Step-by-Step: Setting up IIS 5.0 on Windows

Remy_3D

A few words before we start the guide.  Windows 2000 Professional is a good operating system to run a webserver for several reasons.

   1. Windows 2000 Professional is a very stable operating system.  You can leave the server unattended for months at a time and not worry about system crashes and failures.

   2. It's not as expensive as Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server.  A very important consideration!

   3. IIS 5.0 can handle web, FTP, and email services nicely.  The only drawback is that you are limited to 10 concurrent connections to your website which shouldn't be a problem for most people.

   4. The webserver software is included with OS and is easy to setup.

Okay, enough with the sales pitch, let's install this baby.

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components


Select "internet Information Services (IIS)" then click on "Details".


Some of the components you do not need, but for this example, we'll install the whole IIS package since we want the webserver, FTP server, and mail capabilities.

Click on "Next"

The dialog box will show files being copied to your hard disk.


After a few moments, you'll get this dialog box that ask you to insert the Windows 2000 CD into your CD-ROM drive.  Put in the CD then click "OK".


The files will continue to be copied.  This could take a while.  When everything is done, you'll see this screen.  Click on "Finish".


Then all the windows close and you're left staring at your blank desktop again.  In order to go configure your website, you need to go:

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Service Manager


It would be smart to create a shortcut to "Internet Service Manager" on your desktop since this is where most of the configuration of your website takes place.

The other way to manage your website is through the "Personal Web Manager".


This is a scaled back version of the "Internet Service Manager" and it cannot control your FTP or mail services, so I do not recommend using it.  However, it does have a cool bar graph showing how many people and connections you have to your website so that is pretty interesting.


Personal Web Manager includes a nice Product Tour.


The "Advanced Options" here is also much thinner than the Internet Service Manager.


Double click on "Internet Service Manager" and let's get started.  Click on the name of your computer to see the summary of what's going on with your computer.  In my case, my computer is called "Brian" so the name I see and click on is "*brian".


Since we chose to install all the IIS components, you will see the Web, FTP, and SMTP mail server all running.  You can disable a particular service (Web, FTP, or SMTP) by right clicking on the service and choosing "pause" or "stop".

You'll notice under "IP Address" it says "All Unassigned"  This means that all requests to your server will be answered by your computer.  If for some reason your server has several IP addresses, you will want to specify the exact IP address that the Internet Services is supposed to respond to.

If your computer only has 1 IP address, we can leave the IP address as "All Unassigned".

Let's take a look at the Web Service.  Right click on "Default Web Site" then select "Properties".


As you explore the different tabs, you'll notice that there are several boxes and options that are grayed out.  These options are only available in the Server Editions like Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server.

Since there are so many options I'll just hit the major points.

Tab: Web Site
Description - Can be changed to your liking
IP Address - Can leave as "All unassigned" or the specific IP address of your computer.
TCP Port - 80 is the standard and should remain that way unless you have a good reason to change it.
Connections - Since we're using Windows 2000 Professional and not the Server Editions, we are limited to 10 concurrent web connections.  Each visitor creates 2-3 connections so this means your webserver using this software is limited to 3-4 concurrent visitors which should not be a problem for a small website.


Tab: Performance


Tab: ISAPI Filters


Tab: Home Directory
Local Path - This is where your files for your website reside.  You can change this directory to whatever directory you like.
Write - Unless you want your visitors to actually change your website, you must leave this unchecked.
Directory Browsing - If you check this box, When a visitor comes to a directory that does not have a default document, the visitor will see an error message stating that they are not authorized to view the contents of that directory.  If you uncheck this box, they will get a complete list of what files you have in the directory.  It is best to leave the box unchecked.


Tab: Documents
There is a list of default documents that the webserver will look for when a visitor accesses a directory.  The starting point of your website must be listed here.  You can either rename your first page of your website to Default.htm or another defualt document type that you specify.  Traditionally, the first page of most websites is "index.html" so you can add that to the list and promote it to the top using the up arrow on the left side.


Tab: Directory Security


Tab: HTTP Headers


Tab: Custom Errors


Tab: Server Extensions


We can now check to see if your web service is working correctly.  From your web browser from the same machine, type in the name of your computer or the IP number of your computer.

This is what you should see.

Remy_3D

The FTP service.  Right click on "Default FTP Site" and select "Properties".

Tab: FTP Site
Description - change the name to what you like
IP Address - Can leave as "All unassigned" or the specific IP address of your computer.
TCP Port - Port 21 is default and should stay the same
Connections - Like the Web service, 10 is your maximum amount of connections
Log Files - You should log who is coming to your site
Current Sessions - Lists the people who are currently visiting your site.


Tab: Security Accounts
Allow Anonymous Connections - This depend on what you want to do with your FTP server.
Username - This is the account name that is given to the ftp user.  It takes the form "IUSR_(your computer name)".  Do not delete this account in your control panel otherwise people will not be able to use any of your Internet Services.
FTP Site Operators - Controls who gets to administer your FTP site.


Tab: Messages
Welcome: Type in your greeting or leave it blank.
Exit: Same as Welcome
Maximum connections: Insert any number less than 10 since you're capped at 10.  If you have 10 ftp connections, that means that nobody will be able to visit your website since the ftp and web both share 10 connections together.


Tab: Home Directory
Local path: This you can change.  Actually it makes more sense to make the root FTP directory one level up from your website since you will probably administer your website using FTP.


Tab: Directory Security
Not an option using this version of IIS under Windows 2000 Professional

Remy_3D

Email!  Before the email will work correctly, we must setup a few things.

Click on "Default SMTP Virtual Server" and then click on "Domains".  Right click on "Domains" and select "New" -> "Domain"


A wizard pops up and then you should click on "Alias" then "Next"


Type in the domain name that the email server should respond to.  In my case, it's "dslwebserver.com".  Click "Finish".


Right click on "Default SMTP Virtual Server" then select "Properties".  Most of these functions depend on what your needs are.  You can simply experiment with the settings and keep sending email to yourself to see if the changes work for you.


Tab: General


Tab: Access


Tab: Messages


Tab: Delivery


Tab: LDAP Routing


Tab: Security


All your email gets send to c:\Inetpub\mailroot\Drop.  You can make a shortcut on your desktop to this directory to read your email.

This guide just showed you how to get the site up and running, but you will have to spend time exploring the different options to get the Internet Service to do what you want it to do.