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