How to migrate Apache settings and configure IIS in a UNIX-to-Windows migration (324213)

SUMMARY

This article shows you the major steps that you take to migrate your Web site configuration from Apache to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). This is one of a series of articles that provide detailed information about how to perform a migration from UNIX to Windows.

The articles in this series include the following: back to the top

Configure Basic Settings in a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

Apache uses a single configuration file to set all of the basic parameters such as port numbers, default locations and ownership, and primary layout of the Web server and associated Web sites. You can easily translate most of these to IIS through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). After you have entered these basic settings, you are almost ready to start serving your first Web site. For more information about how to translate the basic Web site settings from Apache to IIS, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Set Default Documents in a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

It is common under Apache to set a sequence of default documents for a Web site so that you can cope with both static and dynamic areas of the Web site in an environment where parsed pages (such as those used in ASP) are not generally supported. You can translate and configure the same effect into IIS. For more information about how to set the default document, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Set Error Documents in a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

In both IIS and Apache you can set error documents to be returned to the user. These error documents are useful if the user tries to visit a page that does not exist or if the user tries to visit a page for which the user is not authorized. The error codes that are generated are part of the general HTTP standard. Because of this, when you migrate, you can easily configure the corresponding error document for the codes from the Apache configuration file to IIS. For more information about how to set error pages in IIS, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Set Up Virtual Web Sites (Name-Based) for a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

Many Web servers support more than one Web site. To do so, they either use sub-domains (for example, sub.domain.com) or they support different domains (domain.com). In this respect, IIS and Apache work in similar ways, and in IIS you can easily set up multiple Web sites in this manner. You can transfer the settings directly from the Apache configuration file into IIS. For more information about how to translate the basic Web site settings from Apache to IIS, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Set Up Virtual Web Sites (IP-Based) for a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

Some sites use a unique IP address for each Web site. This has benefits when you track, filter, or support a Web site through a firewall. For more information about how to create different IP-Based Web sites in IIS, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Set Up Virtual Web Sites (URL-Based) for a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

If you split up a Web site into different URL-based areas or folder-based areas, you can spread a Web site across multiple servers. Multiple servers provide what appears to be a single Web site to the user, but they make it possible for different groups and users (for example, different departments) to manage their own areas. To do this in Apache, you redirect a particular URL to another host or to another folder through URL rewriting or through aliases. IIS uses a simpler mechanism. IIS covers the facilities for both solutions in the same management interface. back to the top

Migrating Users' Home Folder Web Sites in a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

In Apache, it is easy to set up a structure in which users create their own Web site in their own home folder that is then directly hosted under the main Web site. Careful configuration with IIS gets the same result, although it is not as straightforward to do so. For more information about how to set up user-specific folders, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Redirecting URLs to Other Web Sites

You can rewrite and redirect URLs to point to other sites and other folders. You can also rewrite URLS to act as pointers and aliases to other folders and other areas of your Web site. You can easily migrate these settings from an Apache configuration to IIS. For more information about how to redirect and rewrite URLs, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Migrating Apache Settings to Apache for Windows in a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

If you install Apache for Windows on your Windows server, you can make the migration from UNIX to Windows much quicker. You can also test and migrate your Web site without migrating your data. You do not have to take your Web site down for a long time, either. There are only minor modifications that you have to make to your Apache configuration file to handle the differences between UNIX and Windows. For more information about how to translate an Apache for UNIX configuration file to Apache for Windows, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Sharing Site Folders with SMB in a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

To make it possible for groups of people to edit your Web site through a familiar file-based interface, you must share your Web site folder with other users on your Windows network. For more information about how to share Web site folders, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top

Setting Up WebDAV for a UNIX-to-Windows Migration

Users can create and update content for your Web site without direct access to the folders that contain the Web site files through the World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) method. Because WebDAV is a platform-neutral standard, it is frequently used under UNIX so that Windows users, Mac OS users, and UNIX users can update their Web sites without worrying about sharing protocols. If you use the same feature under IIS, you can provide the smoothest migration for your designers and content managers. For more information about how to setup WebDAV, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top