The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0
SUMMARY
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 4.0 contains many
improvements. In addition to resolving many of reported issues in IIS 3.0,
IIS 4.0 offers improvements in the areas of application stability and
server management.
MORE INFORMATION
The following is a summary of new features added to IIS 4.0 in the areas of
application stability and server management, and a list of articles that
discuss known IIS 3.0 issue resolutions. For more information, see the
"Quick Tour of Features" in the online Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack
Documentation.
Application Stability
- Process isolation
Web Applications can be hosted in an environment that protects the core
Web services from poorly written applications. Isolated Web Applications
each run within their own Mtx.exe process. In the past, all ASP
applications ran within the a single Inetinfo.exe process.
- Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) integration
Multiple steps and components can now be packaged into transactions that
succeed or fail as a whole. In IIS 3.0, ASP handled its own thread and
memory management within Asp.dll. IIS 4.0 takes advantage of the
improved resource usage and thread management in MTS, which allows Web
application developers to write scalable applications using the MTS
foundation.
- Improved database stack
Version 4.0 of IIS has an entirely new database stack that is of much
better quality than the previous release, and includes an improved
thread-safe Oracle driver.
- ISAPI filtering by Web site
Each Web site on the server can have a different set of ISAPI filters.
ISAPI filters are programs that are executed when a given Web server
event occurs.
- ASP Debugging
IIS 4.0 includes an Active Server Pages debugger that is integrated with
the core ASP services. With this tool you can set breakpoints and step
through ASP code. Previously, in IIS 3.0, the only way to debug your ASP
code was to use Response.Write to send the information to the HTML
output.
- VBScript and Jscript
Version 3.0 of the Scripting engines provide enhanced capabilities such
as Directory Creation, File and Directory Deletion and the ability to
determine disk information (for example, the amount of free space and
similar values).
- New Java VM
Support has been added for JDK 1.1 as has the ability to make calls
to Java components from ASP scripts.
- Message Queuing
Web applications using ASP can store data until a guaranteed connection
is made with the targeted Web application through the use of message
queuing. This has a significant impact on electronic commerce if it
uses unreliable networks.
Server Management
- Virtual servers using one IP address and host header names
Unique virtual Web servers can now be set up using the same IP address
and different names. Each virtual server can be controlled independently
of each other.
- HTML administration
IIS 4.0 includes a full-featured Web-based administration utility to
manage the server remotely.
- Improved metatag integration
Many functions that could only be done via metatags (expires, pic
ratings, custom headers) can now be down with the core server.
- Customizable error messages
Error messages can be customized to improve the customer (end user of
Web sites) experience.
- Command line administration
The same functionality found in the administration interfaces for IIS
4.0 is now available through command line administration. This allows
for easy ASP scripting of administrative tasks.
- Unattended installations
Customized installations can be implemented by using scripts to upgrade
and install multiple servers.
- Integrated setup
Unlike IIS 3.0, IIS 4.0 offers an integrated setup for all of the
components of the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack.
- Site Server Express
Tools are included for analyzing content and Web usage as well as for
posting files through the components of Site Server Express. The Content
Analyzer, Usage Import, Report Writer, and Posting Acceptor modules make
up the components of Site Server Express.
- Flexible logging
There are now over 20 properties that can be logged for the Web server.
Included are server name, server IP and port, bytes sent and received,
time taken, and many more.
IIS 3.0 Issue Resolutions
Many bug fixes for IIS 3.0 are included in IIS 4.0, including all hotfixes
to Active Server Pages (ASP) and core services. The following list is a
sample of known issues which are resolved in IIS 4.0.
Article ID Article Title
---------- ----------------------------------------------------------
Q163485 Active Server Pages Script Appears in Browser
Q163761 ASP Page Not Update Even if File Included in it Has Been
Changed
Q165335 Active Server Pages: Progressive Memory Leak
Q166081 ASP Page Not Update Even if ASP File on UNC Virtual Dir.
Changed
Q166082 ASP Page Not Update Even if File Included Is Changed
Q170852 Access Denied to Subdirectory w/ Windows NT
Challenge/Response
Q170856 IIS Log File May Be Truncated When Logging to Text File
Q172217 ASP Returns Invalid Application Name Error Message
Q173965 Max Number of SQL Statements Reached in IDC
Q179091 Multi-threaded Java Programs Stop on Multi-processor
Computers
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