How To Configure a Computer Running Windows Server 2003 As a Web Server (324742)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to set up a Web server for anonymous access in a Windows Server 2003 environment.

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Install Internet Information Services

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is the Web service that is integrated with Windows Server 2003.

To install IIS, add optional components, or remove optional components, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
   
   The Add or Remove Programs tool starts.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
   
   The Windows Components Wizard appears.
3. In the Windows Components list, click Application Server, but do not select the check box.
4. Click Details, and then click to select the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box.
5. Click Details to view the list of IIS optional components.
6. Select the optional components that you want to install. By default, the following components are selected:
   • Common Files
   • Internet Information Services Manager
   • World Wide Web Service
7. Click World Wide Web Service (but do not clear the check box), and then click Details to view the list of IIS optional subcomponents, such as the Remote Administration (HTML) Tool. Select the optional subcomponents that you want to install. By default, the following component is selected:
   • World Wide Web Service
8. Click OK, click OK, click OK, and then click Next to install the selected components.
9. Click Finish to complete the Windows Components Wizard, and then close the Add or Remove Programs dialog box.

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Configure Anonymous Authentication

To configure anonymous authentication, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Under ComputerName (local computer) (where ComputerName is the name of the server), right-click Web Sites, and then click Properties.
3. In the Web Sites Properties dialog box, click the Directory Security tab.
4. Under Authentication and access control, click Edit.
5. Click to select the Enable anonymous access check box (if it is not already selected).
   
   Note The user account in the User name box is used for anonymous access only, through the Windows guest account.
   
   By default, the server creates and uses the account IUSR_ComputerName. The anonymous user account password is used only by Windows. Anonymous users do not log on by using a user name and password.
6. Click OK two times.

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Basic Web Site Configuration

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Under ComputerName (local computer), expand Web Sites.
3. Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Web Site tab. If you have multiple IP addresses assigned to your computer, click the IP address that you want to assign to this Web site in the IP Address list.
5. Click the Performance tab. Use these options to set the Web site properties that affect memory, bandwidth use, and the number of connections to the Web site.
   
   By configuring network bandwidth on a particular site, you can better control how much traffic there is at that site. For example, by restricting bandwidth on a lower-priority Web site, you can restrict bandwidth to allow increased access to other sites. Likewise, when you specify the number of connections to a Web site, you free resources for other sites. Settings are site-specific and you can adjust them as network traffic and use changes.
   • Click to select the Limit the network bandwidth available to this Web site check box to configure IIS to throttle network bandwidth to the amount selected in the Maximum bandwidth (in kilobytes per second) box.
   • Under Web site connections, click Unlimited to permit unlimited client connections to this Web site, or click Connections limited to and enter the number of connections you want to limit this Web site to. Limiting connections permits computer resources to be used for other processes.
     
     Note Each client that browses the Web site typically uses about three connections.
6. Click the Home Directory tab.
   • If you want to use Web content that is stored on the local computer, click A directory located on this computer, and then type the path that you want in the Local path box. For example, the default path is C:\Inetpub\wwwroot.
     
     Note For added security, do not create Web content folders in the root folder.
   • If you want to use Web content that is stored on a different computer, click A share located on another computer, and then type the location that you want in the Network directory box that appears.
   • If you want to use Web content that is stored on another Web address, click A redirection to a URL, and then type the location that you want in the Redirect to box. Under The client will be sent to, click to select the appropriate check box.
7. Click the Documents tab. Note the list of documents that IIS can use as the default start document. If you want to use Index.html as your start document, you must add it. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Add.
   2. In the Default content page box, type Index.html, and then click OK.
   3. Click the Move Up button until Index.html is displayed at the top of the list.
8. Click OK to close the Default Web Site Properties dialog box.
9. Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Stop.
10. Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Start.

The server is now configured to accept incoming Web requests to the default Web site. You can replace the content of the default Web site with the Web content that you want, or you can create a new Web site.

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Troubleshoot

For additional information about how to troubleshoot Web servers, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top