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Programmatic Administration Guide

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Each system on your computer comes with a graphical user interface (GUI) to manage and configure your settings such as IIS Manager, the Computer Management Console, the Control Panel, Windows Explorer, and so on. However, if you manage systems frequently, or access large amounts of data on multiple servers, then using each GUI can be time consuming. In these cases, it is faster to use command-line scripts that can manage single or multiple systems programmatically.

For example, if you have 20 IIS Web servers to which you want to add a script mapping, it would take a lot of mouse clicks and key strokes to do so through IIS Manager. However, if you wrote a command-line script that took as input a file containing the names of your Web servers and the name of the property you want to change, then you could make all the changes from one server with a single command.

IIS provides powerful scripting and programming tools that you can use to access and configure settings from within a command-line script or compiled application. Beginning with IIS 6.0 on the Windows.NET Server family, you can efficiently monitor and manage the metabase using a single COM-based programming interface and the IIS Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provider.

This section includes the following topics:

  • IIS Metabase: Describes all aspects of the metabase. Reading this section prepares both new and more experienced administrators to make IIS configuration decisions.
  • Using the IIS WMI Provider: Describes how to use the IIS WMI provider in command-line scripts to manipulate the metabase for the purpose of administering IIS. The IIS WMI provider includes all of the functionality available with the IIS ADSI provider, and also includes new methods.
  • Using the IIS ADSI Provider: Describes how to use IIS ADSI provider in command-line scripts to manipulate the metabase for the purpose of administering IIS. The IIS ADSI provider does not include all of the functionality that is available with the IIS WMI provider.
  • Using the IIS Admin Base Object Interface: Describes how to use compiled C programs that use ABO to manipulate the metabase and administer IIS.
  • Using Command-Line Administration Scripts: Describes how to use the supported command-line administration scripts that are installed with IIS to help administer your server. These are useful for administrators who want command-line control of IIS or who want examples of WMI scripts.