How to Set Up IIS Web Server in a Virtual Machine
Internet Information Services is referred to as IIS. It is a Microsoft web server. Websites and web apps are hosted on a Windows server using IIS. We will use Server Manager to install IIS on a virtual machine in this article.

First, launch Server Manager.
First, use an administrator account to access the virtual machine server.
From the Start menu, launch Server Manager. The Windows Server may be managed and various server roles and functionality installed using Server Manager.

Step 2: Add Roles and Features
In Server Manager, click Manage at the top.
Select Add Roles and Features from the menu.

The Add Roles and Features Wizard will open. Click Next to continue.

Step 3: Select Installation Type
On the Installation Type page, keep the default option Role-based or feature-based installation selected.
This option allows us to install a server role such as IIS.

Click Next.

Step 4: Select the Server
On the Server Selection page, select VM Server from the server list.

Step 5: Select Web Server (IIS)
On the Server Roles page, find Web Server (IIS).
Select the checkbox next to Web Server (IIS).

A small popup window will appear. This window shows the features needed for IIS.

Click Add Features.

Then click Next.

Keep default and Click Next to continue.

Click Next to continue.

Make sure all required Role service selected
Then Click Next to continue.

Step 6: Continue with the Installation
The wizard will show the Features and IIS configuration pages.
For a basic IIS installation, we can keep the default settings.
Click Next through the remaining pages until you reach the Confirmation page.

Step 7: Install IIS
On the Confirmation page, check the selected options.
Make sure Web Server (IIS) is selected.
Click Install to start the installation.
Wait for the installation to finish. The installation may take a few minutes.
When the installation is complete, click Close.

Step 8: Check IIS
After installing IIS, we can check if it is working correctly.
Open a web browser on VM Server

Enter the following address:
http://localhost

Press Enter.
If IIS is installed correctly, the IIS Welcome page will appear. This means the IIS web server is running successfully.

Step 9: Open IIS Manager

• We can use IIS Manager to manage the web server.
• Open Server Manager.
• Click Tools.
• Select Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
• IIS Manager will open.
• From IIS Manager, you can create and manage websites and web applications.

Do you want to utilize Application Insight to collect telemetry from your corporate application running in an on-premises or cloud environment? Configure your server and begin using Application Insights with a few easy steps.

Follow the below steps now:
Step 1: Open IIS manager by pressing “Windows + R” button, type in “Inetmgr” and click OK.

Step 2: In IIS Manager, click on “Default Web Site” and “Content View” at the bottom to verify the files

Step 3: To configure this server to use Application Insight, we would be installing the “Application Insights Status Monitor” on the server. Click on the link to download and install it.

You can also install it from “Web Platform Installer”. Open the WebPI from Windows search by pressing “windows” button and just type “Web platform Installer”.

Step 4: In the WebPI window, type “Application Insights” in the server option. Select “Application Insights Status Monitor Preview”, click on “Add” and “Install”.

You can also install it from the local path we saved already.
“C:\hfl\HOL-ApplicationInsight\ApplicationInsightsAgent.msi”
After installing, launch the “Application Insights Status Monitor” and “Sign In” with the Azure account provided to you:

Step 5: After signing in, the “Application Insights Status Monitor” will show the list of Application Insight Resources. Select the resource you created in Lab-1 and click the button “Add Application Insights”:

It will take a few seconds to configure the website to use “Application Insights” and will show a prompt in order to restart IIS:

After restarting IIS, the website status will turn to “Enabled” and it will start logging telemetry data to “Application Insights”.

The Application Insights Status Monitor agent places a “ApplicationInsights.config” configuration file under your website directory and adds some configuration settings in Web.config file:

Step 6: Now, browse the following URL in browse tabs to start logging some telemetry data:

http://localhost/default.aspx
http://localhost/pingtest.aspx
 
Now, switch to “Application Insight status monitor” and click on “Open in Microsoft Azure Portal”.

Step 7: Login to the portal and it will open the Application Insights resource in which we are logging the server’s telemetry data:

Summary
This Application Insight will help you to track the performance and usage of the Web Application that has been hosted on Microsoft Azure Service. You can also track adoption and usage with the pages, events, and metrics. We will be working with Application Insights and attaching it towards existing ASP.NET Web applications in future posts.

Basically this problem comes up when we work with Asp.Net Application With IIS Server. I got this error while working with Asp.Net MVC Application. When I run My MVC application suddenly I got this error:

“System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException was unhandled by user code: Login failed for user 'IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPool’” and database connection couldn't open.

There are some step for solving this problem.

Go to your Run Window and there you type “Inetmgr” and click oK ( Means Go to IIS Server).

Here you will IIS Server window , from this window you go to “Application pools” and then select “DefaultAppPool” Right click on it and select “Advance Settings” and click on that.

When you will click on Advance settings link it will open Advance setting window there you select “Identity” (In Process Modal) and Change the path from ApplicationPoolIdentity to LocalSystem.

When you click on this Path, three dotted buttons, a window will open from there “Built-in-Account “radio button contain a dropdown box , from this dropdown box you change this path and the click OK.

Let's start by getting a summary of both.

Physical route
This is the path that IIS actually finds the file.

The virtual route
When a file is pointed to from outside the IIS application folder, this is the logical route to access it.
Let's use a virtual directory in the IIS default website to display this image from the hard drive "E:."

Add Virtual Directory

Here, we need to provide an alias for the physical path.

Physical Path - E:\Files
Virtual Path - http://localhost/Files/
File Name - image_60140ec0-ce46-4dbf-a14f-4210eab7f42c.png
Full Path - http://localhost/Files/image_60140ec0-ce46-4dbf-a14f-4210eab7f42c.png

Let’s enable the Directory Browsing.

By default, this is disabled for security reasons.

Here, we can see the files of the folder that is in E Drive. Click on the file name. It will load the file which is in the outer part of IIS application folder. Thanks, hope this will help.

We can parse many kinds of logs with the aid of Log Parser Studio. The primary focus of this course will be on parsing IIS logs. There are two types of Log Parser software: one that just uses the command prompt and the other that supports a graphical user interface.

Installation
Kindly find the link for Log Parser Studio.
Below is the sample query for Log Parser with GUI to get the output from IIS logs for a URL and other data like [MAX, MIN, AVG] – Response Time in mili seconds and hits.
SELECT cs-uri-stem as URL,
MAX(time-taken) As Max,
MIN(time-taken) As Min,
Avg(time-taken) As Average,
Count(1) as Hits
FROM '[LOGFILEPATH]'
GROUP BY URL
ORDER BY Average DESC

Below is the sample query to run in Log Parser with the command prompt version.
Logparser -i: iisw3c “ SELECT cs-uri-stem as URL,
MAX(time-taken) As Max,
MIN(time-taken) As Min,
Avg(time-taken) As Average,
Count(1) as Hits from D:\test.log GROUP By URL ORDER BY Average DESC TO D:\result.csv” –o : csv

Usage details Log parser studio
The landing screen of Log Parser Studio is given below.

As we are interested in parsing IIS logs, so select IIS-Top25 slow URLs.

The query with all the details will be shown to the user.

Now, we need to choose the IIS logs file. Click the Choose log files icon.

The dialog box with the options will be shown, where we have to select the individual log files or the folder. Now, we need to click the icon to execute an active query.

Below is the screenshot of Log Parser Studio with the results. The data for Max, Min, and Average refers to Response Time in mili seconds. We can copy data or export the data, as required.

You may host and manage websites and web applications with the aid of Internet Information Services (IIS), a web server function in Windows Server. It is a solid option for handling and providing web content because it is compatible with several web technologies and offers features for growth, performance, and security.

Internet Information Services (IIS): What is it?
Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) web server software is compatible with Windows Server. Websites, web apps, and other online services can be hosted and managed with its assistance. IIS is adaptable to diverse kinds of web content since it works with a variety of web technologies, including HTML, ASP.NET, and PHP. It provides security, speed, and growth capabilities to help you efficiently set up and manage your web environment. You can efficiently manage applications, provide web pages, and manage internet traffic with IIS.

Internet Information Services (IIS) deployment

Step 1. Open the Server Manager.
Step 2. Click on "Manage".
Step 3. Then select "Add Roles and Features".

Step 4. On the "Before you begin" screen, click "Next."

Step 5. Choose "Role-based or feature-based installation"
Step 6. And then click "Next."

Step 7. Choose the appropriate server from the server pool.
Step 8. And then click "Next".

Step 9. Select the server role "Web Server (IIS)."
Step 10. If a box appears asking to add required features, click "Add Features."
Step 11. And then click "Next."

Step 12. Select the features screen, you can choose extra features if you need them, and then Click "Next".

Step 13. Web Server Role (IIS)" screen, review the information about IIS and click "Next".

Step 14. Select role services, anything you want to install, and Make sure to select important services.

Step 15. Then Click "Next"

When setting up the IIS (Internet Information Services) web server role, there are some important services you need to choose to make sure the web server works properly.

Web Server: Common HTTP Features
    Static Content
    Default Document
    Directory Browsing
    HTTP Errors
    HTTP Redirection (if needed)
Application Development
    ASP.NET (for .NET applications)
    .NET Extensibility
    ISAPI Extensions
    ISAPI Filters
Management Tools
    IIS Management Console
    IIS Management Scripts and Tools
    Management Service (for remote management)
Performance
    Static Content Compression
    Dynamic Content Compression
Security
    Request Filtering
    Windows Authentication (if needed)
    Basic Authentication (if needed)
    URL Authorization

Step 16. Review and click "Install".

Step 17. After installation is finished, click "Close".

Verify the IIS server role Installation

• open a web browser and enter http://localhost.
• confirming that IIS is running.

When we upload a large file in asp.net using file upload control we got an error.so how to over come this ? The Default size of Asp.Net is 4MB. Code In Web.Config put this code.

    <system.web>  
       <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="1048576" executionTimeout="600" />  
    </system.web>  
    <system.webServer>  
       <security>  
          <requestFiltering><requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="3000000000" /></requestFiltering>  
       </security>  
    </system.webServer>  

The below code maxRequestLength measured in kilobytes.Here is an example with a 1GB request length and a 10 minute request timeout:
    <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="1048576" executionTimeout="600" />  

 The below code maxAllowedContentLength measured in bytes. 
    <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="3000000000" />  

This post teaches how to fix a message: 
"ERROR: Plugin IISBinding was unable to generate a target" while enabling the SSL Certificate for your website

So, let us start.
Open IIS - Internet Information Services (IIS).

Select "Default Web Site" and click on "Bindings...."

Edit "HTTP" host to put your websitURLrl.

Insert your website URL and press "OK".

Continue the process as the original POST recommends.

Conclusion
This IISBinding error appeared to me when I moved the website from a Server to another before enabling my HTTPS certification. This solution worked for me pretty awesomely. 

A default document is the file that a web server displays when you browse to a folder without specifying a file name.

This is syntax:

<system.webServer>
    <defaultDocument>
      <files>
        <clear />
        <add value="Path of your Page" />
      </files>
    </defaultDocument>
</system.webServer>

Using IIS 7 you can set default document in Web.Config in easy way. Suppose i have to set CommingSoon.aspx page as default page then we should do like this in system.webserver tag.
<configuration>
<system.webServer>
<defaultDocument>
<files>
<add value="CommingSoon.aspx" />
</files>
</defaultDocument>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>

When IIS gets this new default document it adds with parent or global list of default documents.

To remove an individual default document from the list.
<files> 
<remove value="CommingSoon.aspx" /> 
</files>

To remove a default document entry from the inherited or parent list of default documents, do something like this: 
<files> 
<clear/> 
<add value="CommingSoon.aspx" /> 
</files>

You must store session data outside of the normal in-memory session state in ASP.NET in order to maintain the user session even after an IIS restart.

1. Use SQL Server Session State
The best approach to persist session data even after an IIS reset is to store it in an SQL Server database.

Steps to Configure SQL Server Session State
1. Enable SQL Server session state in Web.config
<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <sessionState mode="SQLServer"
                      sqlConnectionString="Data Source=your_server;Initial Catalog=ASPState;Integrated Security=True"
                      cookieless="false"
                      timeout="60" />
    </system.web>
</configuration>

2. Run the SQL Server Session State Setup Script
EXEC aspnet_regsql.exe -S YourSQLServer -E -ssadd -sstype p

The session will persist even after an IIS restart.

2. Use State Server Mode (Out-of-Process Session)
If you prefer not to use SQL Server, you can configure a separate session state service.

Steps to Configure
1. Enable State Server in Web.config
<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <sessionState
            mode="StateServer"
            stateConnectionString="tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424"
            cookieless="false"
            timeout="60" />
    </system.web>
</configuration>

2. Start ASP.NET State Service
Open Run (Win + R) → Type services.msc → Find ASP.NET State Service → Start it.

The session will persist after an IIS restart but will be lost if the State Server service is stopped.

3. Use a Distributed Cache (Redis)
If you have multiple servers, using Redis for session storage is an excellent option.
Steps to Configure Redis Session State

1. Install Redis Session Provider via NuGet
Install-Package Microsoft.Web.RedisSessionStateProvider

2. Update Web.config
<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <sessionState mode="Custom" customProvider="RedisSessionProvider">
            <providers>
                <add name="RedisSessionProvider"
                     type="Microsoft.Web.Redis.RedisSessionStateProvider"
                     host="your_redis_server"
                     port="6379"
                     accessKey="your_redis_key"
                     ssl="false"/>
            </providers>
        </sessionState>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

Sessions will persist even if IIS restarts and it works well in cloud environments.

Which Method Should You Use?

Final Recommendation

• If you are running a single-server app, use State Server.
• If you are using multiple IIS servers, go with SQL Server Session State.
• If you need a high-performance, scalable solution, use Redis.