IIS service stopping, no event shown

IIS service stopping, no event shown in event viewer

[heatheshb]

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with the following. Our IIS server keeps stalling, and it doesn't show us why in the event viewer. There is no filter set, so we should see all events.

Anybody got any ideas. We recently had a problem with disk space on the server, but we cleared some log files and managed to get about 1.3 Gig of space free.

Thanks for any assistance...

[DaveAtIFG]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld heatheshb!

We have less information to speculate about than you do... ;)

Being more familiar with Windoze quirks than I'd like to be, I think the source of the problem is in your post:

We recently had a problem with disk space on the server...

I think you should probably take all of the usual steps to get things running smoothly again, chkdsk, reload IIS, run the system file checker, reload Windoze...

[kwngian]

Your server will crash every time CODERED or NIMDA hit you if you did not patch if properly.

This problem happens to me on our winnt and 2000 machines, only difference is winnt will crash and stop while 2000 sometimes restarts the IIS service by itself.

Do a search for IIS Lockdown tool or URLSCAN and run it on your web server after patching it up with the latest patches.

Remove all .id* mapping on your web server.

Should solve all issues after this.

[heatheshb]

Well, I tried the chkdsk and re-install route, and it seems to be working 100% now, thank you... ;-)

[Gizmare]

Another recommendation when using IIS is to use the IIS lockdown tool, along wiht URL scan. This will block holes that are left wide open to begin with.

[MaxGrenk]

There is another angle:

I consider an IIS server hosting a commercial site as a business critical appliance. As such one should make sure to have at least do physical drives: one solely for C: WinNT and program files, another for data (say on D:).
Change all log file settings to point to a location on D:.

I am using a directory called AdminLogConf in the root of D: which holds all IIS, SMTP, Exchange, Spool and Quaranteen directories, etc. This way no log can ever kill the box due to excessive log files, etc.

To increase performance for the box even further, you may want to install a separate drive for the SwapFile.

You may sometimes register a DLL for your IIS server. You can put this into the AdminLogConf DIR under SrvrAddOns and register it there.

Keep a logfile about any change you make to the server, every little change should go in there, such as enabled this, changed that, installed this, etc. It is easy to identify problems later on.

Only install programs that are really needed to let the server perform its duty. No other software has to be there.

Backing up the meta base on a regular basis is also a good option as indicated.

Utilise backup software suitable for Windows, which backs up the State fo the server.

All the above may help you to achieve a more stable / recoverable IIS environment.