Updated: February 20, 2001
A few words before we start
the guide. Windows 2000 Professional is a good operating system to
run a webserver for several reasons.
-
Windows 2000 Professional is
a very stable operating system. You can leave the server unattended
for months at a time and not worry about system crashes and failures.
-
It's not as expensive as Windows
2000 Server or Advanced Server. A very important consideration!
-
IIS 5.0 can handle web, FTP,
and email services nicely. The only drawback is that you are limited
to 10 concurrent connections to your website which shouldn't be a problem
for most people.
-
The webserver software is included
with OS and is easy to setup.
Okay, enough with the sales
pitch, let's install this baby.
Start -> Settings -> Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components
Select "Internet Information
Services (IIS)" then click on "Details".
Some of the components you
do not need, but for this example, we'll install the whole IIS package
since we want the webserver, FTP server, and mail capabilities.
Click on "Next"
The dialog box will show
files being copied to your hard disk.
After a few moments, you'll
get this dialog box that ask you to insert the Windows 2000 CD into your
CD-ROM drive. Put in the CD then click "OK".
The files will continue to
be copied. This could take a while. When everything is done,
you'll see this screen. Click on "Finish".
Then all the windows close
and you're left staring at your blank desktop again. In order to
go configure your website, you need to go:
Start -> Settings -> Control
Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Service Manager
It would be smart to create
a shortcut to "Internet Service Manager" on your desktop since this is
where most of the configuration of your website takes place.
The other way to manage your
website is through the "Personal Web Manager".
This is a scaled back version
of the "Internet Service Manager" and it cannot control your FTP or mail
services, so I do not recommend using it. However, it does have a
cool bar graph showing how many people and connections you have to your
website so that is pretty interesting.
Personal Web Manager includes
a nice Product Tour.
The "Advanced Options" here
is also much thinner than the Internet Service Manager.
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 "Brian" so the name I see and click on
is "*brian".
Since we chose to install
all the IIS components, you will see the Web, FTP, and SMTP mail server
all running. 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".
As you explore the different
tabs, you'll notice that there are several boxes and options that are grayed
out. These options are only available in the Server Editions like
Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server.
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 - Since we're
using Windows 2000 Professional and not the Server Editions, 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: Performance
Tab: ISAPI Filters
Tab: Home Directory
Local Path - This is where
your files for your website reside. You can change this directory
to whatever directory you like.
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 defualt
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
We can now check to see if
your web service is working correctly. From your web browser from
the same machine, type in the name of your computer or the IP number of
your computer.
This is what you should see.
Here
is a list of how to access your webpage from any computer
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