Metabase Site IDs Are Unexpected Numbers

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

When you create a new Web site in IIS Manager, the newly generated site ID in the metabase is a random number. In earlier versions of IIS, the site ID was incremented with each new site. If you have an application that in some way relies on the old behavior, you can change the current behavior by adding the registry entry IncrementalSiteIDCreation, a DWORD value, to the registry with a value of 1. Add IncrementalSiteIDCreation to the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InetMgr\Parameters

Caution   Do not edit the registry unless you have no alternative. The registry editor bypasses standard safeguards, allowing settings that can damage your system, or even require you to reinstall Windows. If you must edit the registry, back it up first and see the Registry Reference in the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit.

When generating a new site ID, IIS uses a hash of the Web site name. This new design ensures that all IIS 6.0 servers in a Web farm have a good chance of generating the same site identification numbers for sites with the same name. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 332122, IIS 6.0: Web Site Identification Numbers Are Not Incremental.