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Installing ARR manually without WebPI

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Microsoft’s Application Request Router (ARR) IIS Extension is a complex piece of software which integrates with several other components to do its job. These components are URL Rewrite, Web Farm Framework and ARR’s External Cache module. For things to work correctly, not only do you need all components, but they must also be installed in a specific order, which can be confusing. Several years ago, Microsoft introduced the Web Platform Installer (WebPI) mechanism, which makes it easy to manage installed components. It’s used with many things nowadays, and is also a good way to install ARR and all its components properly and easily.

Occasionally, though, you might find yourself in a situation where you still prefer to avoid using the WebPI installation option. For example, one such scenario is when installing ARR on the Server Core edition of Windows, where WebPI cannot be used. If so, another option you have is installing it using our IExpress package, which includes all the components together. To use it, download it from this page and install.

Another option is to install the components by hand, which will require you to download the components separately. This is the procedure for doing so:

1. Stop IIS first by typing net stop was /y and net stop wmsvc /y on an elevated command-line window:

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*** note that WMSVC is the IIS Web Management Service, which might not be enabled on your server. In such a case, trying to stop it will result with The Web Management Service service is not started. This is not unusual and should not be cause for alarm.

2. Download and install the Web Farm Framework module. It is currently available in version 1.1

3. Download and install the External cache module. It is currently available in version 1.0

4. Download and install the URL Rewrite module. It is currently available in version 2.0 

5. Download and install ARR itself. It is currently available in version 3.0

6. Start the IIS services back (or, simply reboot your server) and you should be good to go!

If you need to do this on an X86 server, like windows 2008, you can download the X86 version of these components here:

· Web Farm Framework X86

· External cache X86

· URL Rewrite X86

· ARR X86

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Thanks for sharing, good post.

  • Anonymous
    November 27, 2013
    Is it possible to just use this? www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx

  • Anonymous
    November 29, 2013
    @Dariel - Yes, see last the last sentence in the second paragraph of the article.

  • Anonymous
    November 29, 2013
    Can ARR 3.0 use Web Farm Framework 2.2 instead of 1.0?  www.iis.net/.../web-farm-framework

  • Anonymous
    January 20, 2014
    The first link for the Web Farm Framework is incorrect and downloads the 64bit version. The 32bit version link is here:http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/E/2/FE2E2E07-22B5-4875-9A36-8B778D157F91/WebFarm2_x86.msi

  • Anonymous
    February 14, 2014
    Thanks, I was able to be configure ARR

  • Anonymous
    February 27, 2014
    This is a bit confusing, the links under 2., 3. and 4. points to amd64 versions, while 5. (ARR itself) points to the x64 version...

  • Anonymous
    June 10, 2014
    Can ARR be used with IIS Express?

  • Anonymous
    September 03, 2014
    Links are out of date - newer versions exist.

  • Anonymous
    September 14, 2014
    @Erez (or others), the information on the aar express edition page (linked to in comments above and the 2nd paragraph of the article) mentions that its system requirements are most editions of Windows from 2003 to 2012, but then it ends with "IIS 8.0 must be installed, as well as WebSockets (to use the WebSockets feature)".

    Since we can't comment there, and it points readers back to here, i'd like to ask; should we read that to mean that IIS 8 is needed only if "the WebSockets feature" is to be used? Because obviously we can't put IIS 8 on anything but Server 2012, right?

    So to be clear (since this article of Erez's here does not mention editions), ARR can indeed be used with iIS 7, right? And do your instructions here apply to either 7 or 8?

    Thanks of course for the article.

  • Anonymous
    October 20, 2014
    I have similar question to Charlie's. Hi Charlie, did you find answers yet? If yes, can you please share your experience?

  • Anonymous
    June 17, 2015
    Supported Operating System

    Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
    * Internet Information Services 7.0 or later must be installed
    * For WebSockets support, Internet Information Services 8.0 or later is required, and the WebSockets module must be enabled

    C.F : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39715

  • Anonymous
    June 22, 2015
    Is there change log on the new Version of ARRv3?
    I have two server each running v3 but with minor version differences (3.0.1952 and 3.0.1750)
    the older one (3.0.1750) can do url rewrites with server name/domain name level, the newer one (v3.0.1952) can only do at the query string level. maybe Im missing something any help would be gladly appreciated.