IIS 7.0

IIS 7.0 is a modern, flexible, and secure web server designed to meet any hosting need that you may have to deliver content to the web. IIS is built on a modular architecture that allows you to implement features and functionality that you need, and turn off what you do not need. Following are some key features of IIS 7.0.

Management

IIS Manager allows you to manage each site and web application that IIS is hosting on a local or remote machine. IIS Manager separates the management of your hosted sites and applications following the modular nature of IIS 7.0. When you open IIS Manager, you will see your options separated by domain, such as ASP.NET, IIS, and Management. The management options are accessible by icons that represent the features that you can manage, such as Authentication, Logging, and Output Caching.

Modular architecture

IIS 7.0 is built upon new architecture that is different from previous versions of IIS. Rather than including the core functionality in the server itself, IIS 7.0 is built upon a web server engine to which you can add or remove components, called modules, depending on your needs.
Modules are individual features that the server uses to process requests. For example, IIS uses configuration modules to access application configuration files and cache modules to manage cache activity.


The categories by which these modules are grouped in the illustration make up the core functionality of IIS.

Security

Includes all modules that are concerned with authentication, authorization, and securing resources.

Application Development

Includes all modules that are concerned with processing custom-developed application logic, such as ASP.NET.

Health and Diagnostics

Includes all modules that are concerned with monitoring the health and state of the server. Its applications are grouped as Health and Diagnostics.

FTP Publishing

Includes all modules that are concerned with FTP transmission and publishing.

Performance

Includes all modules that are concerned with increasing performance, such as compression.

Management

Includes all modules that provide administration and management functionality.

Common HTTP Web Server Components

Includes all modules that provide HTTP request and response processing.

Windows Process Activation Service (WAS)

Includes all modules that provide Windows Process Activation Service (WAS) functionality. WAS allows IIS to serve non-HTTP or non-HTTPS requests.


In IIS 7.0, ASP.NET integration is significantly improved. IIS 7.0 enhances existing applications and allows new applications to take advantage of ASP.NET features in a variety of new ways.

All content types supported

In the past, ASP.NET functionality such as Forms authentication, roles, URL authorization, and output caching were only available to ASP.NET content types such as ASPX pages. Static files, classic ASP pages, and other content types could not benefit from these services.
In IIS 7.0, all ASP.NET services are provided uniformly to all content. For example, you can protect all of your web content, including images and classic ASP pages, with your existing ASP.NET access control solution built on ASP.NET Forms authentication, membership, and login controls.

Fully extend IIS with ASP.NET

Previous versions of IIS frequently required server extensibility to be developed by using the native ISAPI filter or extension extensibility mode, due to the runtime limitations of ASP.NET.
IIS 7.0 allows ASP.NET modules to plug in directly to the server pipeline, with the same runtime fidelity as modules developed with the native (C++) server API. ASP.NET modules can execute in all run-time stages of the request-processing pipeline, and can execute in any order with respect to native modules. The ASP.NET API is also expanded to allow more control over request processing than was previously possible.

Unified server runtime

Tighter ASP.NET integration also unifies many of the features between IIS 7.0 and ASP.NET.
IIS 7.0 provides a unified configuration for IIS and ASP.NET modules and handlers. Many other features, including custom errors and tracing, have been unified to allow better management and cohesive application design.