Windows XP Professional comes with Internet Information Services (IIS), which allows you to create and manage websites. This software provides a wide range of options for configuring the content, performance, and access controls for your websites. IIS can be used to publish resources on the Internet or a private intranet.
The IIS software that is included with Windows XP Professional is designed for small-scale use, mainly for users who are developing web services for home or office use. IIS Pro-fessional version edition can support only 10 incoming client connections. IIS ProPro-fessional version also does not support all of the features of IIS that are included with the server ver-sions of IIS. In previous verver-sions of Windows client operating systems, the scaled-down version of IIS was called Peer Web Services (PWS). Windows XP Professional does not ship with PWS, and if you upgraded to Windows XP Professional, then PWS can’t be upgraded.
The IIS Professional version software is included with Windows XP Professional, but is not installed by default.
In this section, you will learn how to install IIS and how to configure and manage website properties. The final section includes tips for troubleshooting problems with website access.
Installing Internet Information Services
IIS is installed on a Windows XP computer through the Add or Remove Programs option in Control Panel. Before you can install IIS, your computer must have TCP/IP installed and con-figured. To install IIS on a Windows XP Professional computer, you take the following steps:
1. Select Start Control Panel Add or Remove Programs.
2. In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. In the Windows Components dialog box, check the Internet Information Services box and click the Next button.
4. Configuration changes will be made to your computer and files will be copied. You may be prompted to provide the Windows XP Professional CD.
5. The Completing the Windows Components Wizard dialog box will appear. Click the Finish button.
Managing a Website
To access Internet Information Services, select Start Administrative Tools Internet Infor-mation Services.
Through Internet Information Services, you can configure many options for your website, such as website identification and connection settings, performance settings, and access con-trols. To access a website’s properties, right-click the website you want to manage in the Inter-net Information Services window and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
The website Properties dialog box has eight tabs with options for configuring and managing your website. The options that relate to managing files and folders are
Web Site Allows you to configure website identification, connections, and logging.
Home Directory Allows you to configure the content location, access permissions, content control, and application settings.
Directory Security Allows you to configure anonymous access and authentication control, IP address and domain name restrictions, and secure communications.
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Setting Website Properties
The Web Site tab includes options for identifying the website, controlling connections, and enabling logging.
The description of the website appears in the Internet Information Services window. By default, the website description is the same as the name of the website. You can enter another description in the Description text box.
You also configure the IP address that is associated with the site. The IP address must already be configured for the computer. If you leave the IP address at the default setting of All Unassigned, all of the IP addresses that are assigned to the computer and that have not been assigned to other websites will be used.
The TCP port specifies the port that will be used to respond to HTTP requests by default.
The default TCP port that is used is TCP port 80. If you change this value, clients attempting to connect to the website must specify the correct port value. This option can be used for addi-tional security.
Common ports that are used by IIS and can be modified for additional security include FTP on port 21, Telnet on port 23, and HTTP on port 80.
Configuring Home Directory Options
The Home Directory tab, shown in Figure 2.10, includes options for the content location, access permissions, content control, and application settings.
F I G U R E 2 . 1 0 The Home Directory tab of the website Properties dialog box
CONTENT LOCATION
The home directory is used to provide web content. The default directory is called inetpub\wwwroot. You have three choices for the location of the home directory:
A directory on the local computer
A share on another computer (stored on the local network and identified by a UNC name)
A redirection to a resource using a URL ACCESS PERMISSIONS AND CONTENT CONTROL
Access permissions define what access users have to the website. Content control specifies whether logging and indexing are enabled. By default, users have only Read access, and logging and indexing are enabled. The access permissions and content control options are described in Table 2.3.
Web service access permissions and NTFS permissions work together. The more restrictive of the two permissions will be the effective permission.
T A B L E 2 . 3 Access Permissions and Content Control Options
Option Description
Script Source Access Allows users to access source code for scripts, such as ASP (Active Server Pages) applications, if the user has either Read or Write permissions.
Read Allows users to read or download files located in your home folder.
This is used if your folder contains HTML files. If your home folder contains CGI applications or ISAPI applications, you should uncheck this option so that users can’t download your application files.
Write Allows users to modify or add to your web content. This access should be granted with extreme caution.
Directory Browsing Allows users to view website directories. This option is not com-monly used because it exposes your directory structure to users who access your website without specifying a specific HTML file.
Log Visits Allows you to log access to your website. In order to log access, the Enable Logging box in the Web Site tab of the Properties dialog box also must be checked.
Index This Resource Allows you to index your home folder for use with the Microsoft Indexing Service.
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APPLICATION SETTINGS
Application, in this context, is defined as the starting point of a specific folder (and its subfolder and files) that has been defined as an application. For example, if you specify that your home folder is an application, every folder in your content location can participate in the application.
The Execute Permissions setting specifies how applications can be accessed within this folder.
If you select None, no applications or scripts can be executed from this folder. The Scripts Only setting allows you to run script engines, even if no execute permissions have been set. This per-mission is used for folders that contain ASP scripts. The other option is Scripts and Executables, which allows all file types (including binary files with .exe and .dll extensions) to be executed.
The Application Protection setting specifies how applications will be run. There are three choices:
Low (IIS Process) means that the application runs in the same process as the web service.
Medium (Pooled) means that the application is run in an isolated pooled process with other applications.
High (Isolated) means that each application runs as a separate isolated application.
Setting Directory Security
The Directory Security tab, shown in Figure 2.11, includes options for anonymous access and authentication control, IP address and domain name restrictions, and secure communications.
F I G U R E 2 . 1 1 The Directory Security tab of website Properties dialog box