1. Keep in mind that all of this is baked in to Windows Server 2008 as well. 

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071208/vista-sp1-changelog/

Microsoft publishes detailed Vista SP1 “changelog” - istartedsomething