Windows Server 2008 RC1 available for download!
Windows Server 2008 RC1 is available for download! We are feature and quality complete with this release. In this build, we address feedback that we have gotten from customers in beta and our RC0 release. There is nothing quite like deploying IIS7 in a diverse set of production environments worldwide, ranging from huge enterprises and hosters to smaller business environments, to shake out those last issues that need fixing. You can download Windows Server 2008 RC1 at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/audsel.mspx
Here are some of the improvements that we made in this release:
- FastCGI fixes, most of which are already described here: http://blogs.iis.net/mailant/archive/2007/11/12/rtm-of-fastcgi-for-iis6.aspx
- Support a new default file extension and MIME type for a Silverlight application. This allows Silverlight content to work without manual configuration on IIS. We also have added default MIME type support the .VSTO extention as a content type.
- Fix to ensure that editing inherited elements from collection defaults persists the new properties.
- Fix to allow serving of classic ASP custom error pages without 500 status errors.
- Fix that lets Web Enrollment Certificate Service work after upgrading from Windows Server 2003.
- Security improvements, including a fix that prevents running code in one application that accesses the data in another application pool, even if those applications are isolated by IIS.
- Stress and performance improvements, including fixes for several memory leaks.
- Fixes for several deadlock conditions which hang IIS and prevents pages from being served when an IIS configuration file is used from a UNC share.
- ETW support for the GENERAL_RESPONSE_ENTITY_BUFFER event. In previous builds, this event was not handled correctly by ETW which rendered logs containing that event unparsable.
- Fix for stale cached data getting written into the config system when IISAdmin shuts down.
- Fix for the HTTP request failures that you saw after you upload an invalid web.config file or one of its dependencies to a web site over HTTP. Our development manager Taylor refers to this bug as the equivalent of “locking your keys in the car” when making changes over HTTP – once you uploaded that invalid config file over HTTP, you couldn't edit that site to repair the damage over HTTP.
Windows Media Services 2008 RC1 is also available for download only on Windows Server 2008 RC1; you can learn more about it in Vishal's blog: http://blogs.iis.net/vsood/archive/2007/12/06/windows-media-services-2008-rc1-for-windows-server-2008-rc1-is-now-live.aspx.
On to Windows Server 2008 RTM! The IIS team is really excited to be so close to getting the final product into your hands for use. IIS7 is filled with so many great new features. Stay tuned on upcoming changes that we are making to http://www.iis.net to add more content and web site features that will help you learn more about IIS7 and all the ways that it’s breaking new ground for world-class web hosting.