How to Create a Virtual Directory

ID: Q172138

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Internet Information Server versions 2.0, 3.0

SUMMARY

Each of the Internet services can publish from multiple directories. Each directory can be located on a local drive or across the network by specifying the directory with a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name, and a user name and password to use for access permission. A virtual server can have one home directory and any number of other publishing directories. These other publishing directories are referred to as virtual directories.

To simplify client URL addresses, the services present the entire set of publishing directories to clients as a single directory tree. The home directory is the root of this virtual directory tree, and each virtual directory is addressed as if it was a subdirectory of the home directory. Actual subdirectories of the virtual directories are available to clients as well. The WWW service alone supports virtual servers; thus, the FTP and gopher services can have only one home directory.

When a virtual directory is defined in Internet Service Manager, an alias is associated with the virtual directory. The alias is the subdirectory name that will be used by clients to access information in the virtual directory. If alias names for virtual directories are not specified by the administrator, an alias name is generated automatically by Internet Service Manager.

For example, an administrator may define two virtual directories for the WWW service as follows: 


   C:\Wwwroot

   D:\Webdata      Alias = data


MORE INFORMATION

Creating Virtual Directories

You can create an almost unlimited number of virtual directories for your service, although performance may suffer if you create too many of them.
  1. In Internet Service Manager, double-click the service for which you want to add a virtual directory to display its property sheets.


  2. Click the Directories tab.


  3. Click Add.


  4. Click Browse to select a directory in the Directory box.


  5. Click Virtual Directory, then type the name of the virtual directory in the Alias box.


  6. Set the Access permissions.


  7. Click OK.


  8. Click Apply and then click OK.


NOTE: Virtual directories will not appear in directory listings (also called directory browsing for the WWW service). To access a virtual directory, users must know the virtual directory's alias, and type the URL in the browser.

For the WWW service, you can also create links in HTML pages. For the gopher service, you can create explicit links in tag files so users can access virtual directories. For the FTP service, you can list virtual directories by using directory annotations.

To browse virtual directories, the URL for the virtual directory must be specified. You can do this by either clicking a hypertext link containing the URL or by typing the URL in the browser.

Additional information is available in the Internet Information Server On-Line documentation and the Microsoft Windows NT Server Resource Kit.

Keywords : kbusage iisvirtual iishowto
Version : WinNT:2.0,3.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo


Last Reviewed: April 27, 1999
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