Hacks #54-61

Internet Information Services (IIS) is one of the more popular features of Windows server platforms. Whether you're running IIS 5 (Windows 2000 Server) or IIS 6 (Windows Server 2003), the ability to hack the metabase (the place where IIS stores its configuration settings) lets you do things that are impossible to do using the standard GUI tool for managing IIS?namely, Internet Services Manager.

Before you start hacking the metabase, however, you'd better be sure you've backed it up properly and know your way around inside it. Several hacks in this chapter deal with these topics, including how to restore the metabase when you have no working backup. Also included are tips on how to hide the metabase from attackers to make it more secure, how to use scripts to manage different aspects of IIS, and how to allow other HTTP services, such as the Apache web server, to run on Windows and coexist with IIS.