Web Server (IIS) Overview

 

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

This document introduces the Web Server (IIS) role of Windows Server® 2012, describes new IIS 8 features, and links to additional Microsoft and community information about IIS.

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Role Description

The Web Server (IIS) role in Windows Server 2012 provides a secure, easy-to-manage, modular and extensible platform for reliably hosting websites, services, and applications. With IIS 8 you can share information with users on the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet. IIS 8 is a unified web platform that integrates IIS, ASP.NET, FTP services, PHP, and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

The following list shows just some of the benefits you get by using IIS 8:

  • Maximize web security through a reduced server foot print and automatic application isolation.

  • Easily deploy and run ASP.NET, classic ASP, and PHP web applications on the same server.

  • Achieve application isolation by giving worker processes a unique identity and sandboxed configuration by default, further reducing security risks.

  • Easily add, remove, and even replace built-in IIS components with custom modules, suited for customer needs.

  • Speed up your website through built-in dynamic caching and enhanced compression.

Practical Applications

Administrators can use the Web Server (IIS) role to set up and manage multiple websites, web applications, and FTP sites. Some of the specific features include the following:

  • Use IIS Manager to configure IIS features and administer you websites.

  • Use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to allow website owners to upload and download files.

  • Use website isolation to protect against one website from interfering with other sites on your server.

  • Configure web applications that are written using various technologies, such as classic ASP, ASP.NET, and PHP.

  • Use Windows PowerShell to automate management of most administration tasks for your web server.

  • Configure multiple web servers into a server farm that you can manage using IIS.

  • Take full advantage NUMA hardware, and get optimum performance from your NUMA-enabled server.

New and Changed Functionality

The following table shows some of the features that are new for IIS 8:

Feature/functionality

New or Updated

Summary

Centralized Certificates

New

Provides a single SSL certificate store for a server farm and simplifies the management of SSL bindings.

Dynamic IP Restrictions

New

Enables administrators to configure IIS 8 to block access for IP addresses that exceed the specified number of requests and to specify the behavior when an IP address is blocked.

FTP Logon Attempt Restrictions

New

Restricts the number of failed logon attempts that can be made to an FTP account in a specified time period.

Server Name Indication (SNI)

New

Extends the SSL and TSL protocols to allow a virtual domain name, or a hostname, to be used to identify the network end point.

Application Initialization

New

Enables web administrators to configure IIS 8 to initialize web applications, so the application is ready for the first request.

NUMA-aware scalability

New

Provides support for NUMA hardware, which allows 32-128 CPU cores. This support provides near optimal out-of-the-box performance on NUMA hardware.

IIS CPU Throttling

Updated

Limits CPU, memory, and bandwidth consumption by a single application pool in a multitenant deployment. IIS 8 includes additional throttling options.

Deprecated Functionality

The Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager 6.0 Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in is deprecated in Windows Server 2012. It will be removed in a future release of Windows Server.

See Also

The following table contains links to resources related to this scenario.

Content type

References

Deployment

Deployment to a Hosting Provider | Web Deploy 2.0

Operations

IIS.NET | IIS Learning Center | IIS Media Services | What’s New in IIS 8.0 for Windows 8?

Troubleshooting

IIS Troubleshooters

Security

Secure Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 | Security and Protection

Tools and settings

Web Server (IIS) Administration Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell

Community resources

IIS Blogs | IIS Forums | Robert McMurray's Blog | Scott Forsyth's Blog | Steve Schofield's Blog

Related technologies

ASP.NET | ASP.NET Web Projects