1. Creating a Website with IIS 8
The Default Web Site is located within the
Web Sites folder in the IIS Management console. You can use the default
website to publish content, but it is possible and typically advisable
to create and configure a separate website.
To begin creating a new website, follow these steps:
1. In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, right-click the Sites node in the Connections pane, and click Add Website.
2. The Add Website page is opened; enter a website name such as ExpenseReport.
3. If desired, click
the Select button in the Application Pool section to modify the
application pool settings for this new site. The default application
pool drop-down option available is DefaultAppPool.
4. In the Content
Directory section, enter the physical path to where the Web Sites
folder resides. Alternatively, navigate to the folder by clicking the
ellipses button.
Note
A user can also choose a remote share when
providing the location of the content directory’s physical path. If a
remote share is used, you must ensure IIS has access to that folder by
clicking the Connect As button and specifying connectivity to the
remote share by choosing a specific user account that has appropriate
permissions or you can select the Pass-Through Authentication option.
5. You must now
specify whether this new site will use HTTP or HTTPS, provide an IP
address to the new site or leave the IP address setting unassigned, and
indicate which port this new site will listen on. These settings are
configured in the Binding section of the Add Website page.
6. An optional host
header setting can be configured before completing the page. A user can
enter a host header for the new site, such as
expensereport.companyabc.com.
7. Check the option to start the website immediately.
8. Review all the configuration settings inputted, as illustrated in Figure 1, and then click OK to finalize the creation of the new website.
Figure 1. Creating a new website using the Add Website dialog box.
2. Creating a Virtual Directory
Virtual directories extend the home directory
of your website by providing an alias linking another directory not
contained within the home directory. This alias will appear to users as simply a subfolder to the website even though it might be located on an entirely different server.
The virtual directory can contain documents
and other information for the website as well as a new website. For
example, if CompanyABC’s website (www.companyabc.com)
wants to host a temporary website for another organization, it could
use a virtual directory to contain the website. In this scenario,
CompanyXYZ would have its own website located at www.companyabc.com/companyxyz/. You must be a server, site or application administrator to create a virtual directory.
To create a virtual directory using the IIS Manager, follow these steps:
1. Start Server Manager using the taskbar icon. From the Tools menu, run Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. In the Connections pane, expand the IIS server, and then expand the Sites node within the tree.
3. Select the desired
website that will contain the new virtual directory. Right-click the
website, and select Add Virtual Directory.
4. Enter the virtual directory’s alias, such as Images.
5. Enter the physical
path to the content folder of the virtual directory, or alternatively,
navigate to the folder by clicking the ellipses button.
6. Review the settings, as displayed in Figure 2, and click OK to finalize the creation of the virtual directory.
Figure 2. Add Virtual Directory dialog box.
Note
If the content folder specified is a remote
share, click Connect As and enter credentials for an account that has
permissions to access the remote share. Alternatively, select the
application user (Pass-Through Authentication) option.
