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iisiis-express

IIS Express vs Default IIS that comes with Windows 7

I am new to the world of IIS and I wanted to know the following...

I have heard about IIS Express. I run Windows 7 Ultimate and have installed the IIS that comes packaged with Windows 7.

As a developer, is there any major benefit for me if I install IIS Express over the default IIS that comes with Windows 7 for .Net Web projects?

Solution

  • Here are the differences from http://www.mywindowsclub.com/resources/3302-Key-differences-between-IIS-IIS-Developer.aspx.

    If you already have IIS installed - its a better product. IIS express would only be used by people who don't have access to IIS or want something that is lighter than IIS but more like IIS than Cassini.

    • Integrated with OS
      • IIS 7 ships with the operating system and is tightly integrated to Windows.
      • IIS developer express is a separate downloadable tool
    • Targetted users
      • IIS 7 is for both developers as well as for production purposes.
      • IIS developer express can be used only for development purposes and not for production.
    • Supported Windows editions
      • IIS 7 will work only on Windows Vista and newer editions of Windows. In case of server OS, IIS 7 will work only on Windows 2008.
      • IIS developer edition will work even on older version - starting from Windows XP and newer.
    • Process model and activation
      • In IIS 7, the worker thread is automatically launched and managed by Windows Process Activation Service.
      • In case of IIS Express, user has to handle this.
    • FTP support
      • IIS developer express does not support FTP while IIS 7 supports it.
    • WCF support
      • IIS Developer express supports only WCF over HTTP.
      • IIS 7 supports WCF including over TCP, Named Pipes, and MSMQ.
    • Multi developer support
      • IIS 7 is a single user application.
      • IIS Developer express supports multi developer environment. Configuration files, settings, and Web content are maintained on a per-user basis.
    • Visual Studio integration
      • All editions and versions of Visual Studio have built-in support for IIS 7.
      • Only VS 2010 and future versions will have built-in support for IIS developer express.
    • Runtime extensions
      • IIS developer has support for URL Rewrite and FastCGI.
      • Webmatrix offers support for SEO, database management and Web Deployment. Other extensions that are offered with IIS are not yet tested with IIS Developer express.
    • Management Tools
      • IIS 7 is managed using the IIS Manager.
      • IIS Developer express can be managed using Webmatrix. Also, the express edition has support through system tray.
    • Port used by IIS
      • The default website comes with IIS 7 listens to port 80.
      • The default website part of IIS developer express listens to port 8080 to avoid conflicts with IIS 7 when they are running side by side.