Good Reading... 8/14/2007

I haven't been able to write for a few weeks due to some time off and other "distractions".  (This time of year at Microsoft is especially busy for managers as we not only do all of normal work needed to develop software, but also have to deal with budgeting, performance reviews, and vacation schedules). 

Over the past few weeks there have been some good articles published, so I thought I would make up for my lack of writing time by passing along a few of the interesting things I've read lately. 

 

Netcraft madness

First, Netcraft published their August Web Server survey which shows IIS continuing to gain ground versus Apache, with another 1.4% gain for Windows/IIS, and a 1.7% slip for Apache.  The amount of press pickup on this report was amazing, with a lot of positive news for IIS, including several mentions about the upcoming Server release of IIS7:

As all of these articles will point out that IIS is not the only Web server gaining market share, lighthttp has been gaining grown as has Google's front end server (which was previously reported as Apache).  Still, it is great to see IIS growing it's share on the Internet and I have no doubt that IIS7 will help the momentum. 

 

WordPress authentication integration with IIS7

WordPress is one of the most popular PHP-based blogging engines in the world, and Mike just built a cool extension for WordPress that allows for really deep integration with IIS7.  If you've seen any of the integrated pipeline demos of IIS7 where we show ASP.NET Forms authentication support for all types of content (including PHP applications), and the administration power that IIS7 adds, with built-in support for managing users and roles, you have an idea just how cool this is.  Read all about it on Mike's blog.

 

IIS7 Media Pack features and comparison with Windows Media Server

Chris Knowlton published a great post that reveals some of the features you can expect to see with the upcoming IIS7 Media Pack release and how they compare to Windows Media Server.  We're preparing for the first Technical Preview of this Media Pack and still have a few surprises in store.  I'm really excited for it to debut as I think it will be a really powerful addition to IIS. 

 

New IIS Evangelist!

I was excited to hear that Drew Robbins was hired into the IIS evangelist role that I posted about a while back.  He has been a Developer Evangelist for quite some time and has created quite a name for himself.  I look forward to working with Drew!

 

How to create a site, app or virtual directory in IIS7?

This is probably the most common task an IIS administrator may have, and also one of the most frequently asked questions I see.  Mike put together a great post that explains the Site/App/VDir model in IIS7 and provides sample cmd-line steps for how to create and manage them. 

 

Understanding IIS7 configuration paths

One of the most complex pieces of IIS7 is the new configuration system.  While it is a world above the Metabase, it does take some time to get used to.  Mike published a great blog post on the new configuration system that explains how configuration paths work. 

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