I have spent days trying to determine the best way to deploy our MetaBase
changes to a server group and cannot be confident that I have the answer.

The best result has been with using:

> iiscnfg /copy /s stage01 /u dom\user /p pass /ts prod01 /tu dom\user /tp pass

The documentation says that /copy "changes the computer-specific and
system-specific properties in the metabase so that they are valid on the
target computer."

I read the iiscnfg.vbs script, and can not see where any metabase
information is changed. It simply maps the admin$ shares on the 2 computers
issues the command:

> iisback /backup /s svr1 /u usr /p pwd /b iisreplback /overwrite

Next it copies the backup files to the target computer and issues:

> iisback /restore /s svr1 /u usr /p pwd /b iisreplback

It never changes anything in the metabase as far as I can see. So the
question is, are the AdminACLs and IUSR and IWAM account settings valid on
the target server?

Everything seems to work. The only problem is that the /copy command creates
local IUSR and IWAM accounts on the destination server that match the source
server name.

Before I use this method to build my production Web servers, can anyone tell
me if this is not a valid way to do a metabase deployment. Any advice would
be greatly appreciated.

Re: How to deploy IIS 6.0 MetaBase to server group by David

David
Sat Jan 22 03:04:58 CST 2005

The behavior you observe with /copy ( IUSR/IWAM ) is by-design.

When you have a group of machines running IIS6 that are supposed to be "the
same", you have the following strategies:
1. Make sure all configured user credentials on all servers are identical --
i.e. AnonymousUsername, WAMUsername, UNCUsername, AppPool Identity, etc.
This way, restoring metabase configuration won't look like duplication
2. Instead of local user credentials on #1, use common domain credentials

#2 is probably the smoothest way to go since the domain credential ensures
that all ACLs (and their SIDs) are the same on all the servers in the group.
#1 only ensures that the user credential is the same (so IIS authenticates
ok), but the SIDs on each server's ACLs are not the same, so you can't copy
files between the servers with expectation of similar ACL since the SID is
not the same.

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:00951D10-3469-4AFE-BDF9-4AF2049AF80A@microsoft.com...
I have spent days trying to determine the best way to deploy our MetaBase
changes to a server group and cannot be confident that I have the answer.

The best result has been with using:

> iiscnfg /copy /s stage01 /u dom\user /p pass /ts prod01 /tu dom\user /tp
pass

The documentation says that /copy "changes the computer-specific and
system-specific properties in the metabase so that they are valid on the
target computer."

I read the iiscnfg.vbs script, and can not see where any metabase
information is changed. It simply maps the admin$ shares on the 2 computers
issues the command:

> iisback /backup /s svr1 /u usr /p pwd /b iisreplback /overwrite

Next it copies the backup files to the target computer and issues:

> iisback /restore /s svr1 /u usr /p pwd /b iisreplback

It never changes anything in the metabase as far as I can see. So the
question is, are the AdminACLs and IUSR and IWAM account settings valid on
the target server?

Everything seems to work. The only problem is that the /copy command creates
local IUSR and IWAM accounts on the destination server that match the source
server name.

Before I use this method to build my production Web servers, can anyone tell
me if this is not a valid way to do a metabase deployment. Any advice would
be greatly appreciated.



Re: How to deploy IIS 6.0 MetaBase to server group by Terry

Terry
Mon Jan 24 10:17:02 CST 2005

If I use domain credentials for everything, can I also use iiscnfg /export
and /import to deploy changes to single sites without worrying about deleting
"machine-specific" keys?

Also, can you give me a better (more complete and accurate) explanation of
what the /inherited and /merge switches do? The IIS documentation is very
terse on both.

Thanks!

"David Wang [Msft]" wrote:

> The behavior you observe with /copy ( IUSR/IWAM ) is by-design.
>
> When you have a group of machines running IIS6 that are supposed to be "the
> same", you have the following strategies:
> 1. Make sure all configured user credentials on all servers are identical --
> i.e. AnonymousUsername, WAMUsername, UNCUsername, AppPool Identity, etc.
> This way, restoring metabase configuration won't look like duplication
> 2. Instead of local user credentials on #1, use common domain credentials
>
> #2 is probably the smoothest way to go since the domain credential ensures
> that all ACLs (and their SIDs) are the same on all the servers in the group.
> #1 only ensures that the user credential is the same (so IIS authenticates
> ok), but the SIDs on each server's ACLs are not the same, so you can't copy
> files between the servers with expectation of similar ACL since the SID is
> not the same.
>
> --
> //David
> IIS
> http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> //
> "Terry" <Terry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:00951D10-3469-4AFE-BDF9-4AF2049AF80A@microsoft.com...
> I have spent days trying to determine the best way to deploy our MetaBase
> changes to a server group and cannot be confident that I have the answer.
>
> The best result has been with using:
>
> > iiscnfg /copy /s stage01 /u dom\user /p pass /ts prod01 /tu dom\user /tp
> pass
>
> The documentation says that /copy "changes the computer-specific and
> system-specific properties in the metabase so that they are valid on the
> target computer."
>
> I read the iiscnfg.vbs script, and can not see where any metabase
> information is changed. It simply maps the admin$ shares on the 2 computers
> issues the command:
>
> > iisback /backup /s svr1 /u usr /p pwd /b iisreplback /overwrite
>
> Next it copies the backup files to the target computer and issues:
>
> > iisback /restore /s svr1 /u usr /p pwd /b iisreplback
>
> It never changes anything in the metabase as far as I can see. So the
> question is, are the AdminACLs and IUSR and IWAM account settings valid on
> the target server?
>
> Everything seems to work. The only problem is that the /copy command creates
> local IUSR and IWAM accounts on the destination server that match the source
> server name.
>
> Before I use this method to build my production Web servers, can anyone tell
> me if this is not a valid way to do a metabase deployment. Any advice would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>