How can I move my IIS server to another machine?

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How can I move my IIS server to another machine? A Web Exclusive from FAQ for Windows John Savill IIS InstantDoc #13979 FAQ for Windows	Email this Article Printer Friendly Reader Comments Digg This Del.icio.us RSS
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A. In the %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv directory there is a program called "iissync". This program will transfer over all your IIS settings to the new computer, including certificates, virtual domains, and for the most part, everything you need. Just open a dos prompt, and run "iissync \\newcomputername" and wait a bit.

The IISSYNC utility is used to synchronize Internet Information Server (IIS) metabase and Transaction Server packages on one Node with IIS on a Microsoft Cluster Server on the other Node.

End of Article

I've used this utility and it works beautifully. However, I was wondering if it was possible to run this utility using a servers IP Address instead of netbios name. I have a server at my disaster recovery site. Our Firewall group does not allow nwtbios to the servers at this site. Any advise?

Elbert C. Alexander September 06, 2000

In a recent test, using the IISSYNC.EXE utility to send configuration information from one server to another where neither were members of a cluster resulted in fatal application errors on starting the IIS MMC snap-in. The two servers, both NT4 SP5, where members of different domains on the same subnet. The failure was catastrophic, and required removal and re-installation of the NT4 Option Pack to recover.

A subsequent search of the Microsoft website came up with a great reference to the IIS Export Utility (www.adsonline.co.uk/iisexport) which was able to export and import the websites directly from one machine to the other. Manual moving of the SSL certificate was required. I'm in the process of writing a white paper on the best practices of using this utility to replace servers.

David E. Taylor MCSE+I CCA Network+ January 18, 2001

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