RuslanY Blog

The IIS URL Rewrite Module 2.0 – RTW is available for download. IIS URL Rewrite v2.0 is an incremental release that includes all the features from version 1.1, and adds extensibility support and outbound response rewriting. More specifically, v2.0 can be used to:

• Express complex URL rewriting logic by using custom rewrite providers written in .NET.
• Replace the URLs generated by a web application in the response HTML with a more user friendly and search engine friendly equivalent
• Fix up the content of any HTTP response by using regular expression pattern matching.
• Modify HTTP request and response headers and IIS server variables.

For the complete list of features available in this version, refer to Using URL Rewrite Module 2.0.

Install the URL Rewrite 2.0 – RTW

To install the URL Rewrite 2.0, use the download links at the module’s home page at http://www.iis.net/expand/urlrewrite. Note that this is a final, production ready release that is officially supported by Microsoft.

Upgrade notes:

• If a previous version of URL Rewrite Module, such as v1.0 and v1.1, is already installed then it will be upgraded to the v2.0;
• If an RC version of the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 is already installed, then it will be upgraded to RTW version. Continue Reading »

The URL Rewrite Module 2.0 – Release Candidate is available for download. The release contains functionality and stability improvements and it is believed to have a quality level suitable for production deployments.

Overview

Microsoft URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 is an incremental release that includes all the features from version 1.1, and adds support for outbound response headers and content rewriting. More specifically, it can be used to:

• Replace the URLs generated by a web application in the response HTML with a more user friendly and search engine friendly equivalent
• Modify the links in the HTML markup generated by a web application behind a reverse proxy.
• Fix up the content of any HTTP response by using regular expression pattern matching.
• Modify HTTP request headers and IIS server variables.
• Modify HTTP response headers

Install the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 – RC

To install the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 – RC, use the download links at the module’s home page at http://www.iis.net/extensions/urlrewrite. Continue Reading »

This post describes how to configure IIS 7 to output syntax highlighted source code for PHP files stored on the web server or site. This feature may be useful for development environments when you want to quickly make the source code accessible to other team members.

WARNING: Never attempt to do what is described below on any internet accessible web site! Doing so will greatly compromise the security of your web application.

The HTTP requests for the PHP source code are usually identified by the “.phps” file extension, e.g. http://localhost/index.phps. You will need to configure IIS to understand and handle the HTTP requests with this extension. There are two options for that: to create an IIS handler mapping for “*.phps” or to use the IIS URL Rewrite Module. Continue Reading »

If you ever tried to write or modify rewrite rules in web.config file by using Visual Studio 2008 XML Editor, you may have noticed that the Visual Studio XML IntelliSense does not work for all URL Rewrite Module configuration elements. This is because the XML schema for <rewrite> element is not registered in Visual Studio Schema Cache. This post provides the instructions on how to register URL Rewrite schema with Visual Studio to enable IntelliSense support.

To enable IntelliSense support for URL Rewrite 1.1 follow these steps: Continue Reading »

Today IIS team has released the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 – Beta. This is an incremental release that includes all the features from version 1.1, and adds support for outbound response rewriting. More specifically, it can be used to:

• Replace the URLs generated by a web application in the response HTML with a more user friendly and search engine friendly equivalent
• Modify the links in the HTML markup generated by a web application behind a reverse proxy.
• Fix up the content of any HTTP response by using regular expression pattern matching

Install the URL Rewrite Module 2.0 Beta

or, download:

URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 – Beta (x86)

URL Rewrite Module 2.0 for IIS 7 – Beta (x64)

Continue Reading »

Today I have upgraded my blog to the recently released WordPress 2.8 and to PHP 5.3 RC3 (VC9 Non Thread Safe build). If you are running WordPress (or any other PHP application) on IIS 7, then there are several reasons why it may be beneficial for you to upgrade:

• PHP 5.3 has a number of Windows-specific bug fixes and improvements that address stability and functionality problems which existed before when running PHP on Windows. For detailed list of all the changes and fixes, refer to the news.txt file included within the PHP zip file.
• PHP 5.3 has been compiled with the latest version of C compiler (VC9), which makes it run faster on Windows than any previous versions of PHP (which were compiled with VC6).
• WordPress 2.8 has built-in support for IIS 7 URL Rewrite Module. Refer to IIS 7 URL Rewrite Module support in WordPress 2.8 for more details.

Overall, the upgrade went pretty smoothly and the only thing that was different from the usual process of setting up PHP on Windows was the date.timezone setting in php.ini file. Starting with PHP 5.3, this setting must be explicitly set, e.g.:

date.timezone = America/Los_Angeles

After this successful upgrade I guess it is time now “to reward myself by reading that book or an article that I’ve been putting off, or simply sitting back for a few moments and let the world pass me by”.

Have you tried upgrading to PHP 5.3 on IIS recently? What was your experience?

I am pleased to let everyone know that WordPress development community has added a built-in support for IIS 7 URL Rewrite Module in the upcoming WordPress 2.8 release. Starting with version 2.8 the Permalink Settings page will allow you to easily configure “Pretty Permalinks” URL structure when WordPress is running on IIS 7 with URL Rewrite Module v1.1 installed.

Here is how the process of updating Permalinks structure will look like in WordPress 2.8 on IIS 7: Continue Reading »

Today IIS team has released the URL Rewrite Module 1.1 for IIS 7. This is an incremental update that contains fixes to the bugs found since the URL Rewrite Module v1.0 has been released in November 2008. If you have version 1.0 installed (file version of rewrite.dll is 7.1.315.0), it is highly recommended you upgrade to version 1.1.

Install the URL Rewrite Module 1.1 for IIS 7 today!

or, download:

Microsoft URL Rewrite Module 1.1 for IIS 7 (x86)

Microsoft URL Rewrite Module 1.1 for IIS 7 (x64)

Upgrade from URL Rewrite Module 1.0 release

If you have URL Rewrite Module version 1.0 installed, the installation package upgrades it to version 1.1. All rewrite rules in applicationHost.config and web.config files are preserved during upgrade process. Continue Reading »

This post describes some of the tips and tricks that one may find useful when solving URL-based problems for their web server or web site. Each tip/trick has a description of a problem and then an example of how it can be solved with IIS 7 URL Rewrite Module.

1. Add or Remove Trailing Slash

Many web applications use “virtual URLs” – that is the URLs that do not directly map to the file and directory layout on web server’s file system. An example of such application may be an ASP.NET MVC application with URL format similar to this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/60857/modrewrite-equivalent-for-iis-7-0 or a PHP application with URL format that looks like this: http://ruslany.net/2008/11/url-rewrite-module-release-to-web/. If you try to request these URLs with or without trailing slash you will still get the same page. That is OK for human visitors, but may be a problem for search engine crawlers as well as for web analytics services. Different URLs for the same page may cause crawlers to treat the same page as different pages, thus affecting the page ranking. They will also cause Web Analytics statistics for this page to be split up. Continue Reading »

Today IIS team has made the URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 Release To Web (RTW) available for download. This is a final, production-ready release that is officially supported by Microsoft.

Install the URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 RTW today!

Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 RTW (x86)

Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 RTW (x64)

Upgrade from Go Live release

If you already have Go Live release of URL Rewrite module installed then the installation package will upgrade it to RTW release. All rewrite rules in applicationHost.config and web.config files will be preserved. Note that system reboot may be necessary when upgrading from Go Live to RTW release.

ASP.NET update

The installer for URL Rewrite module includes an update for ASP.NET runtime. The update has fixes for bugs specific to URL rewriting. The update is applied only if the machine where URL Rewrite module is being installed has .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1 or higher. If required version of .NET Framework is installed after URL Rewrite module has been installed, then the ASP.NET update can be applied by re-running URL Rewrite module installer in repair mode. Continue Reading »