Migrating a Web Server to IIS 5.0

Migrating Configuration Settings

Web servers—whether they are IIS 5.0, Netscape, Apache, or some other type—perform many of the same basic functions, and therefore offer many similar configuration options. Web servers differ primarily in secondary features that address a special requirement, such as security. However, the way in which you configure a server and what settings are named can vary a great deal from one server to the next.

IIS 5.0 uses property sheets to provide a GUI for server configuration. You open property sheets from the IIS 5.0 MMC snap-in by right-clicking the item you want to configure, and then clicking Properties. For information about IIS 5.0 configuration options, see the “Server Administration” topic in the IIS 5.0 online product documentation.

You can set IIS 5.0 properties in the metabase for greater granularity at the computer, Web site, virtual directory, directory, and file level. For more information about the metabase, see the “Introduction to the IIS Metabase” topic in the IIS 5.0 online product documentation. For more information about automating IIS 5.0 administration tasks and administering from the command line, see Administering an ISP Installation in this book.

Here are some things to keep in mind when configuring IIS 5.0:

When in doubt, right-click. When you are running Windows, right-clicking a window or an object reveals a menu of useful operations. In the case of IIS 5.0, if you want to configure an object that appears in the IIS snap-in, such as the Administration Web Site, Default Web Site, or other Web site you have created, rightclick the object, and then click Properties. Then at the top of the dialog box, click the tab that corresponds to the configuration options you want to set.
If you get stuck, click the Help button. Click the Help button that appears in most dialog boxes to open a topic specific to that dialog box. You can also open the in-depth IIS 5.0 online product documentation as follows: In the left pane of the IIS snap-in window, click the Default Web Site and make sure it’s running. At the top of the IIS snap-in window, click Help or click the Help toolbar button, and then click Help on Internet Information Services. You can also open IIS Help from Windows 2000 Server Help, from within the “Internet Information Services” topic.
Remember that the IIS snap-in isn’t Windows Explorer. Even though the IIS snap-in and Windows Explorer look very similar, you use them for different purposes. In the IIS snap-in, you configure Web site, FTP site, and Web administration properties. In the IIS snap-in you can also create virtual directories for a Web or FTP site, but only in Windows Explorer can you actually manage files and directories, performing operations such as the following:
- Copying files and directories (or folders) to your Web and FTP site directories
- Creating, moving, and deleting files and directories
- Setting NTFS permissions for files and directories
- Defining network file sharing for files and directories
Configure IIS 5.0 to recognize both Windows and UNIX-style home page names. To make migrating UNIX Web sites easier, specify the following five home page names in IIS Web Site Properties:
- Index.htm
- Index.html
- Default.htm
- Default.html
- Default.asp
This will cover nearly all cases for both UNIX and Windows Web sites. When you transfer a Web site from a UNIX-based computer, you won’t need to change the home page file name for IIS 5.0 to serve it.

Later topics in this section—Migrating From Apache HTTP Server, Migrating From Netscape Enterprise Server, and Upgrading or Replicating an IIS Web Server—describe using the IIS Migration Wizard to replicate configuration settings from a server running Netscape Enterprise Server, Apache HTTP Server, IIS 4.0, and IIS 5.0 to a different server running IIS 5.0.