By Mark Burnett
I recently took some time to catch up with some TechNet webcasts and there was one, the End-to-End Overview of the Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.0, which I found particularly interesting. The webcast, given by Keith Combs, covers the significant structural changes that Internet Information Services (IIS) have undergone since the release of IIS 6 with Windows Server 2003. The webcast does a great job of showing how specific weaknesses in IIS 6 lead directly to the structural changes in IIS 7.
The most noteworthy of the features the webcast covers are the new modular structure, improved extensibility, and the overhauled configuration capabilities if IIS 7.
In the webcast, Keith does an interesting demonstration of how much granular control you have over what modules load in IIS 7. Not only is this important for performance and scalability reasons, but also for security. IIS 5 had such a poor security reputation because each vulnerability affected millions of servers that had all features enabled by default. IIS 7 keeps exposure to a minimum with its modular architecture.
Another important point Keith brings up is the fact that fewer modules loaded means a reduced effort for patch management.
A good portion of the webcast is demos, which makes the point so much better than bullet lists on PowerPoint slides. Keith walks through managing and configuring IIS 7 using the command line, through config files, and using the newly redesigned Internet Information Services Manager.
The webcast provides a great coverage of how IIS 7 works, only a small part of which I have mentioned here. It is well worth your time to go through the webcast End-to-End Overview of the Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.0.
The unique features of the webcast format allow you to jump around, adjust the presentation speed, or even repeat a section if you didn’t quite get it the first time around. I used to only learn software by firing it up and using it but after watching this webcast, I feel like I already have done just that.