Hosting Multiple Web Sites on a Single Server

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

IIS supports multiple Web sites on a single server. For example, rather than using three different servers to host three different Web sites, you can install all three Web sites on the same server. Consolidating Web sites saves hardware resources, conserves space, and reduces energy costs.

To ensure that user requests reach the correct Web site, you must configure a unique identity for each site on the server. To do so, you must distinguish each Web site with at least one of three unique identifiers: a host header name, an IP address, or a unique TCP port number.

Web sites hosted on the same server can be distinguished using the following unique identifiers.

• Host header name

• IP address

• TCP port number

Using host header names to uniquely identify sites on a server is recommended for most situations.

This section includes the following information:

• Creating Multiple Sites Using Multiple IP Addresses: Describes how to use unique IP addresses to to distinguish multiple sites.

• Creating Multiple Sites Using Host Header Names: Describes how to use host headers to distinguish multiple sites.

• Creating Multiple Sites Using Ports: Describes how to use nonstandard TCP port numbers to distinguish multiple sites.