Can someone tell me if there is a way to force case-sensitivity in IIS? I
need to be able to emulate web hosting on a UNIX server.

Thanks!

Vince

Re: Case sensitivity by Kristofer

Kristofer
Wed Jul 13 13:52:13 CDT 2005

IIS is case-sensitivity aware (although the static file cache seems to
have some issues with it). The problem is however that the file system is
not case-sensitive. So when IIS asks the file system for the file
"File.htm", and there is a file named "file.htm", the file system happily
gives back "file.htm". So the limitation is in the file system, and not
IIS.

If the file system is case-sensitive (for example if the files are stored
on a Linux machine), "File.htm" and "file.htm" will not be equal. But
since the static file cache has some issues with this (it converts all
file names to uppercase), you need to disable the static file cache.

I suppose that if you were able to check if there is a file named
"File.htm" and not "file.htm" in an ISAPI filter, you would be able to
reply with a 404 to the client. But why do it? Why force the user to
remember the case of the file name? Also see
http://www.w3.org/TR/chips/#uri , section 1.2.


--
Regards,
Kristofer Gafvert (IIS MVP)
www.gafvert.info - My Articles and help
www.ilopia.com


Vince wrote:

> Can someone tell me if there is a way to force case-sensitivity in IIS? I
> need to be able to emulate web hosting on a UNIX server.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Vince

Re: Case sensitivity by Vince

Vince
Wed Jul 13 16:35:03 CDT 2005

Thank-you for your help.

The reason I need to force case sensitivity is for testing purposes. We have
a client that hosts web sites on a Unix server. One particular site has mixed
case files which they want standardised to lower case. In order for us to do
this, we need to ensure that there will be no broken links within any of the
content once we make the changes.

It would be easier for us to test the content under IIS than it would to
build a Linux machine with Apache and have to regularly FTP the files across.
If this isn't possible under Windows 2000 then we'll have to go with Linux.

Thanks again!

Vince

"Kristofer Gafvert [MVP]" wrote:

> IIS is case-sensitivity aware (although the static file cache seems to
> have some issues with it). The problem is however that the file system is
> not case-sensitive. So when IIS asks the file system for the file
> "File.htm", and there is a file named "file.htm", the file system happily
> gives back "file.htm". So the limitation is in the file system, and not
> IIS.
>
> If the file system is case-sensitive (for example if the files are stored
> on a Linux machine), "File.htm" and "file.htm" will not be equal. But
> since the static file cache has some issues with this (it converts all
> file names to uppercase), you need to disable the static file cache.
>
> I suppose that if you were able to check if there is a file named
> "File.htm" and not "file.htm" in an ISAPI filter, you would be able to
> reply with a 404 to the client. But why do it? Why force the user to
> remember the case of the file name? Also see
> http://www.w3.org/TR/chips/#uri , section 1.2.
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Kristofer Gafvert (IIS MVP)
> www.gafvert.info - My Articles and help
> www.ilopia.com
>
>
> Vince wrote:
>
> > Can someone tell me if there is a way to force case-sensitivity in IIS? I
> > need to be able to emulate web hosting on a UNIX server.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Vince
>

Re: Case sensitivity by Wade

Wade
Wed Jul 13 23:35:16 CDT 2005

Hi Vince and Kristofer,

I just want to make a technical clarification on IIS and case sensitivity.
IIS actually does assume case insensitivity in the URL. Specifically, we
cache the metadata using the URL as a key, and the key lookup is case
insensitive. So even if the file system supported case sensitivity, IIS
would still have issues where we could associate metadata with the URL
incorrectly.

As for the testing scenario below, it would probably be possible to write a
filter on the URL_MAP notification to query the file system for the actual
name of the file (which would return the actual cases of each character) and
compare that to the raw characters in the URL to determine if there are any
mismatches. Such a filter would have no practical value on a production
system and would not provide case-sensitivity, but it could probably test
the below content.

Thank you,
-Wade A. Hilmo,
-Microsoft

"Vince" <Vince@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:904E3155-53DA-4364-BCA2-54B9629CDA93@microsoft.com...
> Thank-you for your help.
>
> The reason I need to force case sensitivity is for testing purposes. We
have
> a client that hosts web sites on a Unix server. One particular site has
mixed
> case files which they want standardised to lower case. In order for us to
do
> this, we need to ensure that there will be no broken links within any of
the
> content once we make the changes.
>
> It would be easier for us to test the content under IIS than it would to
> build a Linux machine with Apache and have to regularly FTP the files
across.
> If this isn't possible under Windows 2000 then we'll have to go with
Linux.
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Vince
>
> "Kristofer Gafvert [MVP]" wrote:
>
> > IIS is case-sensitivity aware (although the static file cache seems to
> > have some issues with it). The problem is however that the file system
is
> > not case-sensitive. So when IIS asks the file system for the file
> > "File.htm", and there is a file named "file.htm", the file system
happily
> > gives back "file.htm". So the limitation is in the file system, and not
> > IIS.
> >
> > If the file system is case-sensitive (for example if the files are
stored
> > on a Linux machine), "File.htm" and "file.htm" will not be equal. But
> > since the static file cache has some issues with this (it converts all
> > file names to uppercase), you need to disable the static file cache.
> >
> > I suppose that if you were able to check if there is a file named
> > "File.htm" and not "file.htm" in an ISAPI filter, you would be able to
> > reply with a 404 to the client. But why do it? Why force the user to
> > remember the case of the file name? Also see
> > http://www.w3.org/TR/chips/#uri , section 1.2.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Kristofer Gafvert (IIS MVP)
> > www.gafvert.info - My Articles and help
> > www.ilopia.com
> >
> >
> > Vince wrote:
> >
> > > Can someone tell me if there is a way to force case-sensitivity in
IIS? I
> > > need to be able to emulate web hosting on a UNIX server.
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > Vince
> >



Re: Case sensitivity by Kristofer

Kristofer
Thu Jul 14 01:18:31 CDT 2005

Can you disable the caching? I've been told that there should not be any
problems with case-sensitive URIs besides the cache.

We are talking about the URI cache, right?
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/43ac9ead-6010-4e3a-8a6b-6ab0974a5f93.mspx

I have not (yet) found any way to disable this cache.

(Of couse there will be a performance hit if you disable it)

--
Regards,
Kristofer Gafvert (IIS MVP)
www.gafvert.info - My Articles and help
www.ilopia.com


Wade A. Hilmo [MS] wrote:

> Hi Vince and Kristofer,
>
> I just want to make a technical clarification on IIS and case
sensitivity.
> IIS actually does assume case insensitivity in the URL. Specifically, we
> cache the metadata using the URL as a key, and the key lookup is case
> insensitive. So even if the file system supported case sensitivity, IIS
> would still have issues where we could associate metadata with the URL
> incorrectly.
>
> As for the testing scenario below, it would probably be possible to
write a
> filter on the URL_MAP notification to query the file system for the
actual
> name of the file (which would return the actual cases of each character)
and
> compare that to the raw characters in the URL to determine if there are
any
> mismatches. Such a filter would have no practical value on a production
> system and would not provide case-sensitivity, but it could probably test
> the below content.
>
> Thank you,
> -Wade A. Hilmo,
> -Microsoft
>
> "Vince" <Vince@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:904E3155-53DA-4364-BCA2-54B9629CDA93@microsoft.com...
> > Thank-you for your help.
> >
> > The reason I need to force case sensitivity is for testing purposes. We
> have
> > a client that hosts web sites on a Unix server. One particular site has
> mixed
> > case files which they want standardised to lower case. In order for us
to
> do
> > this, we need to ensure that there will be no broken links within any
of
> the
> > content once we make the changes.
> >
> > It would be easier for us to test the content under IIS than it would
to
> > build a Linux machine with Apache and have to regularly FTP the files
> across.
> > If this isn't possible under Windows 2000 then we'll have to go with
> Linux.
> >
> > Thanks again!
> >
> > Vince
> >
> > "Kristofer Gafvert [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> > > IIS is case-sensitivity aware (although the static file cache seems
to
> > > have some issues with it). The problem is however that the file
system
> is
> > > not case-sensitive. So when IIS asks the file system for the file
> > > "File.htm", and there is a file named "file.htm", the file system
> happily
> > > gives back "file.htm". So the limitation is in the file system, and
not
> > > IIS.
> > >
> > > If the file system is case-sensitive (for example if the files are
> stored
> > > on a Linux machine), "File.htm" and "file.htm" will not be equal. But
> > > since the static file cache has some issues with this (it converts
all
> > > file names to uppercase), you need to disable the static file cache.
> > >
> > > I suppose that if you were able to check if there is a file named
> > > "File.htm" and not "file.htm" in an ISAPI filter, you would be able
to
> > > reply with a 404 to the client. But why do it? Why force the user to
> > > remember the case of the file name? Also see
> > > http://www.w3.org/TR/chips/#uri , section 1.2.
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Regards,
> > > Kristofer Gafvert (IIS MVP)
> > > www.gafvert.info - My Articles and help
> > > www.ilopia.com
> > >
> > >
> > > Vince wrote:
> > >
> > > > Can someone tell me if there is a way to force case-sensitivity in
> IIS? I
> > > > need to be able to emulate web hosting on a UNIX server.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks!
> > > >
> > > > Vince
> > >

Re: Case sensitivity by Wade

Wade
Thu Jul 14 21:24:50 CDT 2005


Yes, we are talking about the URI cache. No, you cannot disable it.

Thank you,
-Wade A. Hilmo,
-Microsoft

"Kristofer Gafvert [MVP]" <kgafvert@NEWSilopia.com> wrote in message
news:xn0e4qde6cqwdf001f@news.microsoft.com...
> Can you disable the caching? I've been told that there should not be any
> problems with case-sensitive URIs besides the cache.
>
> We are talking about the URI cache, right?
>
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/43ac9ead-6010-4e3a-8a6b-6ab0974a5f93.mspx
>
> I have not (yet) found any way to disable this cache.
>
> (Of couse there will be a performance hit if you disable it)
>
> --
> Regards,
> Kristofer Gafvert (IIS MVP)
> www.gafvert.info - My Articles and help
> www.ilopia.com
>
>
> Wade A. Hilmo [MS] wrote:
>
> > Hi Vince and Kristofer,
> >
> > I just want to make a technical clarification on IIS and case
> sensitivity.
> > IIS actually does assume case insensitivity in the URL. Specifically,
we
> > cache the metadata using the URL as a key, and the key lookup is case
> > insensitive. So even if the file system supported case sensitivity, IIS
> > would still have issues where we could associate metadata with the URL
> > incorrectly.
> >
> > As for the testing scenario below, it would probably be possible to
> write a
> > filter on the URL_MAP notification to query the file system for the
> actual
> > name of the file (which would return the actual cases of each character)
> and
> > compare that to the raw characters in the URL to determine if there are
> any
> > mismatches. Such a filter would have no practical value on a production
> > system and would not provide case-sensitivity, but it could probably
test
> > the below content.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > -Wade A. Hilmo,
> > -Microsoft
> >
> > "Vince" <Vince@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:904E3155-53DA-4364-BCA2-54B9629CDA93@microsoft.com...
> > > Thank-you for your help.
> > >
> > > The reason I need to force case sensitivity is for testing purposes.
We
> > have
> > > a cli