Setting Up Multiple Sites On IIS 6.0 ???

Question

This is my current setup....
Windows 2003 server web edition running IIS 6.0 + Windows XP machine of my own + various other machines all on a LAN using a Netgear DG834PN router with a static IP address. My question is this : How do i configure IIS 6.0 to host multiple websites on the same server ? Once they are setup how do i view them locally on my LAN from my XP machine and assuming my domains are registered and administered by a 3rd party which i have login access to how do i point the domains to my server so that each domain will serve up the right pages on the net ?

Answer 1

I haven't done this personally, but I believe you'll need to perform several steps:
1. Follow instructions in Microsoft link below for hosting multiple web sites in IIS using a single IP address.
2. The same link gives hints about setting up a local client computer. I believe you should test by using a local HOSTS file on your Windows XP computer to map your various internet web sites (www.mysite.com) to the local, non-routable IP address of the Windows 2003 server (e.g., 192.168.0.100). I will assume you will assign a static IP address to your Windows 2003 server, or configure DHCP in your Netgear router to always assign the same IP address to your Windows 2003 server.
3. You must configure your Netgear router to allow incoming traffic from the internet on port 80 to forward to your Windows 2003 server.
4. The last step is the one I have least experience. I believe you must work with your 3rd party domain registrar to have "domain pointers" or "domain forwarding" installed to point queries for your domains (mysite.com) or your individual web page (www.mysite.com) to the static IP address provided by your ISP. Looking at www.godaddy.com, for example, it appears they have tools that allow you to manipulate your DNS records on your own while still having DNS hosted through GoDaddy.

You may encounter problems with SSL certificates, so https may be a problem.