Hey, this blog post by  all around head geek, Scott Guthrie announces a new application deployment system in the works for IIS 7.

...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. ...

See the bottom of the post for as many details as are avail. I'll keep you posted as details emerge.

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

I've said before that Server Core will make a very cool low footprint PHP engine. Here's a How-to that details configuring server core with MySQL and PHP.  Nice work!

Dennis Chung - Windows MVP: Server Core + IIS7 + PHP + MySQL

IIS 6 to IIS 7 Migration planning is starting up in full swing as we approach RTM for IIS 7. For those of looking for a mapping of IIS metabase to IIS 7 applicationhost.config settings, here's a really excellent document published by the IIS documentation team.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965021.aspx

A (IIS 6.0 Metabase Property Mapping to IIS 7.0)

Cool!

Here's a new IIS Manager add on that allows you to backup and restore config using appcmd. Nice add on!

: IIS7 - Backup Restore UI Module

The IIS team has release the RTM version of FastCGI for IIS 6. If you're running PHP on IIS 6, or would like to - this release is key for increasing performance and reliability. 

IIS.net : FastCGI Extension for IIS6.0 - RTM : Download : Microsoft Internet Information Services

Here are some photos from the hosting roadshow in Toronto which was very well received!

Windows Server 2008 Hosting Roadshow - a photoset on Flickr

It's all in the name! Sql Server driver for PHP! Now develop and deploy on the same platform. On IIS 7 it's even better cause you get caching, urlathorization, urlfitering, forms authenticaiton and the integrated pipeline. Oh did I mention tracing and diagnostics? 

Download details: SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP CTP (October 2007)

CTO of Applied.net sounds off about IIS 7 in production.

" I can say with confidence that we currently run IIS7 in production with Kayako Support Suite and it is extremely efficient.  We have always suffered with the challenge of deploying multiple server platforms in order to achieve a specific functionality from a php based application. This is no longer the case thanks to IIS7.   This  also means that “hybrid” developers will finally have a unified development platform."

Really, when I talk about IIS 7 being better, I'm not just making this stuff up.

Web Host Industry Review | theWHIR Blogs : The Skinny on IIS7

By special request, here's an outline of the users and groups used by IIS and what they do.

IIS 5 and 6

- IUSR_<servermame> - this is the default anon user for IIS 4, 5, and 6. It is a local account with a large, random password. The account does not exist until IIS is installed. IIS is installed by default on Windows 2000 but not 2003. If you disable this account, anon authentication will fail unless you create assign a new one. This user is a member of Everyone, Users, Authenicated Users, Guests, and the Network built in account (by default).

- IWAM_<servername> - this guy is found on IIS 5 and on IIS 6. I don't recall if it's in IIS 4 as I haven't laid eyes in an IIS 4 server in about 5 years. In IIS 6, it is only used when you run your server in IIS 5 mode, called IIS 5 worker process isolation mode or some such overly long phrase. In this case, sites  and application that are set to run in medium or high isolation run in dllhost.exe as the IWAM_<servername> user.

- ASPNET - this is a local account used to launch the aspnet_wp.exe on IIS 5 and in IIS 6 when it runs in IIS 5 mode.See http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bakfs900(VS.80).aspx for details on how to control the identity of asp_net.exe. It is not typically used in IIS 6 and is not supported on IIS 7.

- IIS_WPG - This is a local group on Windows Server 2003 that is used for one purpose. The IIS _WPG has rights to register application pools with http.sys. What this means is that that if you assign an application pool a unique idenity, you must also add them to this group. By default, this group has the System, Local Service and Network Service accounts in it. By default, application pools on IIS 6 use the Network Service account. If you don't assign custom application pool idenities, you don't need to mess with the membership of this group. Do not delete this group, espcially on a domain controller.

IIS 7

Doesn't have any of the above accounts. Instead you'll find:

- IUSR - built in account for Windows Server 2008 and Vista. Created when IIS 7 is instaled. The IUSR account has the same SID on all Windows Server 2008 systems and Vista. A built in account is different than a local account. Built in accounts cannot be used to log in locally to the server so they don't have a password.

- IUSRS - This is the updated version of the IIS_WPG for IIS 7. The new coolness is that has autmatically maintained membership.

-------

What runs as who when?

For anonymous access, the request will be the run as the assinged anonymous user (preusming that anon authentication is enabled and the anon user has the required access rights). If the request is for ASP.net, subsequent page requests and background operations will access the file system as the process identity (this is the default behavior). Most of the time this is the Network Service account on IIS 6 or the ASPNET user on IIS 5. If not using ASP.net, file access for will be as the anonymous user unless the application your a running reverts to the process identity to do something on the server that the user does not have rights to do. There are quite a few more complications of course, but this typically how things go.

To do research about this, your best friend is Filemon.exe. I learned most of the limited knowledge I have about this by messing around with Filemon and permissions. When you set Deny Full Control, Everyone on a file and then access the file in the web application while Filemon is running, the Access Denied in Filemon will also show you the user that was denied access. Another fun tool to play with is w3ho.dll, a resource kit utility.

Hopefully this is useful.

Let me know

-brett

More goodness from the IIS team.

Two more updates from the IIS team are available.

A new one that has not been seen before by the public is a "Media Pack" that adds bit rate throttling to to IIS 7. In other words, if you have .WMV on your site that people play, why send it faster than they can play it? This little gem can instantly reclaim bandwidth that is wasted when the client clicks away and tosses unplayed bits they recieved but did not use. 

Also, a stand alone IIS Manager that you install on client systems to do remote authentication has been released.

These are "technical previews", not fully released code so if you want to provide feedback, please do. The Forums on IIS.net is a good place to that.

New IIS7 Modules: IIS7 Remote Manager for Windows Server 2008 RC0 and Media Pack Bit-Rate Throttling Module Tech Preview - Mai-lan's Blog

This new FTP service incorporates many new features that enable web authors to publish content better than before, and offers web administrators more security and deployment options.

·         Integration with IIS 7.0: IIS 7.0 has a brand-new administration interface and configuration store, and the new FTP service is tightly integrated with this new design. The old IIS 6 metabase is gone, and a new configuration store that is based on the .NET XML-based *.config format has taken its place. In addition, IIS 7.0 has a new administration tool, and the new FTP server plugs seamlessly into that paradigm.

·         Support for new Internet standards: One of the most significant features in the new FTP server is support for FTP over SSL. The new FTP server also supports other Internet improvements such as UTF8 and IPv6.

·         Shared hosting improvements: By fully integrating into IIS 7.0, the new FTP server makes it possible to host FTP and Web content from the same site by simply adding an FTP binding to an existing Web site. In addition, the FTP server now has virtual host name support, making it possible to host multiple FTP sites on the same IP address. The new FTP server also has improved user isolation, now making it possible to isolate users through per-user virtual directories.

·         Extensibility and custom authentication: The new FTP server supports developer extensibility, making it possible for software vendors to write custom providers for FTP authentication. Microsoft is using this extensibility feature to implement two new methods for using non-Windows accounts for FTP authentication for IIS Managers and .NET Membership.

·         Improved logging support: FTP logging has been enhanced to include all FTP-related traffic, unique tracking for FTP sessions, FTP sub-statuses, additional detail fields in FTP logs, and much more.

·         New supportability features: IIS 7.0 has a new option to display detailed error messages for local users, and the FTP server supports this by providing detailed error responses when logging on locally to an FTP server. The FTP server also logs detailed information using Event Tracing for Windows (ETW), which provides additional detailed information for troubleshooting.

Additional information about new features in FTP7 is available in the "What's New for Microsoft and FTP?" topic on Microsoft's www.iis.net web site.

The following prerequisites are required to install this new version:

1. You must be using Windows Server 2008 (code name "Longhorn") Release Candidate 0 (RC0) or later.
2. Internet Information Services 7.0 must be installed.
3. If you are going to manage the new FTP server using the IIS 7.0 user interface, the administration tool will need to be installed.
4. You must install the new FTP server as an administrator.
5. IIS 7.0 supports a new shared configuration environment, which must be disabled on each server in a web farm before installing the new FTP server for each node. Note: Shared configuration can be re-enabled after the FTP server had been installed.
6. The FTP server that is shipped on the Windows Server 2008 DVD must be uninstalled before installing the new FTP server.

To help you get started using the new FTP server, the following walkthroughs have been published on the www.iis.net web site:

• Installing FTP7:
• Installing and Troubleshooting FTP7
• Working with FTP Sites:
• Creating a New FTP Site
• Add FTP publishing to an existing Web site
• Configuring Security Features:
• Configure FTP over SSL
• Configure FTP User Isolation
• Configure FTP virtual host names
• Configuring FTP Firewall Settings
• Advanced Administrative Features:
• Using FSRM Folder Quotas with FTP
• Configure IIS Manager Authentication
• Administering the New FTP Service using the IIS 7 Configuration Files

Lots of IIS 7 online events coming up in October.

If you want the latest info on these features, these kinds of events are essential information. Great stuff and hear tips from the IIS PMs that are often very useful in practice.

Check it out. 

Keith Combs' Blahg : Key IIS7 trainings in October

In case you missed it, RC0 released yesterday.

This is a very big milestone and IIS 7 with FastCGI and all the other goodness therein is included.

There are a few known issues posted on Mai-lan's blog at http://blogs.iis.net/mailant/archive/2007/09/24/windows-server-2008-rc0-available-now.aspx

You can find the bits at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb687945.aspx .There's even a VPC there so no excuses about not having hardware!

Why do I want you to check this out? Cause IIS 7 is not your typical version number increase release.
It is, in effect, an entirely new web server with new capabilites.

Enjoy!

- brett

Did you know that Microsoft.com is fully deployed on IIS 7?

Here's what they like about IIS 7. It's a good read as these guys are straight shooters, and they don't be paid to sell servers- just to keep them running - which they are great at.

Here's the top 10

Simple, Configurable Command Line Setup

Great Compatibility Story

No More Metabase!  (ye-haw!)

Centralized Configuration

Delegated Configuration

AppCmd and Other New Management Options

Failed Request Tracing

Request Filtering

UNC Content

Output Caching of Dynamic Content

Microsoft.com Operations : The Tasty Morsels Found In Dogfood… MSCOM OPS Top 10 Changes In IIS7.0

Ok, so I haven't posted in a bit, cause I'm working far to hard on the roadshow content.

Which - BTW, will be the best ever hands on labs for IIS 7 every produced in the history of the universe. Of course, since there's only been a couple that I know about, and I was involved with those, there isn't a lot of competition.

The hosting road show labs will be available on line so even if you're not a hoster, you can do these and will learn some of the cool goodness that is built into IIS 7. I gotta say, this thing ROCKS. It's a different sort of bird than you might expect after working with IIS 6, but it will do so much more for you and your business that you're going to have to get there sooner than you think.

Next week there will be some NEWS. I can't tell you what the NEWS is. We know that RC0 is coming out so put on your thinking cap and imagine what the IIS team is doing. (.........) times up.....

You'll find out soon.... And be prepared to see some goodness. I piece of the NEWS I am particularly excited about will will really help when you XXXXXXXXXXXXX servers in  in XXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXx sceanrios. [sections edited by my new IIS7 module I wrote called "KeepEmployed". It filters out information I can't talk about......]

Hey... whose that at my door.?.. What? Let go of that comptuer.! .sd,vs,vc,./kvcvcvb

Just in case anyone is reading this, you might have seen the posts from my EMEA web summit tour. Well, for some reason in Poland they decided to record the entire day.

Here are the links to the lectures and slide decks.

List of all session links to Web Administration Summit 2007:

http://www.microsoft.com/emea/itsshowtime/result_search.aspx?event=69&x=13&y=2

WEB ADMINISTRATION SUMMIT

IIS 7 Web Server Platform- Windows Server “Longhorn”

Microsoft’s Next Generation Web Server: What’s New in IIS 7 for IT Pros

Isaac Roybal, Product Manager, Windows Server, Microsoft Corporation

This overview session will highlight the key points of interests for IT Pros in Internet Information Services version 7.  IIS7 modularity increases security by allowing a reduced installation footprint and creation of specialized, streamlined servers. Application Pools are now “sandboxed” by default.  You’ll see how IIS7 eases administration with a new IIS Manage UI, delegated administration, and new tools for automating administrative tasks. Applications run more reliably as they are easier to troubleshoot with built in tracing and diagnostics. Finally, multiple servers can use a single configuration file with the shared configuration feature for web farms.

IIS7 Administration: The New IIS Manager

Brett Hill, IIS Sr. Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation

IIS7 Administration centers around the new task-oriented IIS Manager. This redesigned administration tool has many major new capabilities including the ability to delegate features, edit .NET configuration and has significantly improved performance when managing many sites. The IIS Manager itself is an extensible, modular application that administrators can customize and developers can extend.  In this presentation we’ll explore how use and control the IIS Manager with a special focus on Delegated Administration. In addition, we’ll explore how to use Granular Locking to fine tune your delegated settings beyond those available in the UI.

IIS7 Administration: Shared Configuration, Remote Control, and Automated Tools

Isaac Roybal, Product Manager, Windows Server, Microsoft Corporation

For web farms, IIS7 has a powerful new feature – Shared Configuration. This allows you to configure multiple servers to share a single configuration file. The benefits are clear - all web servers have identical configuration so there’s no need to do configuration replication.

In addition, IIS Manager has built in remote administration capabilities. Using https between the IIS Manager and the remote server, this feature includes the ability to define trusted users in IIS Manager and have identities securely stored in the IIS configuration, Windows SAM or AD, or a .NET provider.

Of course, many organizations need to automate administration tasks.  APPCMD is the new powerful, general purpose command line utility for controlling configuration, state for site and pools, and querying status. WMI has been improved specifically for IIS management, and there’s a new managed code API Microsoft.Web.Adminsitrationis that makes it easy for developers use .NET to write IIS management tools. PowerShell can use the managed API or WMI, giving you a superior command line and scripting environment for managing your servers.

IIS 7 Security: Less Exposure, Greater Control

Brett Hill, IIS Sr. Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation

IIS7 security improvements can be found in many areas. In addition to the ability to control the server footprint, security is improved with the new URLFiltering and URLAuthorization capabilities. Also, you can now use Forms authentication with any content while leveraging .NET role and membership providers. In addition, there are key changes in the user principles and groups used by IIS7 that will make the server both easier to manage and more secure.  Finally, application pool sandboxing helps to improve the security boundary between application pools.

IIS 7 Troubleshooting: Failed Request Tracing

Isaac Roybal, Product Manager, Windows Server, Microsoft Corporation

One of the most exciting features in IIS 7 for administrators is the new built-in failed request tracing capabilities. You can configure IIS 7 to automatically create a detailed trace log of events that occurred in the request processing pipeline when specific error codes are seen and/or if a request takes more than N seconds to complete. This is configurable at the server, site, application, or file level, and can be configured in the UI or with a command line tool. The resulting trace log is ideal for identifying bottlenecks. Like everything in IIS 7, it is extensible and can be customized with new events.

Mvolo writes another great piece about coding for IIS7. In this detailed blog entry, he covers how to write and why to write modules and handlers on IIS7.  

Mike Volodarsky's ServerSide : Developing IIS7 modules and handlers with the .NET framework

Well, I just had to post this, since it's all gushy and everything about how brilliant I am. Of course, they make it sound so much better than it is. If you want a truly humbling experience of how little you know about IIS, have a drink with Mike Volodarsky, or Carlos Aguilar Mares or Thomas Deml or Eric Deily or Wade Hilmo or about 30 other people at Microsoft. Of course, the cool thing is I get to do that occasionally.

 Re: the book, yes I am working on a book for MS Press that will be part of the Windows Server 2008 Resource Guide. If anyone out there knows me, this is a big deal since I've somehow managed to by all these years without writing a book. Not that I haven't tried! I just found that it was way toooooo time consuming and a good technical guy can make more doing other things. Of course, it's a good way to build your reputation, but when you had the number 1 site on google when you typed in IIS, my content and programs for training we already highly discoverable. So, a book didn't really make sense for me. Now, though, that I'm a just another newb at Microsoft and my sites rankings have languished, it makes sense to do something to stoke the flames of fame and fortune. Ha! Like a resource guide ever make anyone famous or rich. In truth, the reason I'm doing this is because it needs to be done and I'm a unique situation to help it along.Other writers (some of which you will recognize) are deeply involved, but I can't speak for them. 

So hop on over to applied.net and get yourself an IIS7 site!

-brett 

Other The Guy that wrote the book on IIS7 (well is writing)

That’s Microsoft’s, Brett Hill in the middle. Brett is writing ‘the book on IIS7′ and has been instrumental in our launching of IIS7 hosting.  You always think you know a program better than anyone else out there and then a guy like Brett comes along and reminds you just how much more you need to learn.  Brett’s truly the expert on IIS7 and you can often find him posting over at www.iis.net.

jesscoburn.com Tidbits and thoughts on webhosting, web applications and just general cool geek crap.

This is an good article on installing Das Blog on IIS7 on Vista. This process would be similar for many IIS6 .NET applications.

-brett 

Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen - 32bitness and 64bitness and migrating DasBlog on IIS7 and ASP.NET under Vista64

Mr Mike is at it again. This time he's showing off how a developer can easily integrate PHP with IIS7. He details using .NET form auth with MySQL and Wordpress.

Just one of many examples to come about how IIS7 will allow developers to enter a new world of integrated services.

-brett 

Mike Volodarsky's ServerSide : IIS Authentication plugin for the Wordpress PHP blogging engine

Application Pool Recycle Utility for SharePoint Developers

Ran across this utility today that helps you to manage your application pools. Have a look!

I've got a new job here at Microsoft as Technical Product Manager for Hosting Solutions. One of the first things up is a GIGANTIC roadshow we're producing for hosters to get hands on with IIS7. Best part is, I get to design the labs and content! I'm really excited to be working on this. The event is sadly only 1 day long, but is jammed with hands on labs and lectures so that attendees can go back and deploy IIS7 in their environment. The lab topics are IT Pro oriented rather than developer focused so don't sign up expecting to learn how to write an ihttp module. Do signgup if you're in the hosting industry and want to know how to deploy, configure, migrate apps, and troubleshoot IIS7. Of course, we're focusing on the new features rather than "this is a website.. it is used to deliver http content.." blah blah blah. Also, I try to keep marketing spin to a minimum.  My philoosphy has always been to let the technology sell itself.

It's worldwide and registraitons are open now for hosing industry personnnel.

REGISTER HERE!

Brett

Monster IIS7 and .NET program manager (who can't help but write code) Mike Volo has just posted a new tool to help you extend the IIS7 schema. This is a developer feature that allows you to add your own configuration items to IIS7. So you could write a module or handler and store the configuration for it write in apphost.config or a delegated web.config instead of in the system.web section of web.config only. In this way, you can use the IIS7 APIs to control, configure, deploy you app along with IIS7. You can also write your own extensions to the IIS UI and have them use your schema extensions so your additions are seamlessly integrated with the UI.

 Cool stuff, check it out.

Mike Volodarsky's ServerSide : IISSCHEMA.EXE - A tool to register IIS7 configuration sections

You've got to see this.

Check out www.msdewey.com

Try typing in tequila, and ghetto for a good laugh.

-brett

Just to let you know where things are at with IIS 7 in terms of stability and reliablity, Microsoft.com has converted to their entire infrastructure to it. They are consitently in the top 5 of avaibility on the interent and if you talked to them like do, you'd know they take that very seriously.

Eric Woershing recently did an interview with Chad Kraykovic and Jeff Towes over at MS.com (as we call it internally), which you can find here http://blogs.iis.net/ewoersch/archive/2007/06/27/video-microsoft-com-operations-team-opens-up-on-deploying-iis7-early.aspx. This is a very good interview that details many tips for those migrating a web farm to IIS 7. I suggest checking it out. Eric also did a great summary. I liked this so much that I'm trying to get some labs and training created based on their best practices. That would be very useful as it goes beyond just IIS7. Things like "do this with your scripts", "use DSFR for content replication", and other tips that have been proven to be useful at Microsoft.com would work for most enterprises and hosters.

Excited about this new project!

-brett

Robert McMurray has a new video just posted on Channel 9 on the FTP server.

He's the program manager for web publishing and does a great set of demos that illustate most all the bells and whistles in the new code (called FPT7 internally). It's pretty cool so check it out.

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=319223

The big kahuna Bob Muglia anncounced at TechEd that the new Server Core SKU will have IIS7 on it.

This has been a frequent question I've recevied and I've meet customers that have heard all kinds of things, some correct and some incorrect. Finally, the details are out now and the Bill Staples gives a quick rundown at http://blogs.iis.net/bills/archive/2007/06/04/iis7-on-server-core.aspx. Check it out.

In a nutshell, IIS7 on server core will run native code application such as classic ASP, PHP, Perl (fastcgi is supported), ISAPI etc. It will not run .NET applications, but you can expect that to chnage (but probably  not by RTM). There won't be a UI so you will have to adminster it using APPCMD or WMI (Powershell sadly requires .NET so won't be on the SKU).

I'd like to go on record saying that Server Core is going to bigger for IIS7 than people think. It's a great hosting SKU, and is also ideal for low maintenance, special function servers.

The one point I want to make about server core that is missed a lot is that you can still take advantage of the IIS7 modular pipeline using native code http modules written in C++. In fact, in My work with customers, it was clear that the use of native code to write modules is signficantly improved. Mike Volodarsky told me it was a lot more like using managed code that was possible in W2K3 due to changes in the APIs. (http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2006/10/07/IIS7-modules-vs.-IIS6-ISAPI-_2300_10_3A00_-C_2B002B00_-Class_2D00_based-encapsulation-model.aspx) This means that the core server is a great, high speed, special function server that can streamlined and customized to meet customers needs. Woot!

Anyway, just want to shout about this as the lid has been on for a bit and now the news is out.

----

About the tour- I did write a post to wrap up bit got lost before I posted it when I advertnently closed the windows. I hate it when that happens. Will re-do the wrap up later.

later,

brett

We arrived in Paris after a long wait at the Stockholm airport. The flight didn't leave till 7pm so we had the day to Sighsee? No, Sleep in? no - you guessed it - EMAIL!

We landed in Paris and took a 45 minute taxi ride to the hotel. Nice hotel in the Opera district. I think I saw a hint of Paris along the way but not really much. Isaac and I met with Olga Londer at 11:30pm and I went to be at 3am - got up at 7:30 for breakfast and another presentation.

Isaac is wrapping up now and we're headed out to the airport. Olga has some plan in mind to shuttle us to a train and see something of Paris before leaving. Not much but better than nothing.

Flying to Florence tonight, then up again for another show.

Must    sleep     soon.

-brett

Had a great day doing the tourist thing. Isaac and I took a bus/boat tour to see this really amazing city. Of course, I hear that for 7-8 months you only get about 7 hours of sunlight and it's cooler, so today in the 70's and bright sunlight - is Stockholm at it's best. There is lot going on here and people in general seem relaxed and healthy. http://www.stockholmtown.com/templates/substartpage____2405.aspx

We presented to a group of about 40 people and Isaac and I agreed it was the best presentation yet. I've settled into the rythme of the Security presentation which is my favorite topic and added some detail to the configuration talk that seems to put some pieces together that were missing overall. Funny how you have to do these things a few times to get them tuned up. When I was teaching IIS training before I joined Microsoft, I did the same course at least 20 times and then rewrote it to be more effective. I really like maturing content like that and try to the same for articles and such, providing there's time. That's one thing that bugs me about working on a continous stream of content related deadlines at Microsoft (or anywhere else), is that there is not usually the oppotunity to really evolve content to the next level. Like if you work on a class (such as MOC 2295a to which I was major contributor), you just don't get the opportunity to go back and reorganize to a higher level. So I'm enjoying the oppotunity to present the same content muliple times.

Now it's time for the spring to finish line. At 7 we take off of for Paris and present on Weds, then leave WEDS eve for Florence and present on Thurs, then leave bright and early Friday back to the states. Yikes! 

-brett

Getting up at 6am the next day, it's off to Stockholm. You can tell immediatly that we're back in Scandinavia as the design of the airport resembles Copenhagen and Amsterdam, all brushed steel, glass, and wooden floors. It looks sleek, but seems somewhat sterile to me after Warsaw. The ended quickly in the 30 minute drive to Stockholm featuring a very lush landscape.  It reminded me of Seattle in that way.

Stockholm is a throughly modern city. Arts, shops, pedestrain walkways, local resuarants and transit are all blended very well to create a very browseable experience. You can walk for a very long time and find a lot of interesting places. This is an area just outside the hotel in front of a theatre, bookstore, shopping complex. That's live theatre, not movies.

After a good nights sleep I'm feeling more or less adjusted to the time zone. Tomorrows a holiday in the US but and while our friends are taking the day off we're delivering the 3rd presentation of the tour. <sarcasm> Poor us, having to work on the holiday in Stockholm </sarcasm>. Will post more later!

-brett

I didn't know what to expect in Warsaw. We arrived still suffering from jet lag and glad to be checked into a really beautiful Marriot in the center of Warsaw. The view from my room was stunning.

We didn't have a lot of time. Walking around there are a great many things to see but I spend most of my time getting ready for the next day. We were going to be filmed and webcast throughout the day so presentations needed to be especially smooth.

We arrived at Microsoft Poland and met our host Jan Walkiewicz , shown here with Isaac.

I haven't seen the reviews yet, but I think the presentations went pretty well. Isaac was unhappy that one of his demos had a BSOD caused by a known issue with Virtual PC that may blue screen when running after after the OS goes to sleep on a laptop. He recovered gracefully, but still - that's high on the list of things you'd rather not have happen during a demo. Aside from that the audience of about 100 people seemed to be pretty happy.

 I know we felt pretty good with they way things went. If I find the links to the webcasts, I'll post them here.

Next stop - Stockholm.

We had good time presenting the wonders of IIS 7 to an astonished audience of about 34 people in Copenhagen. OK, perhaps astonished is a bit overdone, but they definitley liked what they saw in IIS 7. Very good questions from the audience which I am told is quite unusual for for a Danish audience, so that was seen as a sign of high interest. Unfortunately, we lost some time during the day due to a malfunction of the video projector at the facility hosting the event. The guys there tried to pawn if off on Vista. There was a time, about a year ago, when Vista didn't play well with some latopts and external monitor ports, but I've not had a problem like that in a long while. So we brought in another laptop and even an XP system, and no go on the projector. Eventually, the wheeled in another one but we lost about an hour overall Of course, that wasn't helping the mood of the audience. I did my best to talk through the overview without showing much,  picture/1K words, etc, so they got the 1K words version of most of the overview.

Oh by the way, to the one guy who was asking "If I have a 200 websites on a server and each has a 5 host headers, how do I find the site that has a specfiic host header", the answer is APPCMD list sites|findstr "host header you're looking for". Simple! Even so, I think it's a great idea to expose the host header info in the UI and will ask the IIS team to add that to the list of things to consider.

This morning, Isaac and I headed to the airport and now we're in Warsaw Poland. What a very intersting place! It would take a year to explore just the downtown center area we are in. It's a beautful day and it's only 1:50pm but I'm dog tired after only 4 hours sleep, again. Not quite adjusted to the 9 hours time difference from here to Seattle.

Anyway, we'er going to the Microsoft office at 5 to do a little rehearsal and then back the hotel for a looooong sleeeeep.  I hear we have 100 people signed up for the presentation tomorrow so really looking forward to it.

Later,

B

But what happened to Day 1? Heck if I know. Somewhere between take off and landing a lot of hours disappeared! We arrived in Copenhagen at 1pm yesterday. Found this sign hanging in the airport. Something you won't see in the US! Can I get a piece of this dollar drops action?

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Certainly feels like the home of IKEA around here as the design is all very modern. I like modern, so all the glass, brushed steel, wood floors, and sleek lines look good to me. Here's a picture of my room. You can see the uber modern design. The steel tubes on the right and left have a motion sensor in them. When you stand up at night, a little light comes on at the base the illumates the floor.

S

Strong architecture and design is everywhere which is in stark contrast the very old buildings, chuches, and 6 story brick residendial buildings that line the streets. A odd mix visually. As you walk along the pedestrian malls (which are rambling outdoor shopping areas that are very popular), it's a distinctive mashup kind of experinece. As you walk, you'll pass by a local bakery followed by a lingerie store, next to a local bar, then Burger King, lingerie, Gucci, jamacian importsn, lingerie, then an Italian/Mexican restuarnt that you can't quite identify as an italian/mexican restaruant in any distinctive way.

Going to work on some demos for tomorrow's presentation. Will told me to brush up on the new FTP server as that was popular topic on his part of the tour.

More photos and trip reports to come.

Later,

Brett

So here are the dates, locations, registraion pages and speakers for the IIS7 EMEA roadshow. Some of the links might not be running yet, but this is what I have. We are putting the final touches on the presentations today and sending off Will and Rick tommorrow. Isaac and I leave the following week for Denmark and are really looking forward to it.

I know some of you may be asking "but what about <insert your country here>"? I am but a lowely speaker and my duties do not include such important tasks as choosing what locations to present at. That is evidently a complex task that falls to more capabale hands, thankfully, as I am terrible at this kind of task. Some countries do their events, others can't work with these dates, etc. etc. I can't believe that I finally get to go to Paris and I have 1 day, most of which is tied up in work! Arrrrgh. I am going to be in the city with Louvre and can't go! That is cruel and unusual punishment. Oh well. That's the price you pay sometimes to be an evangelist.

I'll be posting pictures, stories and other details as they occur.

Later.

Brett

I'm going on a roadtrip to Europe for two weeks to present a 1 day class on IIS 7! There are actually two teams of two and I'm on the 2nd team leaving in two weeks for two weeks. (see http://blogs.iis.net/rickjames/archive/2007/05/06/iis-7-talks-reykjavik-and-london.aspx). This is going to be fun! Or course, getting the content together is part of the gig and that's a challenge as I am really hard nosed about getting it right. My style is a lot more informational and less marketing focused than some would like, but my belief is that if have a good product, you don't need a lot of hype. And IIS 7 is a good product.

As I study some of the demos we're doing and talk to the IIS program mangers, I learn more about some of the stuff under the covers that isn't getting a lot of press. Security is one of those topics and as luck would have it, is my particular most interested topic. Imagine that.

Did you know that IIS 7 has built in a new feature called URL Authorization that allows you to restrict access to content without using file permissions? You can simply entire a rule in the UI or directly in the .config file that says deny user="Bob" and Bob will be denied access. The cool part of this is that if you copy the content to another server (and this feature is delegeated), then your security rules move with the content. Think about that for bit. No more managing NTFS permissions on a per sever basis. You could just assign permissions for the worker process identity to have access to the content (and maybe the IUSR account <maybe? Yes maybe. You can tell IIS 7 to use the worker process identity for anon access!).

This is huge and it works with any content, not just .NET.

Just one of the many new security features built into IIS7 we'll be showing on the roadshow. I'm so psyched about the new security improvements that I'll be posting some screencasts on channel 9. But hey, you don't need to wait. It's not a special builld or anything. URLAuthorizatin is in Beta 3 Just download beta3 and check it out for yourself!

http://www.iis.net/articles/view.aspx/Managing-IIS7/Configuring-Security/URL-Authorization/Understanding-IIS7-URL-Authorization?tabid=1

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn/audsel.mspx

I'll be posting pictures, quotes and details from the trip so stay tuned.