Setup IIS on Server Core – Windows Server 2008 R2

This post has been updated from its original version to correct the installation instructions, which have changed since the time the post was written in Feb 2009.

With the addition of .NET Framework to Server Core in Windows Server 2008 R2 the Server Core installation option became even more appealing for those who want to use a very low footprint server for hosting their applications. Availability of .NET framework provides the following great benefits:

  1. ASP.NET support – you can now use Server Core to host your ASP.NET applications.
  2. IIS Remote Management – Server Core does not provide any user interface other than command line. But if you prefer to use IIS Manager UI to administer IIS, you can now use IIS Remote Manager to connect to IIS on Server Core and perform all the management tasks from within familiar UI of IIS Manager.
  3. PowerShell – Windows Server 2008 R2 includes IIS PowerShell snapin, which is also available on Server Core.

This post describes how to setup and configure IIS on Server Core in Windows Server 2008 R2. Specifically the following tasks are described:

  • Using oclist and ocsetup commands
  • Basic Installation of IIS
  • Installing ASP.NET
  • Installing PowerShell and IIS snap-in
  • Enabling IIS Remote Management
Continue reading “Setup IIS on Server Core – Windows Server 2008 R2”

Windows Installer for PHP 5.2.9 RC and PHP 5.3 Beta

I am pleased to let everyone know that PHP development community has made significant improvements to the installer in upcoming PHP releases. In particular a number of bugs have been fixed to make the installer work well with FastCGI extension in IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0 and with FastCGI module in IIS 7.0. Now the installer will do for you many of the configuration steps that previously you had to complete manually by following the instructions in the article Using FastCGI to Host PHP Applications on IIS 7.0. Specifically, the installer will:

  1. Unpack PHP core files and extensions
  2. Make changes to the php.ini to enable necessary extensions and specify correct extension path
  3. Create and configure a new FastCGI process pool for PHP executable
  4. Create a script or handler mapping for *.php extension.

Download the PHP installer for non-thread-safe build of PHP from this location:

Continue reading “Windows Installer for PHP 5.2.9 RC and PHP 5.3 Beta”