What is it?
Following the launch ofWindows Server 2008,
adventurousInternet Information Services (IIS)professionals are turning their attention to IIS 7.0, which
ships with the new server and withVista.
There's no real rush, since even the loudest of Microsoft's
cheerleaders don't expect it to overtake its predecessor, IIS 6.0,
until 2011, and surveys still uncover plenty of sites that haven't
yet moved up from IIS 5.0.
For would-be Microsoft professionals looking for a solid web
server skill with which to extend their portfolio, IIS 6.0 is the
place to start. But the scale of the changes involved in moving to
IIS 7.0 is so large that people who have already got the new skills
under their belts are likely to find themselves at a premium when
the Windows Server 2008 rollout gets under way.
Those without access to a training budget can get started by
using IIS 7.0 with Vista. Mike Volodarsky, the technical program
manager responsible for the core server infrastructure for
ASP.NET and IIS at Microsoft's web platform and tools team,
promises that the core ISS development and management features
shipped with Vista have remained the same in the server version. A
service pack will bring the Vista version in line with the
improvements shipped with Windows 2008, meaning that applications
for the server can be developed and tested on a desktop PC running
Vista.
Where did it originate?
IIS was first released with Windows NT 3.5.1 in 1995. IIS 4.0
became notorious for vulnerabilities. It wasn't until IIS 6.0 that
Microsoft really got a grip, and IIS at last began to
make headway against Apache, though its market share still
doesn't reflect the dominance of Windows among operating
systems.
What is it for?
With IIS 6.0, Microsoft reduced the "attack surface" of IIS, and
introduced a fault-tolerant architecture which enabled
vulnerabilities to be isolated, and affected websites and
applications to be taken out of production. IIS 7.0 goes much
further, introducing a fully modular architecture with a
lightweight server core and more than 40 feature modules that can
be plugged into it. Users install only the functionality they need,
and can uninstall or disable the modules for applications that
don't need them.
The extensibility APIs introduced with IIS 7.0 are public, so
users can tailor the ISS modules or add their own. The new
Administration tool is also extensible.
What makes it special?
Deployment, administration, and troubleshooting have been made
easier than in IIS 6.0.
How difficult is it to master?
According to the official Microsoft IIS
site, "the upgrade to IIS 7.0 is a bigger step up than users of
any previous versions of IIS have ever experienced before. The IIS
7.0 feature set is larger than any past version and the
implications of those new features are even greater for both
developers and administrators."
What systems does it run on?
Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
What is coming up?
Microsoft is steadily adding to the functionality of IIS 7.0,
and putting out beta versions and technical previews of new modules
and extensions on the iis.net site.
Training
There are tutorials on planning, installing, deploying, managing
and developing with IIS 7.0 at http://learn.iis.net/, together with
blogs from Microsoft insiders on more esoteric topics like using
Visual Studio 2005 with IIS 7.0.
Rates of pay
Junior systems administrators with IIS around £25,000 £35,000
and upwards for the more experienced.