What Is IIS Server (Internet Information Services) And What Is It Used For?

Maybe you like to know What does IIS stand for? The term IIS server is known as the Internet Information Services Server. It is a window server that is based upon the web application. In addition, the primary purpose of this server is to send the web content across the internet to the users. Moreover, it is essential to know: what is IIS server? Once you know the definition, it will be easier for you to understand the whole concept.

What Is IIS Server?

What is internet information services? The IIS server or Internet information services (formerly Internet Information Server) is a flexible web server. It belongs to Microsoft, which operates on Windows systems. It serves the HTML pages or files which are requested.
The webserver accepts or takes the requests from the remote client computers and sends back the valid and accurate response. It is an essential function of it which permits a web server for sharing and delivering the information. This information is provided across the LAN (Local area networks), including corporate intranets and WAN (Wide area networks) that consists of the internet.
There are numerous forms of web server; it sends information to the users. These forms include static web pages that are coded in HTML via file exchanges. Not only this but image files, text documents are also part of it.

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How IIS Works?

When the person first heard the term what internet information services are, numerous questions strike in it. These questions are like the purpose of IIS, What is IIS used for, and so on. The most common question is: what is an IIS and how it works?
So here is the list of some vital information related to the working criteria of internet information services.
The working criteria of IIS depend upon the numerous standards of protocols and languages. Moreover, HTML is used to create the elements. These elements include text, image placements, buttons, and so on. Hypertext Transfer Protocol is also named HTTP. It is an essential communication protocol that is preferred for exchanging information between web servers and users. (In the case you want to know What is Windows Server 2022? , this article can help you!)

In addition to it, encrypting the communication and adding the security HTTPS—HTTP over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)—uses the Transport Layer Security or SSL. The files can transfer via the FTP or its secure variant FTPS. The term FTP stands for the File Transfer Protocol. The SMTP supports sending and receiving the email, whereas the Network News Transfer Protocol delivers the articles on Usenet.

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Features of IIS Web Server

The IIS server is a central server that uses the widespread. It offers numerous features, but it is also a fruitful tool for several IT administrators. The primary use of IIS is for the hosting of ASP.NET status websites and web applications. Apart from it, here is the list of IIS features, which helps you clear the concept of what is IIS Server?

1- Authentication

Authentication is an essential feature of the IIS server (internet information services), which includes several options. These options are Windows auth, ASP.NET, and Basic. For the Windows Active Directory, Windows auth is fruitful. This is because of letting the user sign into the web applications automatically through a domain account.

2- Security

This server also has security features such as biding so SFTP and HTTPS can manage the TLS certificates and filter the request. Due to it, the users can easily allow and block the traffic.

3- Remote Management

The feature of remote management permits what is an IIS for manning via either the CLI or PowerShell. In addition to it, the user can create the script yourself.
These are some features that make this webserver versatile and highly configurable. You can easily create a stable, effective, and flexible Windows IIS Server if you extend it.

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IIS Works With The Asp.net Core

The ASP.NET Core framework is categorized as the latest generation of ASP. The term ASP is an Active Server Page, which is a server-side script engine. It begets the interactive web pages. Moreover, the web sends the IIS server request that delivers the request to the ASP.NET Core Application. Further, it starts processing the request and has its response to the IIS server after that again.

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It sends the request back to the IIS server and to those users who established the request. In addition to it, developers have the opportunity to produce the IIS website with several tools. These tools include WebDAV. It can help create and publish web content. Moreover, they can also prefer the integrated development tools. When it comes to the integrated development tools, then they have the option of Microsoft Visual Studio.
The information mentioned above will clear all your queries about what is internet information services and how it works. Moreover, there are various versions of IIS available. After getting the information about what is IIS Server is, let’s discuss its features.

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Available IIS Versions

Here is the list of numerous available versions of IIS.

First and foremost is IIS 6 or Window Server 2003. It is the oldest version of Internet information services. It added support to IPv6. However, there is not any update related to the previous version.
The IIS7 is a compatible version of IIS with Windows Vista. Moreover, IIS7 enhanced security and offered support measures for the .NET framework.
The next version of IIS is IIS 7.5. This IIS version is available on Windows 7, including the added support to TLS 1.1 and 1.2.
After that, IIS 8 consists of the support for SNL. In addition to that, Windows Web Server 2012 comes with the available support offering, which is available unless 2023.
The IIS 8.5 is generally for Windows 8.1 and has the extra login capabilities and the utility of activating the dynamic site.
The IIS 10 does not only have support for Windows PowerShell 5.0 but also for HTTP/2.

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How to install IIS?

Now that you know what is iis and how it works, Follow the instructions below to install IIS on a server running Microsoft Windows.

The following are the instructions for installing IIS (Internet Information Service):

1. First, open the control panel.

2. Search for “Applications” from the available options below and select them.

3. Now click on the Turn Windows feature on and off option, possibly under “Programs and Features,” as shown in the image below.

4. Clicking “Turn Windows features on and off” opens a command like the following:

When the request is open, search for “Internet Information Services” among the options given below and check it to expand the other option.

5. Now click on option 3, “World Wide Services”.

Double-click on the first option, “Application Development Features,” under “World Wide Services”.

Check the “CGI” option, and you can also select several other options if needed.

6. Click the Ok button and wait for the changes to take effect.

After completing the changes, it may request a system reboot, so just let it go and complete the installation. You can now use Internet Information Services by typing “IIS” in the Windows search box.

Instructions for installing Internet information services using PowerShell:

Type “PowerShell” in the window search box and click “Windows PowerShell.”

After opening PowerShell, type the following command:

Now press “Enter”.

How IIS Processes Requests

A typical web server can use two main processing models. It can process requests according to a single-string model or create a new string for each request. The thread system is a model request IIS uses, which accesses a thread pool and takes a unique series for each request.

Requests are usually processed based on a simple request-response. The customer sends a request, and a response is sent. The Internet connection between the client and the webserver is usually made via the HTTP protocol.

IIS uses its processing engine and processing architecture with two layers or modes: kernel mode and user mode.

Kernel mode: When kernel mode is used, the code can execute any command and has full access to the connected equipment. This mode is mainly used when it is a reliable process and is primarily invulnerable. Any failure in the kernel-mode can cause a lot of damage to the system itself. Kernel mode is also where you will find HTTP.SYS.

User mode: User mode is more limited. In this case, the executed code can not access the hardware or reference memory and provides a more secure working environment. If a mistake is made, the consequences are unlikely to be as devastating as if the error had occurred in the kernel state. Code executed in user mode instructs APIs to communicate with equipment and reference memory, which is much more secure than kernel mode. You will find IIS management services, application pools, and virtual directories in user mode.

The purpose of kernel-mode is to use HTTP.SYS to accept incoming client requests to send them to the application pool. This process begins when the customer or end-user enters the website URL. This is the customer requesting access to the page. HTTP.SYS receives this request.

When the application pool receives the request from HTTP, SYS, the ISAPI filter is loaded by the IIS worker process or w3wp.exe. If it is an ASPX page, it also opens the worker process HttpRuntime.ProcessRequest and sometimes aspnet_isapi.dll. HttpRuntime creates a set of HttpApplication objects. These are sent over HTTP, and HTTP modules are continuously excited until the HTTP controller requests the ASP.NET page. When the HTTP route request is complete, the page starts and loads.

Differences between IIS and Apache

IIS is only available for Windows, but Apache can be used on various operating systems such as Mac, Linux, and Windows. And it is a good alternative.

IIS has its troubleshooting desk, but in the case of Apache, almost all of its support is provided by the user community.

Internet information services can also integrate with multiple generations or Microsoft languages, such as the ASPX programming language.

IIS security features are more reliable than the Apache web server, making it a better option than the Apache.

Conclusion

In the end, this information is all about the what is an IIS Server or what is internet information services and its working criteria. The essential features make it flexible and popular. You must have an understanding of ports for working with the IIS server. If you need more help check this article out!