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Create a Web Site

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by Tali Smith

Introduction

When you want to publish content for access over the Internet or an intranet connection, you can add a Web site to your Web server to hold the content.

During the installation of Internet Information Services (IIS), a default Web site configuration is created in the \Inetpub\Wwwroot directory on your Web server. You can either use this default directory to publish your Web content, or create a directory at a file system location of your choice.

When you add a Web site in IIS, a site entry is created in the ApplicationHost.config file. The entry specifies the network binding for the site, maps the site to a location in the file system, and optionally specifies user credentials for content access.

For information about the levels at which you can perform this procedure, and the modules, handlers, and permissions that are required to perform this procedure, see Sites Feature Requirements (IIS 7).

Add a Web Site

You can perform this procedure by using the IIS Manager user interface (UI), by running Appcmd.exe commands in the Command Prompt window, by editing configuration files directly, or by writing Windows® Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts.

Use the UI

  1. Start IIS Manager. For information about starting IIS Manager, see Open IIS Manager (IIS 7). For information about navigating to locations in the UI, see Navigation in IIS Manager (IIS 7).
  2. In the Connections pane, right-click the Sites node in the tree view, and then click Add Web Site.
  3. In the Add Web Site dialog box, type a friendly name for your Web site in the Web site name box.
  4. If you want to select a different application pool than the one listed in the Application Pool box. In the Select Application Pool dialog box, select an application pool from the Application Pool list, and then click OK.
  5. In the Physical path box, type the physical path of the Web site's folder, or click the browse button (...) to browse the file system to find the folder.
  6. If the physical path that you entered in step 5 is to a remote share, click Connect as to specify credentials that have permission to access the path. If you do not use specific credentials, select the Application user (pass-thru authentication) option in the Connect As dialog box.
  7. Select the protocol for the Web site from the Type list.
  8. The default value in the IP address box is All Unassigned. If you must specify a static IP address for the Web site, type the IP address in the IP address box.
  9. Type a port number in the Port text box.
  10. Optionally, type a host header name for the Web site in the Host Header box.
  11. If you do not have to make any changes to the site, and you want the Web site to be immediately available, select the Start Web site immediately check box.
  12. Click OK.

Use the Command Prompt

To add a site, use the following syntax:

appcmd add site /name: string /id: uint /physicalPath: string /bindings: string

The variable name string is the name, and the variable id uint is the unsigned integer that you want to assign to the site. The variables name string and id uint are the only variables that are required when you add a site in Appcmd.exe. Note that When you add a site without specifying the values for the bindings and physicalPath attributes, the site will not be able to start.

The variable physicalPath string is the path of the site content in the file system.

The variable bindings string contains information that is used to access the site, and it should be in the form of protocol/IP_address:port:host_header. For example, a Web site binding is the combination of protocol, IP address, port, and host header. A binding of http/*:85: enables a Web site to listen for HTTP requests on port 85 for all IP addresses and domain names (also known as host headers or host names). On the other hand, a binding of http/*:85:marketing.contoso.com enables a Web site to listen for HTTP requests on port 85 for all IP addresses and the domain name marketing.contoso.com.

To add a Web site named Contoso with an ID of 2 that has content in C:\Contoso, and that listens for HTTP requests on port 85 for all IP addresses and a domain name of marketing.contoso.com, type the following at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:

appcmd add site /name: contoso /id:2 /physicalPath: c:\contoso /bindings:http/*:85: marketing.contoso.com

For more information, see Appcmd.exe.

Configuration

You can configure the following elements:

<site>
<application>
<virtualDirectory>
<bindings>

For more information about configuration, see IIS 7: IIS Settings Schema on Microsoft® Developer Network (MSDN®).

For more information about WMI and IIS, see Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in IIS 7. For more information about the classes, methods, or properties associated with this procedure, see the IIS WMI Provider Reference on the MSDN site.