After we read the post about Istalling and Using New IIS Services, now we continue with Hosting Applications with IIS 7.5, this is a continuation of my previous post titled Using New IIS Services. The IIS 7 .5 implementation in Windows Server 2008 R2 includes some major enhancements in its application hosting capabilities, as described in the following sections.

Running ASP.Net Applications

One of the most significant improvements in IIS 7.5 is that it now supports ASP .NET applications on computers running the Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 R2. Server Core is a stripped-down version of the Windows Server operating system that eliminates many roles and features and most of the graphical interface.  One of the features not available in Windows Server 2008 Server Core is Microsoft .NET Framework, and IIS requires this fea- ture to support ASP .NET.  Because ASP .NET is one of the most commonly used development environments for Web applications today, this was a major shortcoming.  However, Windows Server 2008 R2 provides support for .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5.1, and 4.0 in Server Core; IIS 7.5 can therefore host ASP .NET applications.

The ASP .NET implementation in IIS 7 .5 also now supports different Common Language Runtime (CLR) versions, enabling administrators to switch versions without modifying the underlying IIS infrastructure.  Microsoft has also incorporated this capability into Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2. You can specify different CLR settings for individual application pools by creating custom ASPNET .config files. To use these files, you add code specifying their locations to the pool’s applicationHost .config file, as in the following example:

<applicationPools>
<add name=”MyApplicationPool” CLRConfigFile=”c:\InetPub\CLRConfigFile.txt”   />
</applicationPools>

IIS 7.5 also includes a new application auto-start feature in its ASP .NET 4.0 implementation. This feature enables an administrator to configure an application pool to start up automatically, while temporarily not processing HTTP requests.  This allows applications requiring extensive initialization to finish loading the data they need or to complete other processes before they begin accepting HTTP requests.  To use this feature, you must add code like the following to the pool’s applicationHost .config file:

<applicationPools>
<add name=”MyApplicationPool” startMode=”AlwaysRunning”   />
</applicationPools>

FastCGI Support in IIS 7.5

FastCGI is a language-independent extension to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) that enables Web servers to execute applications more quickly and efficiently.  Unlike CGI, which creates a separate process for each incoming request, FastCGI uses a single process to handle multiple requests. IIS uses FastCGI to support the popular PHP scripting language, which makes it one of the more important features of the product.

IIS 7.5 includes a number of enhancements to its FastCGI support, including the following:

• FastCgI configuration in IIS Manager - The graphical FastCGI administration interface, previously available only in Administration Pack for IIS 7.0, is now fully integrated into the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console, as shown in the following graphic.

• Real-time tuning - In the Edit FastCGI Application dialog box, the Max Instances property specifies the maximum number of FastCGI processes that IIS can launch for each application pool. This equates to the maximum number of FastCGI requests that IIS can process simultaneously for that application. The default value is 4, but in IIS 7.5, if you change the value to 0, the FastCGI module automatically shifts the number of requests up and down, based on the current system load and the number of queued requests.
• Configuration file monitoring - In the Edit FastCGI Application dialog box, the Monitor Changes To File property enables you to specify the path to a configuration file, such as Php .ini, for each application. When IIS 7.5 detects a change to the specified file, it recycles the FastCGI processes for that application.
• New error-handling options - IIS 7.5 now provides a choice of four FastCGI error handling options, which you configure in the Edit FastCGI Application dialog box using the Standard Error Mode property. These options enable you to specify what error information IIS logs and how much of it gets returned to users. You can also configure the property to terminate the FastCGI process when an error occurs.
• Failed request tracing - In IIS 7.5, the FastCGI module can send the information in a process’ STDERR stream to the Failed Request Tracing (FREB) logs maintained by IIS for debugging purposes (as long as Failed Request Tracing is enabled).

Using Managed Service accounts

IIS 7.5 can use the managed service accounts—now supported by Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008 R2—as service identities, thus eliminating problems caused by expired application pool passwords. The Application Pool Identity is a concept first introduced in IIS 7 .0 which IIS uses to set permissions for an application pool’s configuration file. You can also use it for anonymous authentication in place of the IUSR account. In IIS 7.5, the Application Pool Identity is a man- aged service account, and IIS now uses it to run the W3wp .exe worker process in place of the Network Service account introduced in Windows Server 2003.

This is a continuation of my previous post titled Installing IIS 7.5, A number of Web services that were previously available as separate downloads are now integrated into IIS in Windows Server 2008 R2, as described in the following sections .

Using IIS WebDaV

Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is an IIS extension, now implemented as a role service called WebDAV Publishing, which expands the capabilities of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) by making it possible for administrators and users to publish documents on Web sites simply by copying them to a mapped network drive.  After installing the role service, you create an authoring rule that specifies what content you want to be able to publish and which users can publish it, using the interface shown. Then, using a feature called the WebDAV redirector on the client computer, you map a drive to your Web site.  Copying files to that drive automatically publishes them on the Web site.

The WebDAV implementation in Windows Server 2008 R2 is fully integrated into the IIS 7 .5 architecture, and supports the following features:

• Standard compliance - The WebDAV implementation in IIS 7 .5 is fully compliant with the Request for Comment (RFC) 4918 standard published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) .
• Site-level support - Unlike earlier versions, you can now enable WebDAV publishing at the site level, instead of on the entire server .
• Support for HTTP over SSl - This enables clients to publish documents securely by encrypting transmissions using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol .
• Supports for locks - The WebDAV in IIS 7 .5 supports both shared and exclusive locks to prevent lost updates due to overwrites .
• Per-URl authoring rules - This enables administrators to specify WebDAV security settings for individual Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) .  This provides the ability to create different sets of security parameters for standard HTTP requests and WebDAV authoring .

Using Ftp Server

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is one of the early protocols in the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite .  It was created at a time when security was not as great a concern as it is now, and as a result, it has no built-in data protection of any kind .  Clients transmit passwords in clear text, and transfer files to and from servers in unencrypted form .  Windows Server 2008 R2, however, has an FTP server implementation that is enhanced with better security measures and other new features .

The FTP Publishing Service role service included in the Windows Server 2008 release is a holdover from Windows Server 2003.  It requires you to install the old IIS 6 .0 version of the management console because it is not compatible with the new IIS 7 .0 architecture.  Soon afterward, however, Microsoft released, as a free download, a new FTP Publishing Service that was compatible with IIS 7.0.  Administrators could create and manage FTP sites using the current Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console, and the service also included new features, such as the following:

• FTP over Secure Sockets layer (SSl)  - Enables the FTP server to establish secure connections using password protection and SSL data encryption.
• Combined FTP and Web hosting - Enables a single IIS site to support both HTTP and FTP connections.
• Virtual host naming - Enables a single IIS server to host multiple FTP sites using a single IP address and port number, distinguishing between the sites by using host names, just as it can with Web sites.
• Improved logging and error handling - IIS log files include additional fields for FTP connections, and IIS can generate detailed error messages for clients on the local network.

Now, in Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has fully incorporated that FTP Publishing Service into IIS 7.5, so there is no need for a special download and no need to install an outdated management console.  They have also included an additional role service, FTP Extensibility, which enables developers to use their own managed code to create customized authentication, authorization, logging, and home directory providers.

Windows Server 2008, Microsoft introduced Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 .0, a major architectural update to its Web and application server platform .  Since then, as anticipated, the IIS development team has been working on a variety of enhancements and extensions that build on that new architecture .  Now, in Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft introduces IIS 7 .5 .  Although based on the same basic structure as IIS 7 .0, this new version includes numerous new features and refinements .  This chapter lists the new features in IIS 7 .5 and explains how they enhance the capabilities of the Web and ap- plication server platform .

Installing IIS 7.5

The Web Server (IIS) role in Windows Server 2008 R2 is only slightly different in appearance from that in Windows Server 2008.  When you select the role in the Add Roles Wizard, the Add Features Required For Web Server (IIS) dialog box does not appear and prompt you to install the Windows Process Activation Service (WPAS) feature, as it didin Windows Server 2008. That dependency is still there, however. Even when you don’t explicitly install WPAS, IIS 7.5 starts the service as needed.

IIS 7.5 also adds three new role services, as follows:

WebDAV Publishing, Enables users to publish content to IIS Web sites inter-actively and securely. For more information, see the section “Using IIS WebDAV,” later in this chapter.

FTP Server, Enables users to transfer files to and from an IIS server and perform basic file management tasks.

IIS Hostable Web Core, Enables developers to integrate IIS request handling functionality into their own applications .

WebDAV Publishing and FTP Server were both add-on products for IIS 7 .0 that administra- tors had to download and install separately. Now, in Windows Server 2008 R2, they are both fully integrated into the Web Server (IIS) role, and you can install them as part of IIS 7.5.

Using Microsoft Web platform Installer

Although Windows Server 2008 R2 administrators can still install IIS and create Web sites in the traditional manner, using the Server Manager and Internet Information Services (IIS ) Manager consoles, Microsoft now provides another way. The Microsoft Web Platform is an integrated set of servers and tools that enable you to deploy complete Web solutions, includ- ing applications and ancillary servers, with a single procedure. The Microsoft Web Platform Installer is a tool that enables you to select, download, install, and configure the features you want to deploy on your Web server.

The Web Platform Installer file you download is a stub, a tiny file that enables you to select the modules you want to install and then to download them, using the interface shown in Figure 7-1. Unlike the Web Server (IIS) role in Windows Server 2008 R2, the Web Platform Installer enables you to download other servers and applications that are produced by Microsoft and third parties. The installer provides a selection of collaboration, e-commerce, portal, and blog applications, and enforces the dependencies between the various elements. If, for example, you select an application that requires a database, the installer will download and install SQL Server Express 2008, Microsoft’s free SQL database product.

During the installation process, Web Platform Installer prompts you for information needed by your selected applications, such as what subdirectory to install them into, what passwords to use, and so on. When the process is complete, you have a fully functional Web site, complete with IIS and applications and ready to use .

Using the IIS Web Deployment tool

The Web Deployment Tool (formerly called MS Deploy) is an IIS extension that enables administrators to package entire Web sites, Web servers, and applications for deployment on other computers, or just for backup purposes.  Packages include all of a site’s content, includ- ing configuration settings, permissions, databases, and certificates.

When you run the Web Deployment Tool offline, it adds a Manage Packages section to the Actions pane of the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console.

Selecting a server, site, or application and clicking Export Application launches a wizard in which you can select the elements that you want to export.  The wizard then creates a package in the form of a Zip file, which contains the original content plus configuration settings in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format

The package file now contains a complete copy of the server, site, or application you selected. You can save the package file to function as a backup or an archive of the site’s current configuration, or copy it to another IIS server running the Web Deployment Tool and import it. The tool also includes a Remote Agent Service, which administrators can use to synchronize Web servers in real time over a network connection. This enables you to replicate sites and servers on a regular basis so that you can create Web farms for load balancing and fault tolerance purposes

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Today post will cover about one of IIS 8 new feature. It is called Application Initialization module. Activating it allows you to enable the following capabilities:

• Starting a worker process without waiting for a request (AlwaysRunning)
• Load the application without waiting for a request (preloadEnabled)
• Show a loading page while the application is starting

To enable these features

1. Set the startMode on the application pool  to AlwaysRunning.

    <system.applicationHost>    
     <applicationPools>      
      <add name="DefaultAppPool" autoStart="true" startMode="AlwaysRunning" />    
     </applicationPools>  
    </system.applicationHost> 

2. Set preloadEnabled to true on the web application.

    <system.applicationHost>    
     <sites>      
      <site name="Default Web Site" id="1">        
       <application path="/">          
        <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="%SystemDrive%\inetpub\wwwroot" />        
       </application>        
       <application name="AppInit" applicationPool="DefaultAppPool" preloadEnabled="true">          
        <virtualDirectory path="/AppInit" physicalPath="c:\inetpub\wwwroot\appinit" />       
        </application>      
      </site>    
     </sites>  
    </system.applicationHost> 

Changing the startMode to AlwaysRunning will start the application pool and initialize your application the moment your IIS server is (re)started. So users that visit your site don’t have to wait because the worker process is already started.

By setting preloadEnabled to true, it starts loading the application within that worker process without waiting for a request.

Server Name Indication (SNI) is an extension to the TLS protocol that includes the hostname during the handshaking process. This allows for a web server to host multiple SSL-enabled web sites using one IP address. Prior to IIS 8, it was not possible to use this capability in IIS.

Configuration

SNI is enabled in IIS by default. To use this capability, simply provide the appropriate hostname in the configuration of the HTTPS binding for a site.

Each HTTPS binding that you would like to use SNI with should have the host name provided. All bindings should have the option for "Require Server Name Identification" checked except fot the site you would like to act as the "default" HTTPS site. Just as is the case with HTTP bindings, this is the site that will be used when a client does not provide a host header as part of the request. If you do not have at least one HTTPS binding with the option unchecked, IIS Manager will issue a warning informaing you of that fact.

Compatability

Before using SNI with IIS 8, you should be aware of the client requirements for this to work properly. Specifically, the TLS library used by an application must support SNI and the application must pass the hostname to the TLS library when making requests. The following web browsers support SNI:

• Internet Exmplorer 7 or later running on Windows Vista or later
• Google Chrome (6.0 or later requird if running on Windows XP, 5.0.342.1 or later if running on OS X 10.5.7 or later)
• Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later
• Safari 3.0 or later (Vista or later and OS X 10.5.6 or later)
• MobileSafari running on iOS 4.0 or later
• Opera 8.0 or later

Are you getting the following error when configuring the IIS8 connector for CF10 on Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8?

"Version 8.0 is installed. Supported versions are 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7x"

We have some additional guidance that should help you work around it.

1) Please make sure that you are using correct Windows 2012 Server/Windows 8 supported ColdFusion 10 installer (The updated full ColdFusion 10 Installers)

MD5s of the full installer should be as follows:

For Win 64-bit MD5 --> ef74d583a8d069c7138a4ea8da9c5359

For Win 32-Bit MD5 --> ca9363a0a3817533436238b477b88792

2) You can opt to configure IIS 8 while installing or after installation.

     Installer has in-built support for IIS 8 on Win 8/Win 2012.

3) By all means install the latest CF10 updates, but do not apply updates older than Update 8. If you apply any of the older updates like update 7 or 6, you will likely see the following error while trying to run the IIS 8 web server connector:

"Version 8.0 is installed. Supported versions are 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7x" 

4) If all the above steps have been followed and if you are still getting the error, please verify that update 8 is installed properly by checking the log file under \cfusion\hf-updates\hf-10- 00008\Adobe_ColdFusion_10_Update_8*.log

And MD5  of the connector jar located at <CF10_Install_Home>\cfusion\runtime\lib\wsconfig.jar should be

     a) If you have applied Update 8 -> ba8f8c8bcd34c266faa0031107bbf948.

     b) If you have NOT applied any Updates -> 35cc2f630325506081f3b29d41e50c3c

Internet Information Services (IIS) 8.0 Express is a free, simple and self-contained version of IIS that is optimized and available for developers. IIS 8.0 Express makes easy to use the most current version of websites tools like Visual Studio and WebMatrix. IIS 8.0 Express has all the core features of IIS as well as additional features for easy website development which includes:

- IIS 8.0 Express doesn't run as a service or require administrative privileges to perform most tasks.
- IIS 8.0 Express allows Multiple Users to work independently on the same computer.
- IIS 8.0 Express works well with ASP.NET and PHP applications.

IIS 8.0 is only available in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. It includes Application Initialization, centralized SSL certificate support, multi core scaling and also other new features.

Previously, we have discussed about new features in IIS 8. Now I will show more information about this new features.

1. FTP Logon Attempt Restrictions

This module ensures the security and manageability. Due to this feature you can now use greylisting and access patterns enabling you to smoothly and dynamically manage access for number of sites to the internet and FTP servers.

2) Improved CPU Throttling

In IIS8 there are kernel level changes to support real CPU throttling. There are two actions possible for sites that reach the CPU threshold. These are:

• Throttling is based on the user and not specifically on the application pool. The throttle feature will keep the CPU for a particular worker process at the specified level.
• Throttle under load will allow a site to use all possible CPU, while throttling the worker process if the server is under load. If you used WSRM (Windows System Resource Manager) in the past, you no longer need to do so.

3. Application Initialization Module

Priorly known as the application warm-up module which was used for a time, and now it is completely ready as Application Initialization Module. This allows loading sites and pages before the traffic arrives and handling of requests in a friendly and more smoother way while the application first loads. It is possible to set up home page or use URL rewrites.

4. SSL scalability

In previous versions of IIS each SSL (Secure Socket Layer) site required its own IP address, and since each certificate was loaded into the memory on the first visit to an SSL site, startup performance can be slow. In IIS8 the SSL certificate is easily scalable to thousands of secure sites per system because only the certificate that is needed is loaded. Additionally, also loading of large numbers of certificates is essentially improved.

5. SNI / SSL host header support

Using host headers and a shared IP address with SSL certificate has always been ambiguous. IIS8 now offers Server Name Indication (SNI) support through which many SSL sites can share the same IP. SNI is a pretty new feature which allows host headers to work with SSL. The most recent browsers are supporting SNI.

6. Use ASP.NET 3.5 and 4.5

IIS 8.0 on Windows Server 2012 runs ASP.NET applications on all .NET Framework versions supported on Windows Server 2012. This means ASP.NET applications can run on IIS 8.0 using either .NET Framework 3.5, or .NET Framework 4.5. IIS 8.0 hosts versions of the .NET Framework in different application pools, thus allowing multiple ASP.NET applications with different .NET Framework versions to run simultaneously on Windows Server 2012.

7. Web Sockets

Allows you to build more interactive and powerful web applications because of a continuous and bidirectional communication between the web browser and the web server. Web Sockets require Windows Server 2012 or higher versions.

8. Dynamic IP Restriction (DIPR)

With DIPR we can Customize IIS reply like Unauthorized (HTTP 401), Forbidden (HTTP 403), Not Found (HTTP 404), or Abort (IIS terminates the HTTP connection). Also we can allow or deny specific IP address or a range of IP addresses, even if they violate a dynamic restriction setting. We can block dynamic IPs based on the number of concurrent requests or the number of requests over a period of time.Finally it is a very useful feature for web servers behind firewall, because of the proxy mode property that enables IIS to cross checks the values in the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header. So it can verify the IP address of the client who initially made the request.

9. Multicore Scaling on NUMA hardware

Internet Information Services (IIS) on Windows Server 2012 supports Multicore Scalling on NUMA hardware and provides the optimal configuration for the IT administrators. Following options describes the different configuration options to achieve the best performance with IIS 8.0 on NUMA hardware.IIS supports following two ways of partitioning the workload:

• Run multiple worker processes in one application pool: If you are using this mode, by default, the application pool is configured to run one worker process. For maximum performance, you should consider running the same number of worker processes as there are NUMA nodes, so that there is 1:1 affinity between the worker processes and NUMA nodes. This can be done by setting "Maximum Worker Processes" AppPool setting to 0. Due to this setting, IIS determines how many NUMA nodes are available on the hardware and starts the same number of worker processes.
• Run multiple applications pools in single workload/site: In this configuration, the workload/site is divided into multiple application pools. For example, the site may contain several applications that are configured to run in separate application pools. Effectively, this configuration results in running multiple IIS worker processes for the workload/site and IIS intelligently distributes the processes for maximum performance.

Hello all, sometimes I find in forum that people complain about Error 404.3 – Not Found. I decided to write the post about this issue and hope it will solve your problem.

Hmm… I assume that you have installed Windows Server 2012. When you upload your files, try to browse your site, you see this error:

One of the issues might be :

It complaints about missing handler mappings for the created web site. this is obvious when you look at it closely as follows

Go to the Desired web application listed under "Default web site" under IIS 8 and open "handler mappings"

Here most of the handler mappings are not listed. As a remedy to this click "Revert to Parent" and you will see the all handler mappings are inherited from the parent node.

This might solve the 404.3 error that you get

This blog cover brief information how to host your WCF service in IIS8 (Windows Server 2012).

Here is the solution.

Server Roles

1. First make sure you have enabled IIS function and .net 3.5 in Features.
For the IIS features, please remember to enable ASP.NET3.5 and ASP.NET 4.5

2. Second, check the IIS Hostable WebCore
3. Finally, I think the most important is this:

Check Application Sever->Web Server (IIS) Support

I have also check the HTTP Activation in Windows Process Activation Service Support, but I do not know if it is required.

For the freatures,

1. Check all items in .NET 3.5
2. Check WCF Service in .NET 4.5

That’s it.

Last but not least, I have register the WCF Service from

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\ServiceModelReg.exe –i

Run the above in command line.