How do you migrate an IIS 7 site to another server

Question

I m wondering what is the best practice for moving a website to another server  along with all settings  etc     Manually recreate the site on the new server  not maintainable for obvious reasons  Copy the applicationHost config settings file Use appcmd to make a backup and restore Use MSDeploy to publish the site on the new machine Use a 3rd party tool   Just wondering what others  experiences have been

User · Accepted Answer

I d say export your server config in IIS manager    In IIS manager  click the Server node Go to Shared Configuration under  Management  Click    Export Configuration      You can use a password if you are sending them across the internet  if you are just gonna move them via a USB key then don t sweat it   Move these files to your new server  administration config applicationHost config configEncKey key   On the new server  go back to the    Shared Configuration    section and check    Enable shared configuration     Enter the location in physical path to these files and apply them  It should prompt for the encryption password if you set it  and reset IIS    BAM  Go have a beer

User · Answer

In my case  the files were already copied  I found the easiest way to follow the steps in this guide  https   www ryadel com en exporting-importing-app-pools-and-websites-configuration-between-multiple-iis-instances   I exported AppPools Websites  copied the xml files to the destination server and Imported AppPools then Websites  Worked very well  This is also another excellent option for this question

User · Answer

I can t comment up thread due to lack of rep  Another commenter stated they couldn t migrate from a lower version to a higher version of IIS  This is true if you don t merge some files  but if you do you can as I just migrated my IIS 7 5 site to IIS 8 0 using the answer posted by chews   When the export is created  II7 5   there are two key files  administration config and applicationHost config  which have references to resources on the IIS7 5 server  For example  a DLL will be referred with a public key and version specific to 7 5  These are NOT the same on the IIS8 server  The feature configuration may differ as well  I ensured mine were identical   There are some new features in 8 which will never exist in 7 5   If you are brave enough to merge the two files - it will work  I had to uninstall IIS once because I messed it up  but got it the second time   I used a merge tool  Beyond Compare  and without something equivalent it would be a huge PITA - but was pretty easy with a good diff tool  five minutes    To do the merge  the 8 0 files need to be diffed against the exported 7 5 files BEFORE an import is attempted  For the most part  the 8 0 files need to overwrite the server specific stuff in the exported 7 5 files  while leaving the site app pool specific stuff   I found that administration config was almost identical  sans the version info of many entries  This one was easy   The applicationHost config has a lot more differences  Some entries are ordered differently  but otherwise identical  so you will have to pick through each difference and figure it out   I put my 7 5 export files in the System32 inetsrv config Export folder prior to merging   I merged FROM folder System32 inetsrv config to folder System32 inetsrv config Export for both files I mentioned above  I pushed over everything in the FROM files except site specific tags elements  e g  applicationPools  customMetadata  sites  authentication   Of special note  there were also many site specific  location  tag blocks that I had to keep  but the new server had its own  location  tag block with server specific defaults that has to be kept   Lastly  do note that if you use service accounts  these cached passwords are junk and will have to be re-entered for your app pools  None of my sites worked initially  but all that was required was re-entering the passwords for all my app pools and I was up and running   If someone who can comment mention this post down thread - it will probably help someone else like me who has many sites on one server with complicated configurations   Regards   Stuart

User · Answer

use appcmd to export one or all the sites out then reimport into the new server  It could be iis7 0 or 7 5 When you export out using appcmd  the passwords are decrypted  then reimport and they will reencrypt

User · Answer

Here is a helpful website on using appcmd to export import a site configuration  http   www microsoftpro nl 2011 01 27 exporting-and-importing-sites-and-app-pools-from-iis-7-and-7-5

User · Answer

use appcmd to export one or all the sites out then reimport into the new server  It could be iis7 0 or 7 5 When you export out using appcmd  the passwords are decrypted  then reimport and they will reencrypt

User · Answer

I can t comment up thread due to lack of rep  Another commenter stated they couldn t migrate from a lower version to a higher version of IIS  This is true if you don t merge some files  but if you do you can as I just migrated my IIS 7 5 site to IIS 8 0 using the answer posted by chews   When the export is created  II7 5   there are two key files  administration config and applicationHost config  which have references to resources on the IIS7 5 server  For example  a DLL will be referred with a public key and version specific to 7 5  These are NOT the same on the IIS8 server  The feature configuration may differ as well  I ensured mine were identical   There are some new features in 8 which will never exist in 7 5   If you are brave enough to merge the two files - it will work  I had to uninstall IIS once because I messed it up  but got it the second time   I used a merge tool  Beyond Compare  and without something equivalent it would be a huge PITA - but was pretty easy with a good diff tool  five minutes    To do the merge  the 8 0 files need to be diffed against the exported 7 5 files BEFORE an import is attempted  For the most part  the 8 0 files need to overwrite the server specific stuff in the exported 7 5 files  while leaving the site app pool specific stuff   I found that administration config was almost identical  sans the version info of many entries  This one was easy   The applicationHost config has a lot more differences  Some entries are ordered differently  but otherwise identical  so you will have to pick through each difference and figure it out   I put my 7 5 export files in the System32 inetsrv config Export folder prior to merging   I merged FROM folder System32 inetsrv config to folder System32 inetsrv config Export for both files I mentioned above  I pushed over everything in the FROM files except site specific tags elements  e g  applicationPools  customMetadata  sites  authentication   Of special note  there were also many site specific  location  tag blocks that I had to keep  but the new server had its own  location  tag block with server specific defaults that has to be kept   Lastly  do note that if you use service accounts  these cached passwords are junk and will have to be re-entered for your app pools  None of my sites worked initially  but all that was required was re-entering the passwords for all my app pools and I was up and running   If someone who can comment mention this post down thread - it will probably help someone else like me who has many sites on one server with complicated configurations   Regards   Stuart

User · Answer

MSDeploy can migrate all content  config  etc   that is what the IIS team recommends   http   www iis net extensions WebDeploymentTool  To create a package  run the following command  replace Default Web Site with your web site name    msdeploy exe -verb sync -source apphostconfig  Default Web Site  -dest package c  dws zip  gt  DWSpackage7 log   To restore the package  run the following command   msdeploy exe -verb sync -source package c  dws zip -dest apphostconfig  Default Web Site   gt  DWSpackage7 log

User · Answer

In my case  the files were already copied  I found the easiest way to follow the steps in this guide  https   www ryadel com en exporting-importing-app-pools-and-websites-configuration-between-multiple-iis-instances   I exported AppPools Websites  copied the xml files to the destination server and Imported AppPools then Websites  Worked very well  This is also another excellent option for this question

User · Answer

MSDeploy can migrate all content  config  etc   that is what the IIS team recommends   http   www iis net extensions WebDeploymentTool  To create a package  run the following command  replace Default Web Site with your web site name    msdeploy exe -verb sync -source apphostconfig  Default Web Site  -dest package c  dws zip  gt  DWSpackage7 log   To restore the package  run the following command   msdeploy exe -verb sync -source package c  dws zip -dest apphostconfig  Default Web Site   gt  DWSpackage7 log

User · Answer

MSDeploy can migrate all content  config  etc   that is what the IIS team recommends   http   www iis net extensions WebDeploymentTool  To create a package  run the following command  replace Default Web Site with your web site name    msdeploy exe -verb sync -source apphostconfig  Default Web Site  -dest package c  dws zip  gt  DWSpackage7 log   To restore the package  run the following command   msdeploy exe -verb sync -source package c  dws zip -dest apphostconfig  Default Web Site   gt  DWSpackage7 log

User · Answer

Microsoft Web Deploy v3 can export and import all your files  the configuration settings  etc  It puts it all into a zip archive ready to import on the new server  It can even upgrade to newer versions of IIS  v7-v8      http   www iis net extensions WebDeploymentTool  After installing the tool  Right click your server or website in IIS Management Console  select  Deploy    Export Application     and run through the export   On the new server  import the exported zip archive in the same way

User · Answer

Here is a helpful website on using appcmd to export import a site configuration  http   www microsoftpro nl 2011 01 27 exporting-and-importing-sites-and-app-pools-from-iis-7-and-7-5

User · Answer

Microsoft Web Deploy v3 can export and import all your files  the configuration settings  etc  It puts it all into a zip archive ready to import on the new server  It can even upgrade to newer versions of IIS  v7-v8      http   www iis net extensions WebDeploymentTool  After installing the tool  Right click your server or website in IIS Management Console  select  Deploy    Export Application     and run through the export   On the new server  import the exported zip archive in the same way

User · Answer

MSDeploy can migrate all content  config  etc   that is what the IIS team recommends   http   www iis net extensions WebDeploymentTool  To create a package  run the following command  replace Default Web Site with your web site name    msdeploy exe -verb sync -source apphostconfig  Default Web Site  -dest package c  dws zip  gt  DWSpackage7 log   To restore the package  run the following command   msdeploy exe -verb sync -source package c  dws zip -dest apphostconfig  Default Web Site   gt  DWSpackage7 log

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