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nray
Asked: 2009-08-10 23:37:39 +0800 CST

IIS6 - How do I move Inetpub to a new partition, after websites have been created?

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If a production webserver with several sites has been set up as per the defaults, then websites will be created under C:\INETPUB, and log files will be written to C:\System32\LogFiles.

This has implications for disk space on C:as sites grow and logging increases. The size of that partition is not easily increased (without third party tools like Acronis Disk Director), and a better configuration is to move websites and logfiles to their own volume.

How do you migrate IIS to a new partition?
Is it better to simply xcopy each site, then reconfigure each site to point to the new files? New sites would still be be created on C:\INETPUB unless the webmaster remembered to change the default. And what about virtual folders, maybe buried deep and easily missed?

Or can IIS be moved all at once, maintaining the relative structure, but swapping out C: for D:\ wherever it appears?

Moving large sub-directories Another idea might be to redirect some large sub-directory (e.g. an uploads folder) to another parttion using virtual directories.

iis-6

3 Answers

  1. You can use a FREE tool like Junction to point c:\inetpub\wwwroot to a folder on another disk volume. (Use xcopy to make sure you copy files and folders with the same permissions as exist.)

    This then allows you to put a disk volume in place which you can stretch/span across multiple disks as your storage requirements grow. Whilst leaving IIS default settings unchanged.

    Same can be done with logfiles directory, or you could apply compression to the logfiles directory and/or periodically archive them off, which is probably a good practice anyway.

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  2. Best Answer

    Some of IIS 6.0's settings can be set "globally", like the default start path of the log files. See this article on TechNet:

    Changing Default Web Site Settings (IIS 6.0)

    However, some of the settings you change will not affect your existing webs. For example, if you set the default path for your log files, this won't change the folder for your existing log files.

    During IIS installation, default values are set for the various properties assigned to Web sites. Properties can be set at the global level, affecting all Web sites on a server, on the individual site level, at the directory level, or at the file level. IIS uses an inheritance model, which means that settings on higher levels are automatically inherited by lower levels. Settings at lower levels can be edited individually to override inherited settings from the next level up.

    If you change a setting at a lower level, then later change a setting at a higher level that conflicts with the lower level setting, you will be prompted to choose whether you want to change the lower-level setting to match the new higher-level setting.

    Regarding the home path of new web site: if you create a new web site, the IIS wizard will always prompt you for the path.

    If you have to migrate your files to a new folder, I would do it one-by-one (if you don't have hundreds of them - then some scripting would be necessary). Be sure you test the sites and check if there are directories which needs "special" permissions.

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  3. I'd suggest you move the contents of your inetpub folder to another partition, and then using Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc), mount that partition into C:\Inetpub. IIS should notice no difference since C:\Inetpub is transparently being redirected to the other partition.

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