Below are the steps required to move a website hosted on IIS6 to IIS7 (Internet Information Services 6 to 7). IIS7 replaces the aging metabase with a more convenient applicationHost.config which stores the configuration in XML.

There are two versions of MS Deploy, the program needed to migrate. Download the 32bit version here, and the x64 version here.

Installing MS Deploy on the Source IIS6 Server

1. You must have .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 or 3.5 installed on the server.
2. Download the file and open it. Choose Setup Type: Typical. Be sure to use the x64 version if you have Windows 2003 x64. There is no entry in the Start Menu; you need to start the program through the command prompt. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Web Deploy\msdeploy followed by the command.

Installing MS Deploy on the Destination IIS7 Server

1. Same as above. Be sure to use the x64 version if you have Windows 2008 x64.

Create a Backup of the IIS7 configuration

It is important to create a backup of the IIS7 configuration before you start. You never know when you’ll make a mistake, and restoring IIS to the default configuration without a backup isn’t fun.

IIS7 comes with the appcmd.exe command line tool, which is new for IIS7, and simplifies configuration backups immensely. It is located in the %windir%\system32\inetsrv\ folder, which isn’t in the path variables, so you’ll need to navigate to that path with the command prompt first.

1. Click Start -> Run -> type “cmd” and press OK.
2. At the command prompt, navigate to the %windir%\system32\inetsrv\ folder. (type “cd \” and then “cd C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv” if windows is in the default path)
3. Once in the target directory, type: appcmd add backup “BackupPreMigrate”
4. Press Enter. All done.
5. To display a list of previous backups type: appcmd list backup
6. To restore a backup, type: appcmd restore backup “BackupPreMigrate”

Verify Dependencies on Source IIS6 Server

Below is a screenshot of all the variables supported by the migrate tool. All instructions below assume you are in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Web Deploy\ directory at the command prompt.

1. At the command prompt (In the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Web Deploy\ directory), type:
   
   msdeploy –verb:getDependencies –source:metakey=lm/w3svc/#siteidentifier

The list that is returned is fairly comprehensive as to what components are installed and available for use on the particular website. It does not, however, distinguish which components are actually in use.

Installing Required Components on Destination IIS7 Server

From the dependency list you can determine which roles need to be installed on the destination IIS7 Server. Any dependencies listed in the XML file that is saved during the migration will need to be installed on the destination server or else the migration will not complete. You can remove dependencies beforehand or from within the XML file found in the backup directory after the sync command.

Migrate Website

• On the source IIS6 Server type:
  
  msdeploy -verb:sync  -source:metakey=lm/w3svc/# siteidentifier -dest:archivedir=c:\backup_name

Move the backup folder (c:\backup_name) to the destination server, or if on a network simply backup to the final destination on the IIS7 server or SAN.

• On the destination IIS7 Server type:
  
  msdeploy -verb:migrate -source:archivedir=c:\backup_name -dest:metakey=lm/w3svc/# siteidentifier

After Migration

After the migration is complete, some elements will need to be re-configured. PHP, ASP.NET Ajax and others will need to be configured independently of the IIS migration to match the source server’s settings.

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A few weeks ago someone had asked to purchase iishacks.com from me. When I declined, he became quite irate. Granted the price was good, but money really doesn’t do it for me. After all, Sysadmins aren’t in it for the money…

Immediately after I declined, I started getting hundreds of spam messages, then thousands, then millions. In the last few weeks I’ve gone from a couple spam messages to hundreds of thousands per day.

So the plan is to track where the messages are coming from, and then get him back. Hope he’s listening.

On a side note, I’m quite impressed Wordpress and MySQL were able to handle the load. I mean, it is a Windows Server!

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Where’s POP3?

A few people have asked where to find the POP3 service in Windows 2008 for a simple mail server. The answer: nowhere.

While SMTP is alive and well in the Features section of the Windows 2008 Server Manager, POP3 has been removed from Windows 2008 altogether.

POP3 isn’t a very “good” method to retrieving mail and I know very few organizations that still utilize it. IMAP and Exchange connectors are far more feature-rich and useful especially in today’s multiple-device world. I do run a POP3 mail server for World’s Cutest Animals because it is quick, has minimal resource usage and is perfect for a mail server that only has a few mailboxes.

Before we all scream foul and ask Microsoft to add POP3 back into Windows 2008 SPx, I suggest you check out Hannes Preishuber’s POP3 connector for Windows 2008 x86 and x64.

http://weblogs.asp.net/hpreishuber/archive/2008/04/30/visendo-smtp-pop3-extender-for-windows-2008-server.aspx

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With the release of Windows Server 2008 and IIS 7, Microsoft has included PHP5 FASTCGI support. ISAPI is still faster in my opinion, and if used correctly, very stable. PHP uses a 32-bit DLL so it will not work with an x64 system. There are several ports of PHP to x64, but all have proved to be unstable. Below I will outline the steps to install PHP 32-bit on Windows 2008 x64 (and have it stable).

1. Install the PHP4 or PHP5 package (32-bit) in C:\PHP or wherever you like. Only use the Windows installer from php.net if you do not need any extensions. I would recommend downloading the PHP zip package. 
2. Update April 2010: The VC6 x86 Thread Safe package is ideal for ISAPI. If you are going to use FastCGI, download the VC6 x86 Non Thread Safe package.
3. Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. 
4. Double-click “Handler Mappings” from the main IIS screen.
5. Click on “Add Script Map.”
6. Set up the handler mapping for c:\PHP\php5isapi.dll with extension *.php and check to allow the ISAPI extension and execution of scripts.
7. Double-click “ISAPI & CGI Restrictions” on the main IIS screen. Right-click on PHP and select “Edit Feature Settings” and check “Allow unspecified ISAPI modules.” 
8. Right-click on the Default Application Pool (or the one you want to use if more than one) and select “Advanced Settings.”
9. Change the “Enable 32-bit Applications” to True. Click OK. This spawns the App Pool in 32-bit mode, so if you have other modules that need to be run in 64-bit mode, best to separate the website into two App Pools: one 32-bit and one 64-bit.
10. Restart the server.

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Below is the javascript code of an “injection” that inserts itself into the index file of a website. It is designed to go undetected by only redirecting seldomly and randomly. It is placed at the bottom of the source code, with a significant gap in whitespace after the end of the regular source code (115 lines in all cases). In most of the cases that I have come across, it redirects to a “spyware” or “virus” site. It also goes undetected by antivirus programs (Trend Micro, Panda, Avast). It works with Mozilla (2.0.0.11) and IE7 (haven’t tested it in others). I’ll look into it further once I decode the script itself.

One of the sites it redirects to is: http://e.pepato.org/e/adsr.php?t=0

It infects each individual .php file and does not re-infect after the initial infection. I have created new sites and cleaned infected .php files and it has disappeared completely. It injects this code into .php (and .html) files about 115 lines below the end line. It ONLY infects index.php/html files in the root directory of the website. If you name your file: index2.php – it will not be infected. The “modified date” time stamps DO change with the infection. There was a spread of 1 minute for hundreds of .php files. If you need a quick way to search all index.php/html files on a server, download notepad++ and use the “search in directory” feature for certain strings of text. Alternatively, once you find the time stamp of infection, search for files modified at that time.

Looks like a newer one, I’ve heard reports of similar activity as far back as mid January.

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