Internet Information Services (IIS) is a web server developed by Microsoft for hosting web pages, web applications, and web services. In most cases, the IIS web server hosts ASP.Net-based web applications. However, it can also serve web applications built on the PHP programming language.
Unlike Apache web servers, IIS provides a console-based GUI to manage the websites, FTP sites, and related services.
Note
- All necessary software and components will be pre-installed if you've chosen the complete OS configuration to be installed on a Windows VPS, then all the required software and components will be pre-installed.
- On the other hand, if you've chosen only OS configuration, this tutorial will help install the IIS role in your Windows Server 2008 VPS.
- This tutorial will also be helpful to Windows Server 2012 VPS customers since the installation steps are almost identical.
Steps to Add IIS Role in Windows 2008 Server
1. Log in to your Windows server via Remote Desktop.
2. Click on the Server Manager icon on the taskbar, right-click on Computer, and then click on the Manage option.
3. On the Server Manager window, click on Roles → Add Roles.
4. Click Next on the Before You Begin screen.
On the next screen, you will see the list of roles; locate and select Web Server (IIS), and click on the Next button.
5. On the next screen, select the different IIS Role Services you wish to install.
Check each Role Service as per your requirement, and click on the Install button.
6. Based on the Role Services you have selected, the setup will take a few minutes to finish the installation process.
The setup will show you post Installation Summary once the IIS Role is installed successfully.
Add a Website in the IIS Manager
Once the IIS web server is installed, your next step would be to add a website to the IIS manager, which you can do through the following steps –
1. Click on Start → Administrative Tools → IIS.
2. On the Connections pane, click on Sites.
3. In the Actions pane located on the right-hand side, click on Add Web Site.
4. A new dialog box will appear; add the required fields as shown in the following screen capture –
Here,
- Site Name - Enter the name of a website you want to add.
- Physical Path - Browse the path where the web content for this website will reside.
- Type - select HTTP from the drop-down.
- IP Address - Select the IP address only if you want to assign a dedicated IP address to this website; otherwise, keep an option All Unassigned option.
- Port - Keep the default port as 80.
Check the checkbox Start Website Immediately and click OK.
