Content Summary : Configuring and Using Internet Information Services (IIS) Server Visual Basic .NET has extensive support for developing web-based applications that range from simple HTML pages bound together by scripts to comprehensive e-commerce applications that use elaborate business rules. These applications are built around ASP.NET, which is a technology for developing and deploying applications on a web server, and it is an integral part of the .Net framework. These applications run on the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) web server. In this appendix we describe the use of the IIS server in web applications. We first start with an introduction to the IIS server, followed by a description of the various configurations that will enable you to use an IIS server to host web based applications. Visual Basic .NET performs most of the interaction with the IIS server; nevertheless it is useful to know the working of the server and the various options that are available when building web applications. We also present the differences between web servers on a local machine versus remote servers that are controlled by a central authority. IIS Web Server Installation IIS Web Server is the web server provided by Microsoft for platforms running the various versions of the Windows Operating system. It is installed by default and running on server platforms like NT4 server and Windows 2000 server. IIS Server is not installed by default on workstation platforms like Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, and Windows NT workstation. To install IIS Server on workstation platforms you need to install it through the additional Windows Components that are available through the control panel. In the Figure B.1 we show the installation of IIS Server on a workstation machine.