Windows/IIS Shared Hosting

[dariusw]

I work for a small media company that's branched out into hosting. We currently do lots of hosting using the LAMP platform, and all is well.

However, we currently have clients calling for Windows Server 2k3/MS SQL 2k hosts, and I'm not quite sure where to start; it doesn't look like HOWTO/FAQ/best-practices guides are readily available on the web.

Can anybody point me towards a good site to track down information on deploying such a server (shared hosting/db), or recommend a book? The number of "23 Hour Windows 2003 Administration in a Nutshell for Dummies" titles are mind-boggling.

Thanks!
darius

[storevalley]

Hi Darius ...

I found "Running Microsoft Internet Information Server" to be a pretty useful introduction. The version I have only covers IIS 4, but I suspect there will be an updated version around now.

ISBN number is 1-57231-585-7
Authors are Leonid Braginski and Matthew Powell
Publisher is Microsoft Press

:)

[physics]

If you can't talk them out of getting a win 2k3 server at least try to get them to run Apache instead of IIS:
[httpd.apache.org...]

[physics]

Oh and I almost forgot, welcome to WebmasterWorld.com dariusw!
Also, if you're going to be hosting for clients you might seriously consider hiring someone experienced in windows hosting at least part time or on a contracting basis.