Today's Feature Article!

Back Up The Microsoft IIS Metabase In Windows 2000 And Later!

IIS configuration information resides in a metabase that consists of an XML document. If you're hosting several Web sites that have separate configurations, backing up the metabase is vital. To back up the IIS metabase, perform the following steps:

1. Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Internet Information Services (IIS) snap-in (go to Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, then click Internet Information Services Manager).
2. Right-click the name of the machine that hosts the IIS services, then select Backup/Restore Configuration from the All Tasks menu.
3. Click Create Backup.
4. Enter a name for the backup.
5. Optionally select the "Encrypt backup using password" check box and enter a password to protect the backup.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Close on the main Backup/Restore Configuration window.

The OS will create a metabase backup in the \%windir%\system32\inetsrv\metaback folder. The backup consists of two files: "name of backup".MDx and "name of backup".SCx. You should ensure that you back up this folder as part of your routine system backups. The .MDx file contains the actual metabase information, and the .SCx file contains the schema. In both cases, "x" is the version of the backup.

Gary Chambers