mod7quiz1

Internet Information Server 4.0 (IIS)

IIS is the base component for building an Internet or intranet server solution on Windows NT Server 4.0, NT Workstation 4.0, and Windows 95,98.

IIS is fully integrated with Windows NT Server 4.0. With the tight integration of Internet Information Server and Windows NT Server, you can take advantage of the built-in security of Windows NT Server and Windows NT File System (NTFS).

IIS 4.0 is a component of the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack. In addition to Internet Information Server, the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack consists of the following core components:

Transaction Server 2.0 (MTS)
Management Console 1.0 (MMC)
Index Server 2.0
Certificate Server 1.0
Site Server Express 2.0 (SSE)

Key Features of Internet Information Server

WWW - Supports HTTP, allowing users to publish content to the Internet.

FTP - Transferring files between computers on a TCP/IP network.

SMTP - Secure, scalable email server.

NNTP - Create public discussion groups.

HTML-based Administration (HTMLA) - allows you to manage your Web server or individual Web site remotely using any industry-standard Web browser that supports frames and Java Script.

Windows NT Workstation provides all of the Internet Information Server functionality except:

Multiple Web site hosting
Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) logging
IP restriction
Process isolation

Windows 95, 98 provides the same functionality of Personal Web Server running on Windows NT Workstation, except for :

Security (Windows 95 does not have Windows NT security - NTFS)
Index Server

System Requirement:

Intel x86 Platform

Component Requirement Recommendation

Processor	50 MHz 486	90 MHz Pentium or greater
RAM	16 MB	32 to 64 MB
Available disk space	50 MB	200 MB
Monitor	VGA	Super VGA

* Installing Internet Information Server on any computer requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 as a Web browser. In addition, you need to install Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack 3 prior to installing Internet Explorer.

Installation Options

With minimum option, you get Microsoft Management Console (MMC) which provides the ability to custom-design administration tools that "snap-in." This is only operable locally.

With typical option, you get Internet Service Manager (HTMLA) which administers your Web and FTP sites from across the intranet or the Internet by using a Web browser.

Features of MMC

Scope pane - left window in MMC and lists all of the services that can be administered through MMC

Result pane - right window in MMC. When you select a node in the scope pane, the results pane displays a list of all elements and services that fall within the selected node's domain.

Rebar - consists of Action and view menus, plus two additional toolbars, or bands.

Nodes - instances of individual services.

METABASE - The IIS metabase is a memory-resident data store that contains IIS configuration parameters.

Four major components make up the Internet Information Server:

1. Inetinfo process/connectors. This component contains all of the standard Internet services and connectors supported by Internet Information Server.

2. Windows NT system services. This is the lowest layer in the Internet Information Server architecture. Data enters this layer through TCP/IP and exits through Windows Sockets.

3. Web services. This layer of the Internet Information Server architecture houses the core functionality of IIS.

4. Application services. The top layer of Internet Information Server architecture. This layer contains the primary extensiblilty options for Internet Information Server.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

HTTP is the protocol that led to the development of the Web. It is a generic stateless, object-oriented protocol that grew out of a need for a universal protocol to simplify the way users access information on the Internet. HTTP is a client/server protocol located in the Application layer of the Internet protocol stack.

WWW Properties

Each Web site that you create on your computer has its own set of property sheets. The general settings, or properties, for a site are displayed in these property sheets and stored in the metabase.

There are three different types of property sheets within Internet Information Server: the Master, Default, and File property sheets.

Master - Preconfigure properties for virtual servers. If you change the settings on the Master property sheets, subsequent virtual sites inherit the new settings, but previously created virtual sites do not.

Default - creates a default Web site with its own default properties.

File - Files created in a virtual directory inherit the virtual directory's property sheet settings, whereas files created in the default Web site inherit the settings of the Default Web Site Properties dialog box.

Directory Security

You can you the Directory Security property sheet to configure your Web server's user identification security features.

Allow Anonymous Access - to allow anonymous users to log on. When a user establishes an anonymous connection, your server logs the user on with an anonymous or guest account. The account used is a valid Windows NT user account.

Basic Authentication - enable your Web server's Basic Authentication method, where the password is sent in clear text. By selecting this option, a user name and password are required when the Allow Anonymous Access option is disabled, or access to the server is controlled using Windows NT File System (NTFS) access control lists.

Windows NT Challenge/Response - as with Basic Authentication, a user name and password are required when the Allow Anonymous Access option is disabled, or access to the server is controlled using NTFS access control lists. Windows NT Chanllenge/Response is supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 2.0 or later.