Basic Configuration Tasks
The only issue you need to consider is which role service to install - you need to install those role services that match the applications you want to run, but you shouldn't install role services you don't need. At some point, you have a shiny new IIS 7 installation on your hard drive and begin to wonder what you should do next. This tutorial answers that question by describing some of the basic configuration tasks you perform in addition to moving your applications to the server.
One of the more important features from an administration viewpoint is setting up Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) on your server so that IIS 7 can send you status messages. The server will now alert you to major problems so that you don't have to guess the status of your Web server or check it manually. Overall, this is a nice feature, but you must configure it before you can use it.
Depending on how you move applications to the new server, you may need to redirect some old URLs to new URLs on IIS 7. The redirection feature makes this task relatively easy. Of course, you want to make the transition seamless so that the user sees only the new content you've provided in the new locations.
Most Web applications today rely on a wealth of data types. A user may want to download a PDF containing the latest product information or video demonstrating how to perform a task. You'll want to include various media types to dress up the content on your Web site. The use of fonts and technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) all has to work flawlessly to present the Web site you think the user wants to see. All these activities depend on defining the right kinds of content for the Web server.
Even though IIS 7 is highly modular and relies heavily on managed code (through the .NET Framework), you find that it still supports ISAPI extensions and filters. Configuring the ISAPI extensions and filters that your Web site requires is part of the entire configuration process. The special features of your Web site may not work without this configuration.
Finally, before you can turn over control of the individual Web sites to others in your organization or to the administrators of hosted sites, you must decide on what they can do. That's where the Feature Delegation icon comes into play. You use this feature to ensure that others on your Web server can manage the Web site features they need and nothing else.
