Windows Server Administration/Web Services

This lesson covers web services. Activities include installing and configuring Internet Information Services (IIS) with web sites and virtual directories, SSL/TLS encryption, and FTP publishing.

Objectives and Skills
Objectives and skills for the Understanding Server Roles portion of Windows Server Administration Fundamentals certification include:
 * Understand Web services: IIS, WWW, and FTP; separate worker processes; adding components; sites; ports; SSL; certificates

Readings

 * 1)  Web server
 * 2)  Hypertext Transfer Protocol
 * 3)  HTTP Secure
 * 4)  Transport Layer Security
 * 5)  Public key certificate
 * 6)  File Transfer Protocol
 * 7)  Internet Information Services

Multimedia

 * 1) YouTube: How to Setup or Configure IIS(Web Server) Server in Windows Server 2019
 * 2) YouTube: Website configuration for beginners in Windows Server 2019
 * 3) YouTube: Web Server 2019 – IIS 10 - Hosting Single Website on IIS Server
 * 4) YouTube: How to create an IIS virtual directory website in Windows Server 2019
 * 5) YouTube: How to Install & Configure FTP Server on Windows Server 2019
 * 6) YouTube: PKI Bootcamp - What is a PKI?

Activities

 * 1) Review Install and Configure IIS Web Server on Windows Server 2019.  Add the web server role and configure web and FTP services.
 * 2) Add a web site.
 * 3) Review How To Configure Virtual Directory on Windows IIS Server 2019 Add a virtual directory to the web site.
 * 4) Add a second web site and configure host headers so that both sites are active.
 * 5) Configure access security on the second web site so that it is only available as an intranet web site.
 * 6) Use a web browser to view certificate information for an HTTPS connection.
 * 7) Use the Internet to search for SSL certificate vendors and compare prices and certificate options.
 * 8) Use IIS to build a certificate request for a secure web site.
 * 9) Configure FTP access to publish content to one of the web sites.

Lesson Summary

 * The term web server may refer to either the hardware (the computer) or the software (the computer application) that helps deliver web content that can be accessed through the Internet.


 * The primary function of a web server is to process client requests for web pages using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).


 * Web server content may come from either static files on the server or dynamic content generated from databases.


 * Web servers also support receiving content from clients through submission of web forms and uploading of files.


 * The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems, and is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.


 * Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a widely used communications protocol for secure communication over a computer network, with especially wide deployment on the Internet. Technically, it is not a protocol in itself; rather, it is the result of simply layering the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) on top of the Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) protocol, thus adding the security capabilities of SSL/TLS to standard HTTP communications.


 * HTTP URLs begin with "http://" and use port 80 by default. HTTPS URLs begin with "https://" and use port 443 by default.


 * Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet.


 * SSL/TLS uses asymmetric cryptography for authentication of key exchange, symmetric encryption for confidentiality and message authentication codes for message integrity.


 * Public key certificates (also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate) use a digital signature to bind a public key with an identity to verify that a public key belongs to an individual. The digital signature is provided by a trusted certificate authority.


 * FTP uses either clear-text authentication or anonymous connections.


 * FTP has two connection modes: active and passive. Both modes use TCP port 21 for communication.  Active mode uses a separate port for data transfer.  Only passive mode works through most default firewall configurations.


 * Internet Information Services (IIS) is Microsoft's web server software application and supported extension modules for use on Windows platforms.


 * IIS components are added and removed through Server Manager - Add or Remove Roles or Features.


 * IIS has a modular architecture. Modules, also called extensions, can be added or removed individually so that only modules required for specific functionality need to be installed.


 * IIS supports application pools that allow web sites and web applications to be assigned to separate worker processes to improve reliability and manageability.

Key Terms

 * Active Server Pages (ASP)
 * Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically generated web pages.


 * File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
 * A standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet.


 * hyperlink
 * A reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically.


 * HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
 * The main markup language for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser.


 * Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
 * An application protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems, and the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.


 * PHP
 * An open-source, server-side scripting language designed for web development but also used as a general-purpose programming language.


 * proxy server
 * A server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers.


 * server-side scripting
 * A technique used in website design which involves embedding scripts in HTML source code which results in a user's (client's) request to the server website being handled by a script running server-side before the server responds to the client's request.


 * style sheet
 * A file that defines the visual layout (style) for a web page, separate from the markup (i.e., HTML or XHTML) of the page's semantic content and structure.


 * Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
 * A specific character string that constitutes a reference to a resource, also known as a web address.


 * user agent
 * Software that is acting on behalf of a user, such as a web browser.


 * virtual hosting
 * A method for hosting multiple domain names, with separate handling of each name, on a single server or pool of servers.


 * web cache
 * A mechanism for the temporary storage (caching) of web documents, such as HTML pages and images, to reduce bandwidth usage, server load, and perceived lag.


 * web crawler
 * An Internet robot that systematically browses the World Wide Web, typically for the purpose of Web indexing.


 * website
 * A set of related web pages served from a single web domain.


 * World Wide Web (WWW)
 * A system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet.

Flashcards

 * Test your understanding of this lesson.
 * Test your understanding of the key terms.