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IIS 7.0 Learns a Few Tricks from Apache

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

September 15, 2005, 2:03 PM

Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia took the PDC 2005 stage Thursday morning to discuss the future of Windows Server. In addition to announcing Compute Cluster Edition Beta 1 and the first Longhorn Server CTP, Muglia introduced IIS 7.0 - complete with a modular architecture.

"We've learned from Apache," acknowledged Bill Staples, product unit manager for IIS. Version 7.0 takes the IIS feature set and breaks it down into individual components, or modules, that can be loaded on an as-needed basis. The result is a Web server with much less overhead.

Modules can also be swapped on the fly. Staples provided a live demo of changing the standard directory listing into a flashy gallery by simply replacing a single module and refreshing the Web page.

The popular open source Apache Web server takes a similar approach to features. Administrators can add in modules they need and disable the ones they don't - streamlining a system for the fastest performance possible. IIS has taken another page from Apache's playbook as well: simple configuration.

IIS 7.0 does away with complicated the "Metabase" and replaces it with XML configuration files - an announcement that prompted cheers from the PDC audience.

The config file can be manually edited for site-wide changes, but each Web application can have its own XML config as well. Changes take place in almost real-time, without restarting the server, Staples said.

ASP.NET has additionally been given a boost in the update. No longer requiring a plug-in as it did with previous IIS releases, ASP.NET is natively supported in version 7.0.

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By snpbalan

posted May 25, 2006 - 6:53 AM

IIS 7,0 really will be to modulate, will have a performance execelente and possibly it will be number 1 in the market without a doubt.

Score: 0

By milette

edited Sep 16, 2005 - 9:12 PM

IIS Rocks -- especially with .NET. MS stuff is like Leggo blocks -- just figure out what you need to do, and snap the right blocks together.

What Microsoft does (as it seems to me) is to look at the standards, look at what's available, pick the best, ignore the rest, take standards when they suit them, and extend the standards when the standards are weak and limiting.

For MS -- there are no rules. Nobody tells them what to do, or forces them to limit their technologies based on anyone else's definitions of what is 'standard' or 'right'.

Be honest. There are things you can do in a 100% MS environment that are simply NOT POSSIBLE by creating bas****ized environments with so-called 'best of breed' technologies. (None of which communicate seamlessly with each other -- if even at all.)

I can build a web app, or desktop app using an MS-platform that does amazing things in virtually no time at all and will far less code than any other solution.

Instead of being afraid of ActiveX, COM, DCOM and .NET -- I welcome them, embrace them and love them!

If I need reporting capabilities for my application, I plug in Word. If I need numeric functionality or graphing, I plug in Excel. I can build desktop applications or web-based applications with equal ease -- and migrate back and forth with only minor adjustments to the code. Building fast, efficient, scalable, secure and robust client-server applications and communicating with an SQL-Server database is almost child's play.

OF COURSE IT IS NOT FREE -- BUT WHAT IS YOUR TIME WORTH??? If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. (Or spend more of your time monkeying around rather than building applications.) :)

Score: 0

By soosa

edited Sep 19, 2005 - 2:53 AM

when we are talking about Open source, we are talking about stability, performance, robustness plus a 24H/7D updates and debugging, and bugs release,its not the matter of having something free of charge or not, think of it !!

Score: 0

By dmc_dtc

edited Sep 17, 2005 - 9:19 PM

U've been brainwashed already... i pitty u!!.....

Score: 0

By Jacen

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 10:12 PM

Do you work for Microsoft?

You'll find that mor4e of the web uses PHP, MySQL and Apache then they do IIS and ASP.

"For MS -- there are no rules. Nobody tells them what to do, or forces them to limit their technologies based on anyone else's definitions of what is 'standard' or 'right'."

If they didn't limit what it is, IIS wouldn't work with IE, FF or Opera ;)

"
Instead of being afraid of ActiveX, COM, DCOM and .NET -- I welcome them, embrace them and love them!"
All the above are security hazids.

"OF COURSE IT IS NOT FREE -- BUT WHAT IS YOUR TIME WORTH??? If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. (Or spend more of your time monkeying around rather than building applications.) :)"
Exactly. So stop spending money on Microsoft product and upgrade to Apache. 'Nuff said

Score: 0

By TxRancher

edited Dec 31, 2006 - 6:12 AM

Correction : ActiveX, COM, DCOM, .Net aren't security hazards. Programmers that write fubar (as opposed to foo bar) code are the security hazards. So, one could postulate that RPC is a security hazard, or that TCP/IP is a security hazard. It's a matter of implementation and design. IIS and the Windows Platform DOES improve programmer productivity, however, just like any platform and API Set, bad programming will expose your system to potential hazards or instability. That applies to any system out there!

Score: 0

By cbayne

edited Nov 12, 2005 - 2:31 AM

Wow, spoken like a true Linux zealot.

There's a reason that the predominance of websites run on Linux/Apache, and that's because it's free, not because it's better. ASP.NET on IIS is incomparibly faster than PHP on Apache, but the licening requirements for Windows server mean that the vast majority of web servers run Apache, because it makes economic sense for them to offer Linux servers.

We can argue the advantages of Open Source over Closed Source until the cows come home, but the fact remains that most SERIOUS businesses run IIS under Windows, or run NCSA HTTPD under Solaris/BSD. The dynamic compilation and rapid development features of ASP.NET make it incredibly attractive to developers and administrators alike. I think that, as usual, Microsoft is laying back and picking the best of the open source ideas and intergrating them into their product.

Before I go, I do feel the need to rebut a few of your arguments.

You: "You'll find that mor4e of the web uses PHP, MySQL and Apache then they do IIS and ASP."

Me: This is true, but most of the web also uses Internet Explorer. Betamax was technically superior to VHS: market penetration does not nessasarily signify a quality of product.

You: "All the above are security hazids."

Me: So is an unpatched Apache installation, or an unpached PHP install. Nothing is totally secure. There are a LOT of security vulnerabilities for a *NIX system as well. The fact remains that Microsoft is more vocal about its own vulnerabilities, and makes valiant attempts to patch their software before security vulnerabilities are exploited. No system is totally secure, and in some instances, a properly secured Windows system is more secure than a secured *NIX system.

You: "Exactly. So stop spending money on Microsoft product and upgrade to Apache. 'Nuff said"

Me: Well, a lot could be said againt "upgrading" to Apache. In the "upgrade" process, you lose support for ASP.NET, process pools, ISAPI filters and modules, etc. You also lose optimisation for MS SQL server. Whilst there is no denying that it is cheaper to obtain and install Apache, what if he is running an ASP.NET web application? That application then needs to be ported to another, Apache compatible scripting language, which costs time and money, which defeats the purpose of changing in the first place. Not to mention the fact that, if the web application is of a sigificant size, then it may require additional hardware to compensate for the lack of optimisation/dynamic complilation that isn't offered in other scripting languages.

Whilst there are arguments for both sides of the camp, keep in mind that Open Source isn't always better.

Score: 0

By sheds

edited Sep 16, 2005 - 2:52 PM

These changes to IIS are just another sign that perhaps alternatives are the way to go. It's true that linux is a bit more complicated with a bigger learning curve than windows. But i have to say that it is worth it. I have left windows behind like a lot of you have done already, and i'm loving every second of it. I use linux at my house, the office and at work. Still, windows is running IIS for webservers and database servers, and the boss is already asking questions as to what would be the impact and cost of swapping over to linux. Well, for me is effortless and not much of a change, but just imagine having some windows end user understand the paradigm around linux usage. Who knows, maybe windows is all they've ever known, that's why i say alternatives are a good thing.

Score: 0

By Jacen

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 2:47 PM

Now the only problem with IIS is that I wish Microsoft would grow up and openly support Linux and Mac as platforms. Also make it free. Free is what sells you market share ^_^ (Apache is free... and good... hmm :P)

Score: 0

By xstatica

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 6:44 PM

"ASP.NET has additionally been given a boost in the update. No longer requiring a plug-in as it did with previous IIS releases, ASP.NET is natively supported in version 7.0."

That whole sentence contradicts the main mmodularization features they are including. I assume that means ASP.NET will not be optional. ASP.NET should be a module so that users who do not need the security risks of ASP.NET dont need to have it running.

Score: 0

By iamtux

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 9:25 AM

Nice, its about time.

Score: 0

By rs_hans

edited Sep 16, 2005 - 6:52 AM

Guys !! Why cant yu see that Microsoft is taking the Best out of opensource and embedding it into its application .... thus we should be getting a refined ,easy to use and robust web server .. Kudos to MS soft ..for atleast trying to give the best that is available ..

- Ranjit

Score: 0

By itsmani1

edited Sep 16, 2005 - 5:45 AM

I am already an apache fan and i preffer to use apache web server over IIS.
But when you will go for .net etc you have to use IIS. let see how this new IIS 7.0 goes.

Muhammad Adbul Mannan
abdul.mannan@hotmail.com
http://mannan.zabvision.edu.pk

Score: 0

By RompeRatones

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 5:10 AM

Proposal for IIS aliases:

IISINA : IIS is not APACHE

Score: 0

By Pegusis2

posted Sep 15, 2005 - 9:29 PM

Don't mean to burst your bubble there folks... but last I checked there's one s4!T load of People out there Running Microsoft O/S's. Perhaps some of you folks should take up reading as a hobby... such as Tech news or something. I'd say there's about 90% of the users still using what you guys are calling the loosing side. Last I checked when someone has about 90% of the market it sort of meant that they Had 90% of the market... which in my books is a pretty good chunk of the market! And what's this 10 years behind bs.... stop and smell the coffee, how can you be behind by 10 years when they keep copying everybody elses software by at least only a month or 2 behind????

Score: 0

By Ice Druid

edited Sep 17, 2005 - 7:27 AM

i don't want to burst YOUR bubble peguises2, but what you just said is utter bull... right loads of people run M$, right they have 90% percent of the market, but that's the users market - which in my dictionary is the user market. There is a huge difference between a user and a server. so i suggest you go and pick up, i don't know, a dictionary maybe to find the difference. and don't forget over 70% of the web is built on Apache.

Score: 0

By justin

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 9:01 PM

Uhm I'm not gonna sit here posting about 'I'm so cool I use linux!!!' blah blah when most of the people that comment that most likely have a windows 98 box ... but anyhow ... IE has the 90% *NOT* ISS.

Score: 0

By john_zorn

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 2:25 PM

Perhaps you should follow your own advice and take up reading. Start here: http://news.netcraft.com.../web_server_survey.html

Apache 48895205 69.46%
Microsoft 14384006 20.43%

90% eh?

Score: 0

By Aegis69

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 9:34 PM

Chillax dude. Listen, people use Windows for the same reason babies drink mothers milk, its easy and its there. But there comes a time when you have to grow up and milk just isn't enough anymore, you need something stronger.

People are weening themselves off Windows because we need something stronger too, its happening all around you. Why do you think MS is so eager to embrace open source now after years of fighting it. Well its because they see where the world is going, and they know if they do not go along with us, that we'll leave them behind. A lot of us already have.

Bubble remains un-bursted.

Score: 0

By Aegis69

posted Sep 15, 2005 - 7:18 PM

Flaming Microsoft is like hating the french, everyone does it.

But seriously if you dont't understand why a company 10 years behind the rest of the computing world should be drummed out of existance, then I cannot help you. Google and Suse will do the job of finishing off whats left of MS...

Score: 0

By jtoppi

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 8:28 PM

Whats left? They are still worth Billions last I heard it wastough to force someon will millions out of business.

Unfortunately MS just won't go away, they will fight tooth and nail even if it means paying someone to fight(develop good technology) for them

Want to rebuttle reply at my forums at http://www.freetechsupport.us

Score: 0

By yagood

posted Sep 15, 2005 - 6:12 PM

So what's the point of flaming MS for being 10 years behind open-source? If they haven't implemented such new features, they would be flamed, because of lack of it and now that they do implement it, they get flamed, because.. of what exactly?

Score: 0

By karlkrist

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 5:28 PM

These are all good ideas, and I'll be happy with them. But I don't think IIS 6 was 'broken.'

The metabase thing wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. And the modules idea is good, but it wasn't like IIS was really slowing down my servers.

Good features though.

Score: 0

By jackvalko

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 5:31 PM

*YAWN* This is an innovative company? The fact they are embracing more open structures shows how far behind they are. Things are much, much worse in Redmond these days.

Score: 0

By swigerb

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 5:29 PM

Better than than never. This is good news for IIS folks.

Score: 0

By ServerMechanic

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 4:45 PM

LOL....

Go Get 'em Microsoft.......go get 'em.

**rolling eyes**

Score: 0

By Aegis69

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 3:29 PM

Ya, I guess there really is a first time for everything, hey?

That is really "great work" Microsoft, way to be almost 10 years behind Apache. Nicely done.

Score: 0

By jbaltz69

posted Sep 15, 2005 - 2:36 PM

That is really good stuff. I like it when MS listens to its end users and implements based on the feedback we give them. Good work.

Score: 0

By itsmani1

posted Sep 16, 2005 - 5:49 AM

oki now finally they decided to listen to end user .

M. Abdul Mannan
http://mannan.zabvision.edu.pk
abdul.mannan@hotmail.com

Score: 0

By jtoppi

edited Sep 15, 2005 - 8:28 PM

MS isn't listening to the users, they are listening to their wallets.

They are having poor market penetration with their .net programming platform. Because they only support it on IIS, and IIS doesn't run 70% of websites according to netcraft.

Visit my site at http://www.freetechsupport.us if you wan to discuss this more

Score: 0

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