Using the Windows Server AppFabric IIS Manager Extensions

AppFabric adds features to each of the three major panes of the IIS Manager: the Features View pane, Connections pane, and Control pane.

Features View in AppFabric

AppFabric uses the IIS Manager Features View pane to display the AppFabric management icons, enumerations, monitoring data, and configuration settings. The AppFabric management icons are provided in the AppFabric area of the Features View pane. Double-clicking any of these icons displays an enumeration or monitoring data in a page. The displayed information is specific to the virtual directory, application, site, or server that is selected in the Connections pane. You can also display an enumeration by selecting an item in the Features View pane, and clicking a command in the Actions pane. Note that whenever you execute a configuration command, AppFabric displays a separate dialog box of configuration properties and controls, rather than displaying the properties and controls within the Features View.

Connections Pane in AppFabric

The IIS Manager Connections pane displays a list of servers that are running IIS and that IIS Manager is connected to. For each server, the Connections pane displays a directory of Web sites and the virtual directories and virtual applications associated with each Web site. This provides you with a hierarchical listing of all the sites and applications that exist on each server. Using AppFabric you can manage any of the stages of the application hierarchy in IIS. When you make a selection in the Connections pane, the home page that applies to that scope is displayed, and only the commands applicable to the selection are available. When you select a server, site, application, or virtual directory in the Connections pane, you can perform actions by selecting an icon in the Features View pane, executing a command on the selected item in the Actions pane, or right-clicking the selection and executing a command.

Actions Pane in AppFabric

The IIS Manager Actions pane is a contextual list of actions that are associated with a selection in the Connections pane or the Features View pane. AppFabric adds a series of AppFabric actions to the standard IIS actions that are available in this pane. Only those actions that are applicable to the item selected in the Connections pane or the Features View pane are available in the Actions pane.

AppFabric actions include the following:

• Configuration actions. To configure the defaults associated with a server, site, application, or virtual directory, select the item in the Connections pane or the Features View pane, and then select the configuration command in the Actions pane. You can also right-click the selection, point to Manage WCF and WF Services, and then click Configure. The command will open the configuration dialog box. To configure a service, select a server, site, application, or virtual directory, double-click the Services icon, select a service, and then click Configure in the Actions pane or the contextual menu (or double-click the service). You can also execute a configuration command against an endpoint by double-clicking the Endpoints icon, selecting an endpoint, and then clicking Configure.

• View actions. To view an enumeration, select a service, service instance, or endpoint in the Features View pane, and then select the appropriate View command in the Actions pane. You can display an enumeration of persisted service instances, tracked instances, services, service instance endpoints, or tracked events.

• Control actions. To perform a control action in the Actions pane, you select an item from the Connections pane or in an enumeration in the Features View pane, and then click the appropriate command in the Actions pane. Control actions for a service instance include resume, abort, terminate, or suspend actions. Control actions for an application include stop and start. You can also import and export applications, start or stop a Web site or the server, and execute other commands that IIS provides.