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Install and configure the Internet Information Services in Windows XP
Windows includes a powerful web server that is easy to install, use and configure. The Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is steadily increasing its presence in the market and steadily continues to gain ground on its Open Source rivals such as Apache.
The Microsoft IIS is included with Windows 2000 Server/Professional, Windows XP Professional and Windows 2003. The Windows XP Home Edition does not include the Microsoft IIS.
This article will show you how to install, configure and use the Microsoft IIS that is provided with the Windows XP Professional operating system.
Install the Internet Information Services
The installation of the Microsoft IIS is simple and is being done through wizards that help you avoid problems.
To install the Microsoft IIS, you must use the Add/Remove Software option in the Control Panel of your Windows XP as displayed in Figure 1.
In the dialog that will appear select the option Add/Remove Windows Components as displayed in Figure 2.
The Windows Components Wizard will appear as displayed in Figure 3. Scroll and choose the option Internet Information Services and click on the option Details.
To perform a simple installation of IIS, choose the options Common Files, Internet Information Services Snap-In and World Wide Web Service as shown in Figure 4.
Click then on OK and Next to continue. If the system needs your installation CD-ROM or a directory where it can find the installation files, you will be modified. The system will then install files as needed. At the end of the installation, click on Finish to dismiss the dialog.
The Microsoft IIS is now ready for use.
Configure the Internet Information Services
We assume that, for the purposes of this document, you want to host a small-scale intranet site on the your new web server. The following steps will allow you to configure an intranet site that can be accessed within your local network.
The name that we will be using for this intranet site will be www.mysite.intranet but you can choose of course the name of your preference.
1 - The Internet Information Services snap-in
Go to your Administrative Tools in the Control Panel and open the Internet Information Services; thedialog in Figure 5 will appear.
If you expand the content of the local computer, you will see that a default web site is already created. Under the Default Web Site you will see a virtual directory already created that contains IIS online help files. For security reasons you can delete this virtual directory by selecting it, right-clicking and selecting the option Delete as shown in Figure 6.
Place your web site and applications in a folder on your hard drive. Then right-click on the DEFAULT WEB SITE entry in the IIS snap-in and choose the option Properties. You will see the properties sheet for your default web site as shown in Figure 7.
In the box Description, enter a name that sufficiently identifies your web site; for example, you can use the fully qualified name of your web site such as mysite.intranet that will also allow you to easilt identify the site.
Click on the tab Advanced tab and on the Add tab on the new dialog. As shown in Figure 8, you must fill the port on which your web site will be available and its name. The default port on which a web site is served is port 80. The Host Header Name is the name with which you wish your users to access your web site; in our test case this is www.mysite.intranet.
The next step is to click on the tab Home Directory in order to specify the directory in which your site will reside as shown in Figure 9. In most cases only Read permissions are sufficient.
Once you have chosen your home directory, choose the tab Documents in order to let IIS know which page will start your web site as shown in Figure 10. Some choices are already made; if your start page is already in the list, you do not have to do anything. If your page is not listed, click on the Add option and in the dialog shown in Figure 11 type the name of the page that you would like your web site to start.
2 - Name Resolution for your web site
This is not strictly an IIS configuration item but we will discuss here since it is one of the logical steps that you will have to execute to make your web site accessible to others.
Your web site is now accessible through the links http://localhost, http://127.0.0.1 and http://The IP address of your computer . Although this enough for a small intranet since other computers can use the last option to access your web site, it might be easier to use a friendlier name such as www.mysite.intranet for example.
Name resolution can happen in several different manners and is a rather complicated matter. The simplest method to implement name resolution in your small network is to use the lmhosts file included with all versions of Windows.
The lmhosts file is normally located in the following directory on the system drive of Windows XP: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers.
Open the file in Notepad and add the following lines:
127.0.0.1 www.mysite.intranet
[ip address of your computer] www.mysite.intranet
Reboot your Windows XP, start a browser session and type www.mysite.intranet at the address bar. Your web site must now be accessible at this address.
IIS limitations under Windows XP
The version of the IIS included with Windows XP has limited capabilities for obvious reasons.
The IIS version included with Windows XP Professional can support one web site; this means that you will only be able to host one web site. Unlimited Virtual directories are supported, however.
The second and probably more serious limitation of the IIS in Windows XP Professional stems from the fact that only ten (10) concurrent connections can be established at any one time.
Despite these limitations, the Microsoft IIS remains a suitable platform for a small intranet.