Chapter 28 - Basics of Internet Information Services

Chapter 28

Microsoft Windows 2000 incorporates a set of services that provide server-side support for the most popular application-level Internet protocols, enabling a Windows 2000 server to function as a Web server, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) host, or a Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) host.

In the Microsoft Windows NT 4 operating system, these services are provided by an optional component called Internet Information Server (IIS). To obtain full support for Internet services, administrators have to install Internet Information Server 4, found in the Windows NT 4 Option Pack, on the computer running Windows NT 4 Server after applying Service Pack 3 or later.

In contrast, basic Internet services are fully integrated into all the Windows 2000 Server platforms. These services are now referred to as Internet Information Services 5 (IIS 5) instead of Internet Information Server 5 to emphasize their integration with the underlying operating system. This chapter examines the protocols that IIS 5 supports, along with the other tools that you can use to manage Internet services on Windows 2000 Server platforms. Chapter 29 takes a more detailed look at how to configure the services described in this chapter.