Managing IIS 4.0 with the Microsoft Management Console

We've all been waiting for Microsoft to release Windows NT 5.0, with all its new features and tools. With the new release, NT's management tools will see some welcome changes. One new tool that's already making news is the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The MMC provides a new plug-in framework and Explorer-like interface for managing tools. Most of NT 5.0's management tools will plug into the MMC. So imagine how surprised I was after I downloaded Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 to discover that this latest version of Microsoft's Web server uses the MMC as its management interface.

But the surprises don't end there--IIS 4.0 and the MMC together provide many new features. (Keep in mind that I prepared this article with IIS 4.0 Beta 2. Most of the features will stay the same in the final release, but you can expect some changes.) When I began exploring the MMC interface, I turned up several uses for IIS 4.0. For example, you can now create multiple Active Server Pages (ASP) applications under one virtual root. You can also set many options at the virtual root level, instead of globally, for your entire Web server.

The MMC functions the same way as Developer Studio, which provides the host environment for Visual InterDev, Visual C++, and Visual J++. The components are Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) servers that conform to the MMC model. Microsoft, third-party providers, and anyone else who develops an application conforming to the MMC standard can develop snap-in components.

The snap-in design of MMC tools is interesting. Developers can build a snap-in that runs within the MMC only or that runs both within the MMC and as a standalone program. This functionality provides a framework that third-party vendors can use for building applications that work in a traditional manner and also work as part of the MMC.

Getting Started with the MMC
You can start the MMC from the Start menu by selecting Internet Information Service Manager from the Programs, Internet Information Server menu. The MMC interface appears with its Explorer-like look and feel, as you see in Screen 1, page 140.

After I opened the MMC, I created a new window. The MMC interface lets me look at components of the Web server in one window (shown as Console Root\IIS\topgun in the upper part of Screen 1) and a particular virtual directory (e.g., ExAir, as shown in the lower part of Screen 1) in another window. Notice how the title bar shows the full path to the object you are currently working with. As with NT Explorer, you can display windows in different ways, such as tiled or manually sized. You can also close any windows you are not using.

The left pane of each window you open is the Scope pane for that window. The Scope pane includes the namespace of all components that the current MMC session can manage. The Scope pane contains components such as IIS, and has links to Web sites, folders, and other items. You can toggle the Scope pane on and off by right-clicking an object and selecting Scope Pane from the context menu.

The right pane of each window is the Results pane. When you select an item in the Scope pane, the MMC displays the details for the item in the Results pane. Screen 2, page 140, shows a good example of the MMC in action. This screen shows the usual Scope pane, but the Results pane shows the home page of Microsoft's Web site (http://www.microsoft.com). To display this result, I right-clicked the IIS folder in the Scope pane and selected Create New. I then selected Link to Web Address and entered the URL I wanted to link to. After I entered Microsoft's URL and closed the dialog box, the MMC added the www.microsoft.com entry to the IIS node in the namespace shown in the Scope pane. When I clicked this new link, Microsoft's Web site appeared in the Results pane for browsing--cool.

In addition to Web links, you can add other items to the namespace in the Scope pane. Right-click in the Scope pane, and select the Create New submenu, and you can add an MMC folder and ActiveX controls. MMC folders act as containers that hold other folders and ActiveX controls. After a few minutes of using the MMC, you can quickly see how it becomes the center of your management world. You can add tools, folders, Web sites, and more into the MMC, resulting in a complete set of information for a particular task at your fingertips.

The Action and View buttons below the main MMC button bar let you access the commands that you want to use on your objects. Other buttons in the MMC provide quick access to other functions. For example, buttons to the right of the Delete and Key Manager buttons in Screen 1 let you access NT tools such as Performance Monitor and Event Viewer. This functionality is where MMC's power comes into play. Imagine you're working in the MMC and you want to monitor your system's performance with Performance Monitor--one click and Performance Monitor is running.

The MMC presents its services through an intuitive GUI--you no longer have to slog through many levels of hierarchical menus to find the option you need. Once you get used to the look and feel of the MMC, you will find all the options for performing tasks and changing settings for tools such as IIS or Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS). Right-clicking any object in the MMC usually brings up a context menu for that object, and the Properties option on the context menu lets you access settings for that object. For example, to access the properties for IIS, right-click the application name. Select the Properties option from the menu, and you will see the settings for IIS.