Create multiple IIS web sites in Win XP Pro.

Create and build multiple websites with WIN XP Pro IIS; 5.1 in my case.  It appears Microsoft® has chosen to disable or disallow multiple Virtual IIS Servers in its offering of Win XP Pro.  This functionality multi-site "take back" is very annoying.  My understanding is Windows NT Server which I've worked with in the past allowed multiple IIS Virtual Servers ( web sites ).  As Microsoft's customer when I purchased Win XP Pro I assumed I was purchasing the future Windows NT for the professional, supporting multiple sites, it is called XP Pro.  But it seems XP Pro is really Windows NT Workstation for the home user.  They also seem to have retarded some of the administration GUI's as well.  Very confusing.

A strobe light using your monitor?

Here's another confusing advertisement by Microsoft when trying to convince me to buy XP Pro. Which Edition Is Right for You   When you look at the claims Microsoft says:

"Would you consider yourself a power user ?"

"Internet Information Services (IIS), a Windows XP Professional feature that lets you host and manage personal Web sites."

12/19/2004  I see Microsoft has finally revised away the claim above.  I took an extract, or quote, of course not a copy, of the original page and have it on my home PC.  The claim above was displayed by Microsoft for a couple years, at the Which Edition Is Right for You link.

Regardless it appears all Microsoft did was strip the functionality out of the IIS GUI (Graphical User Interface), not the server itself.  I should be able to right click on Web Sites and say "new" but cannot.  Notice the GUI still says Web Sites, even though Microsoft eliminated the capability from the GUI!  Many users of Win NT swear that you should be able to create multiple virtual web servers, but not on XP or 2000.  Microsoft does mention this restriction on other web pages, but then what about the pitch above?

And here a second virtual server is on WinXP IIS version 5.1!  Initially it comes up stopped and unnamed, but in this shot I have already right clicked on the virtual server and given it a name.  A little plug for my site http://www.bobshowto.com  Just because you can't create the second or multiple virtual servers doesn't mean the GUI won't support them!

Today, 1/5/2004, I use ZoneEdit's Dynamic DNS and my dialup modem to power this site.  (Sorry sometimes I know it's a little slow especially with dialog box graphics!)

The Secret:

The scripting interface allows you to create the second site, but you can't start it unless the other (Default) site is stopped.  The VBScript to have is \Inetpub\Adminscripts\adsutil.vbs.  To create a stopped and un-configured site try "cscript adsutil.vbs CREATE_SITE W3SVC/2" in Win XP in the Adminscripts subdirectory.  Or start with cscript adsutil.vbs HELP.

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Continued:

So I thought about using ASP up front and redirecting to the correct site, seemed cumbersome though.  So I thought what about using an ISAPI filter, but before trying this, like any good engineer should, I looked for what was already available.  Where else but on the Web, and amazingly someone has done it already and it works fine for me, the multisite ISAPI filter.  Here is a link to the multi site filter: www.hairy-spider.com/multisite.aspx.   I've removed the actual link due to some weird problems I'm looking into with Google.  Please cut and paste the text link into your browsers address bar 6/9/2006 Bob.   I want to thank Hairy Spider Solutions (www.hairy-spider.com) for saving me a couple of days with my C++ compiler, Thanks! 

Now you can create web sites under your root web and the filter redirects the client from the root to the desired Web Site!

Please take a look at my article about GZIP dynamic web page compression, 4X speed, 4X less bandwidth.

But if my PC does go down I'm in trouble!

I'm fortunate to have another old PC to which I back up my web site content.  I've studied quite a few "web hosts".  A web host is of course where you might publish your website if it's not on your home PC.  If I had to, because my PC crashed or for bandwidth reasons I'd probably choose iPowerWeb:Powerful Hosting - $7.95 - Free Setup .  They seem to have a good reputation, even with the Better Business Bureau.  iPowerWeb's BBB report.  Many of the low cost hosts may try hard to serve you, but if you have problems you're mostly on your own.  You will find poor BBB reports for some of the lowest cost companies.  Also see if you can at least find a mailing address for the host you are considering!

And even cheaper.  Dot5Hosting.  Guess what?  I've learned through the Better Business Bureau that Dot5Hosting is really IPowerWeb in a different wrapper at a lower price.  I don't see much of a disadvantage though today, 8/3/2004, this site is still hosted at IPowerWeb.  Here is the BBB report.  It looks like IPowerWeb bought up Dot5Hosting.com and now is offering slightly altered IPowerWeb products at a discount.

Hope this helped!
Bob