Internet Information Server Design Priorities

The design goal for Internet Information Server was to build a set of integrated server services to support File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Gopher, and Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) services.

Internet Information Server is designed for maximum performance, integration, and extensibility.

• Performance. Internet Information Server maximizes speed while using the minimum amount of memory (RAM). Internet Information Server uses approximately 400K of RAM when running all three services (HTTP, FTP, Gopher).
• Integration. Internet Information Server is integrated with Microsoft Windows NT Server. Internet Information Server uses the same directory database (user accounts) as Windows NT Server. Using the same directory database eliminates the need for additional user account administration. Internet Information Server administration also uses existing Windows NT Server tools such as Performance Monitor, Event Viewer, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) support to maintain similar administrative procedures.
• Extensibility. Internet Information Server is extensible. Internet Information Server supports the Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI). By using ISAPI you can extend the functionality of the HTTP service: You create programs that can preprocess and postprocess data sent to and from Internet Information Server. ISAPI is also used in Internet Information Server to create connectors, such as the Internet Database Connector. Internet Information Server uses connectors to use the services of other servers, such as ODBC databases.