iis7, 3304

I've upgraded the server from IIS6* on Windows Server 2003 to IIS7 on Windows Server 2008. There we a couple of configuration issues that needed to be resolved before it all came back, but its done now. Chief amongst those were the instructions provided by my host.  While they warned at several points that you needed to know what you were doing with IIS7, there were also some basic instructions that I had to hunt for in order to get it all up and running.  Things that I wasn't expecting like the need for a different login to the one I had been using before.  All of the info was available in FAQs sequestered around the site, but there was no coherent "This is what has changed and how you proceed" documentation supplied from my host.  Still, this process is only a few days old and the documentation is still being written. My host (DiscountASP.Net) are typically very cutting edge for the price they charge, so I can't really complain.

The new server is running very fast.  I suspect that this comes from the physical server being under-crowded with web sites rather than the software being substantially faster.  However, Microsoft have released some impressive stats for IIS7, so you never know.

I have another Windows Server 2008 at home and its running a development version of this site.  It allows me to make changes to a development system before I roll them out so that you can see them.  My goal was always to have maximum up-time for DaveWhite.Net, and this facilitates that nicely.  I believe that the three hours or so that we were down today make up the longest time that this domain has been down in about eight years. Wow, I just had a look and the first post I ever made to this blog was nine years and sixteen days ago.  Three thousand, three hundred and four days.  Anyway, time for sleep.

* IIS is Internet Information Services, which is a piece of software written by Microsoft to handle web sites.