Sites

 

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

Use the Sites feature page to manage a list of sites on a Web server.

Sort the list by clicking one of the column headings of the feature page or select a value from the Group by drop-down list to group similar items. Search the list by typing search criteria in the Filter box, expand the Go list to select the field on which to search, and then click Go or press ENTER. Click Show All to remove the filter criteria.

Related scenarios

• Build a Static Website on IIS

• Build a Classic ASP Website on IIS

• Build an ASP.NET Website on IIS

• Build a PHP Website on IIS

• Build an FTP Site on IIS

• Build a Web Farm with IIS Servers

In this document

• UI Elements for Sites

• Add Website Dialog Box

• Edit Site Dialog Box

• Select Application Pool Dialog Box

• Connect As Dialog Box

• Set Credentials Dialog Box

• Site Bindings Dialog Box

• Add or Edit Site Binding Dialog Box

• Advanced Settings

• Edit Website Limits Dialog Box

• Edit Website Failed Request Tracing Settings Dialog Box

UI Elements for Sites

The following tables describe the UI elements that are available on the feature page and in the Actions pane.

Feature Page Elements

Element Name	Description
Name	Displays the unique name of the site.
ID	Displays the unique ID of the site.
Status	Displays whether the site is started, or displays error information if the site has a problem and cannot start. When a site uses more than one protocol, the status is displayed separately for each protocol, with the status followed by the protocol in parentheses. For example, a site that uses the HTTP or HTTPS protocol will display Started (http) when it is started.
Binding	Displays the binding or bindings for the site.
Path	Displays the physical path of the directory that holds the site's content.

Actions Pane Elements

Some of the actions described in the following table are available for a site only when the site has an HTTP or HTTPS binding. These actions appear in the Actions pane under Manage Web Site.

Element Name	Description
Add Website	Opens the Add Website dialog box from which you can add a website that uses the HTTP or HTTPS protocols for communication.
Set Website Defaults	Opens the Web Site Defaults dialog box from which you can set default values that apply to all websites that you add to the Web server.
Bindings	Opens the Site Bindings dialog box from which you can add, edit, and remove site bindings.
Basic Settings	Opens the Edit Site dialog box from which you can edit the settings that were specified when the selected site was created. Note You cannot edit bindings from the Edit Site dialog box. Open the bindings dialog box to edit the site's bindings.
Explore	Opens the physical directory (in Windows Explorer) for the site.
Edit Permissions	Opens the Windows Properties dialog box for the physical directory that is mapped to the root virtual directory for the selected site's root application.
Remove	Removes the item that is selected from the list on the feature page.
Rename	Enables the Name field of the selected site so that you can rename the site.
View Applications	Opens the Applications feature page from which you can view the applications that belong to the site.
View Virtual Directories	Opens the Virtual Directories feature page from which you can view the virtual directories that belong to the site's root application.
Restart	Stops and restarts the selected site. Restarting a site causes the site to be temporarily unavailable until the restart is complete.
Start	Starts the selected site.
Stop	Stops the selected site. Stopping a site causes the site to be unavailable until it is started.
Browse	Opens the selected site in an internet browser. When the site has more than one binding, multiple browse links display.
Advanced Settings	Opens the Advanced Settings dialog box from which you can configure advanced settings for the selected site.
Failed Request Tracing	Opens the Edit Web Site Failed Request Tracing dialog box from which you can enable failed request tracing and configure related settings for the selected site.
Limits	Opens the Edit Web Site Limits dialog box from which you can configure bandwidth and connection limits for the selected site.

Add Website Dialog Box

Use the Add Website dialog to add a website to your Web server. Websites have bindings that consist of a port number, an IP address, and an optional host name or names.

Element Name	Description
Site name	Type a friendly name for your site. The friendly name appears in the tree of IIS Manager and can be changed later if you want to rename the site. Note The site name must be a unique name, because you cannot have sites that have the same name on an IIS 8 Web server.
Application pool	Displays the selected application pool for the site. When you type a website name, a new application pool is created with the same name as the site (up to 64 characters maximum). The application pool is configured to use .NET Framework version 2.0 and the integrated pipeline mode by default. You can edit the settings for this application pool later or select a different application pool for your site.
Select	Opens the Select Application Pool dialog box from which you can select the application pool in which the site will run.
Physical path	Type the physical path where the site content is stored. The content can reside on the local computer or come from a remote directory or share. If your content is stored on the local computer, type the physical path, such as C:\Content. If your content is stored in a remote share, type the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path, such as \\Server\Share. Optionally click Connect as to specify credentials to connect to the physical path. If you do not provide credentials, the web server uses pass-through authentication. This means that content is accessed by using the application user's identity, and configuration files are accessed by using the application pool's identity.
…	Opens the Browse for Folder dialog box from which you can select the physical location of your site content.
Connect as	Opens the Connect As dialog box from which you can select how to connect to the path that you typed in the Physical path box. By default, Application user (pass-through authentication) is selected.
Test Settings	Opens the Test Settings dialog box from which you can view a list of test results to assess whether the path settings are valid.
Type	Select HTTP if you want the website to have an HTTP binding, or select HTTPS if you want the website to have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) binding.
IP address	Select an IP address from the IP address list or type an IP address that users can use to access this site. Note The percent symbol (%) is not a valid character for IP addresses. If you type an IPv6 address with this character, Windows Process Activation Service (WAS) is unable to start the site because the binding is invalid. For example, the link-local IPv6 address ends with "%8". If you copy this address from an ipconfig query in a command window and paste it into the IP address box in IIS Manager, make sure to remove the "%8" portion of the IP address. If you select All Unassigned, this site will respond to requests for all IP addresses on the port and optional host name that you specify for this site, unless another site on the server has a binding on the same port but with a specific IP address. For example, the Default website binding specifies All Unassigned for IP address, 80 for Port, and no host name. If the server has a second site named Contoso with a binding that specifies 172.30.189.179 for IP address on port 80 and no host name, Contoso receives all HTTP requests to port 80 on IP address 172.30.189.179, and Default Website continues to receive HTTP requests to port 80 on any IP address other than 172.30.189.179.
Port	Type the port on which HTTP.sys must listen for requests made to this website. If you select HTTP from the Type drop-down list, the default port is 80; if you select HTTPS from the drop-down list, the default port is 443. If you specify a port different from the default ports, clients must specify the port number in requests to the server or they will not connect to the website.
Host name	Type a host name if you want to assign one or more host names, also known as domain names, to one computer that uses a single IP address. If you specify a host name, clients must use the host name instead of the IP address to access the website. If this website is available on the Internet, type the domain name of the website as users type it in a browser, for example, www.contoso.com. If your website has more than one domain name, such as www.contoso.com and contoso.com, create a separate binding for each host name. If your website is available on an intranet, you do not have to specify a host name if users type the server name in a browser, for example, https://server_name. However, if the DNS server in your environment is configured to store other names for this Web server, you can create a separate binding for each host name so that users can use the other names stored by the DNS server. Note The host name that you configure for your website might appear differently in the log files because HTTP.sys logs host names by using the Punycode-encoded format.
Require Server Name Indicator	Determines whether the website requires Server Name Indication (SNI). SNI extends the SSL and TLS protocols to indicate what hostname the client is attempting to connect to. It allows multiple secure websites with different certificates to use the same IP address. This check box is displayed when the binding type is https.
Use Centralized Certificate Store	Determines whether website certificates are retrieved from the centralized certificate store. Select the check box to look up certificates in the centralized certificate store. Clear the check box to look up certificates locally. This check box is displayed when the binding type is https and centralized certificates are enabled.
SSL certificate	Select the certificate that you want the website to use for SSL. The SSL certificate list appears only when you select HTTPS from the Type list. Note To add or configure server certificates, use the Server Certificates feature in IIS Manager.
View	Opens the Certificate dialog box from which you can view information about the selected certificate in the SSL certificate list. The View button appears only when you select HTTPS from the Type list and select a certificate from the SSL certificate list.
Start Web site immediately	Select this option to start the website immediately after it is created. When the website is started, it listens for requests. You might want to delay starting the website if you must make other configuration changes, such as changes to authentication or authorization, after the site is created. Note If you specify an invalid binding, the website is created but is not able to start until the binding is fixed.

Edit Site Dialog Box

Use the Edit Site dialog box to edit the properties of an existing site.

Note

To edit binding information for the site, use the Site Bindings dialog box.

Select Application Pool Dialog Box

Use the Select Application Pool dialog box to select an application pool for your site or application. An application pool is configured to use one version of the .NET Framework, and one of two modes for processing managed code. Select an application pool that is configured to use the version of the .NET Framework and the managed-processing mode that the site or application requires. If your application does not require the .NET Framework, you can select an application pool that is configured for no managed code.

Note

To add an application pool, use the Add Application Pool dialog box on the Application Pools page.

Element Name	Description
Application pool	Select the application pool that you want your site or application to use.
Properties	Displays the .NET Framework version and the pipeline mode that the application pool is configured to use. Note The pipeline mode is not displayed when the application pool is configured to use .NET Framework version 1.1.

Connect As Dialog Box

Use the Connect As dialog box to select the method that IIS uses to access content from the physical path that was specified for the site, application, or virtual directory. The physical path can be a path to a directory on the local computer or to a directory or share on a remote computer.

Element Name	Description
Specific user	Select this option to provide credentials for a specific user account that has access to the physical path.
Set	Opens the Set Credentials dialog box from which you can type the user name and password for the user account that has access to the physical path. This user is used to access all of the content in the specified physical path. This button is available only when you select the Specific user option in the Connect As dialog box.
Application user (pass-through authentication)	Select this option if you want to use pass-through authentication. With this option, IIS uses the credentials of the requesting user to access the physical path. For anonymous requests, IIS uses the identity configured for the anonymous authentication to access the physical path. By default, this identity is the built-in IUSR account. For authenticated requests, IIS uses the authenticated set of credentials from the requesting user to access the physical path. Make sure that the application pool identity that serves this application has Read access to the physical path, so that the authenticated user can access the content in the physical path.

Set Credentials Dialog Box

Use the Set Credentials dialog box to provide user credentials that can access content from the physical path that was specified for the site, application, or virtual directory. The physical path can be a path to a directory on the local computer or to a directory or share on a remote computer.

Element Name	Description
User name	Type the user name of a Windows user account that has access to the physical path.
Password	Type the password for the user account that you specified in the User name box.
Confirm password	Retype the password for the user account that you specified in the Password box.

Site Bindings Dialog Box

Use the Site Bindings dialog** box **to configure bindings for a site.

Element Name	Description
Type	Displays the protocol for each site binding.
Host Name	Displays the host name, if any, for each site binding.
Port	Displays the port number for each site binding.
IP Address	Displays the IP address for each site binding. If an IP address is not specified, the IP Address field displays an asterisk (*), which means that the binding is for all IP addresses.
Binding Information	Displays binding information for site bindings that use protocols other than: HTTP HTTPS FTP
Add	Opens the Add Site Binding dialog box from which you add a binding to the site.
Edit	Opens the Edit Site Binding dialog box from which you can edit the selected binding.
Remove	Removes the selected binding from the site. This button is available only when a site has more than one binding.
Browse	Opens the site's default page in a web browser by using the selected binding. Note This action is available only for HTTP and HTTPS bindings.
Close	Closes the Site Bindings dialog box.

Add or Edit Site Binding Dialog Box

Use the Add Site Binding and the Edit Site Binding dialog boxes** **to add bindings to a site or to edit an existing site binding. For example, your site might need an HTTPS binding on port 443 in order to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) in addition to an HTTP binding on port 80. You can access the Add Site Binding dialog box by clicking Add from the Site Bindings dialog box.

Note

If you add a duplicate binding to the Web server, only one site with that binding can run at a time. Additionally, if your duplicate binding is an HTTPS binding, any changes that are made to the certificate on one binding will affect the certificate on the other binding.

Element Name	Description
Type	Select a value from the list to specify the protocol for the site binding.
IP address	Select an IP address from the IP address list or type an IP address that users can use to access this site. Note The percent symbol (%) is not a valid character for IP addresses. If you type an IPv6 address with this character, Windows Process Activation Service (WAS) is unable to start the site because the invalid binding is invalid. For example, the link-local IPv6 address ends with "%8". If you copy this address from an ipconfig query in a command window and paste it into the IP address box in IIS Manager, make sure to remove the "%8" portion of the IP address. If you select All Unassigned, this site will respond to requests for all IP addresses on the port and optional host name that you specify for this site, unless another site on the server has a binding on the same port but with a specific IP address. For example, the Default website binding specifies All Unassigned for IP address, 80 for Port, and no host name. If the server has a second site named Contoso with a binding that specifies 172.30.189.179 for IP address on port 80 and no host name, Contoso receives all HTTP requests to port 80 on IP address 172.30.189.179, and Default Website continues to receive HTTP requests to port 80 on any IP address other than 172.30.189.179.
Port	Type the port on which HTTP.sys must listen for requests made to this site. If you select HTTP from the Type drop-down list, the default port is 80; if you select HTTPS from the drop-down list, the default port is 443. If you specify a port different from the default ports, clients must specify the port number in requests to the server or they do not connect to the site.
Host name	Type a host name if you want to assign one or more host names, also known as domain names, to one computer that uses a single IP address. If you specify a host name, clients must use the host name instead of the IP address to access the site. If this site is available on the Internet, type the domain name of the site as users type it in a browser, for example, www.contoso.com. If your site has more than one domain name, such as www.contoso.com and contoso.com, create a separate binding for each host name. If your site is available on an intranet, you do not have to specify a host name if users type the server name in a browser, for example, https://server_name. However, if the DNS server in your environment is configured to store other names for this Web server, you can create a separate binding for each host name so that users can use the other names stored by the DNS server. Note The host name that you configure for your Web site might appear differently in the log files because HTTP.sys logs host names by using the Punycode-encoded format.
SSL certificate	Select the certificate that you want the site to use for SSL. The SSL certificate list appears only when you select HTTPS from the Type list. Note To add or configure server certificates, use the Server Certificates feature in IIS Manager.
View	Opens the Certificate dialog box from which you can view information about the selected certificate in the SSL certificate list. The View button appears only when you select HTTPS from the Type list and select a certificate from the SSL certificate list.

Advanced Settings

Use the Advanced Settings dialog box to change the properties of the following objects in IIS:

• Application pool

• Website

• FTP site

• Web application

• Virtual directory

The Advanced Settings dialog box is useful when you want to modify a specific property or group of properties for an object without using an edit wizard or a dialog box, or when a property does not display in a wizard or dialog box.

Note

If you want to change the default value for all application pools, websites, web applications, or virtual directories, you can use the appropriate Defaults dialog box for any one of these objects.

For information about a specific property, select the property in the Advanced Settings dialog box and view the information that displays in the property description pane underneath the property grid. You can make the property description pane larger by clicking the bar between the property grid and the property description pane, and then dragging upward. You can also resize the entire Defaults dialog box to see more properties at the same time.

Edit Website Limits Dialog Box

Use the Edit Web Site Limits dialog box to configure performance settings for your website based on bandwidth usage and connection limits. For example, by restricting either bandwidth or the number of connections, or both, on a low-priority website, you enable other, higher-priority sites to handle larger traffic loads. You can adjust these settings as network traffic and usage changes.

Element Name	Description
Limit bandwidth usage (in bytes)	Select this option to limit the amount of traffic allowed to a website based on bandwidth usage. In the corresponding box, enter a value (in bytes) at which you want to limit the website traffic. The value must be an integer between 1024 and 4294967295 (unlimited).
Connection time-out (in seconds)	Type a number in the box to set the length of time (in seconds) before the Web server disconnects an inactive user. This setting guarantees that all connections are closed if the HTTP protocol cannot close a connection.
Limit number of connections	Select this option to limit the number of connections allowed to a website. In the corresponding box, enter the number of connections to which you want to limit the website. The value must be an integer between 0 and 4294967295 (unlimited). Setting the number to be unlimited circumvents constant administration if your connections tend to fluctuate. However, system performance can be negatively affected if the number of connections exceeds your system resources. Restricting a website to a specified number of connections can keep performance stable.

Edit Website Failed Request Tracing Settings Dialog Box

Use the Edit Website Failed Request Tracing Settings dialog box to change previously configured tracing rules for failed requests.

Element Name	Description
Enable	Select this option to enable failed request trace logging for a specific site.
Directory	Type the path where you want to store the failed request trace log files. Note As a best practice, log files, such as log files for failed request tracing, should be stored in a directory other than system root.
Maximum number of trace files	Type the maximum number of failed request trace log files that you want to keep for the site. If no value is entered, the default maximum number of log files that is stored is 50. When this limit is reached, new log files are created and older ones are removed.