In order to go configure your website, you need to go: 

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Information Services

It's a good idea to make a desktop shortcut to Internet Service Manager since we'll be playing with it a lot.

Double-click on "Internet Service Manager" and let's get started. 

 

Click on the name of your computer to see the summary of what's going on with your computer.  In my case, my computer is called "DELL-500SC". Double-click on "Web Sites" in the right pane.  You'll see this:

 

You can disable a particular service (Web, FTP, or SMTP) by right clicking on the service and choosing "pause" or "stop". 

You'll notice under "IP Address" it says "All Unassigned"  This means that all requests to your server will be answered by your computer.  If for some reason your server has several IP addresses, you will want to specify the exact IP address that the Internet Services is supposed to respond to. 

If your computer only has 1 IP address, we can leave the IP address as "All Unassigned". 

Let's take a look at the Web Service.  Right click on "Default Web Site" then select "Properties". 

Since there are so many options I'll just hit the major points.

Tab: Web Site 

• Description - Can be changed to your liking 
• IP Address - Can leave as "All unassigned" or the specific IP address of your computer. 
• TCP Port - 80 is the standard and should remain that way unless you have a good reason to change it. 
• Connections - Although it doesn't say so, we are limited to 10 concurrent web connections.  Each visitor creates 2-3 connections so this means your webserver using this software is limited to 3-4 concurrent visitors which should not be a problem for a small website. 

Tab: ISAPI Filters

Tab: Home Directory 

• Local Path - This is where your files for your website reside.  Please change this to something else.  Many hackers will attack the default directory.  You can change this directory to whatever directory you like, but DO change it. 
• Write - Unless you want your visitors to actually change your website, you must leave this unchecked. 
• Directory Browsing - If you check this box, When a visitor comes to a directory that does not have a default document, the visitor will see an error message stating that they are not authorized to view the contents of that directory.  If you uncheck this box, they will get a complete list of what files you have in the directory.  It is best to leave the box unchecked. 

Tab: Documents 

• There is a list of default documents that the webserver will look for when a visitor accesses a directory.  The starting point of your website must be listed here.  You can either rename your first page of your website to Default.htm or another default document type that you specify.  Traditionally, the first page of most websites is "index.html" so you can add that to the list and promote it to the top using the up arrow on the left side. 

Tab: Directory Security

 

Tab: HTTP Headers

 

Tab: Custom Errors

 

Tab: Server Extensions

 

Here is a list of how to access your webpage from any computer
 

Back: IIS 5.1 - Installation

Next: IIS 5.1 - The FTP Server Configuration