IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation

Peter Schmidt

In this article, I will discuss the basics of the new FTP Publishing Service in IIS 7.0 (Internet Information Services 7.0) along with the detailed instructions in installing this FTP service.

It is not a big secret that Microsoft has never had the best FTP server product, when compared to other competitors in the field of FTP server commerce. Although Microsoft always has FTP Server in almost all previous versions of IIS and Windows Server, they always lack a lot of advanced FTP server features. However, Microsoft has overcome many of these problems now, with the new version of FTP Publishing Service, the version was officially released when Windows Server 2008 was released. This new service has been completely rewritten, just like IIS 7.0 and it is only available for IIS 7.0.

Why are there two FTP servers and what is the difference between it?

1. First it was a minor upgrade and was quite similar to the FTP Service available in IIS 6.0.
2. The second FTP Service is an improved version, provided as a download and only for IIS 7.0.

This article will focus on the improved version of this FTP Publishing Service.

The new FTP Service has many features that allow web designers to easily publish content, and it also provides more security options and deployment for administrators. It is also available for Windows Server 2008 in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

New points

The new FTP Publishing Server includes a lot of features and improvements. Below we will point out some of the major new topics and describe one of these new enhancements.

1. Integration with IIS 7.0
   This new FTP service is strongly integrated with a completely new administration interface and configuration repository of IIS 7.0
2. Support for new Internet standards
   The new FTP service supports FTP over SSL, also known as FTPS or FTP / SSL and uses public key certificates (SSL / TLS). You should not confuse it with SFTP or FTP on SSH, which is another standard currently not supported by Microsoft FTP Publishing Service. It also supports other improvements like UTF8 and IPv6.
3. Shared hosting
   The new FTP service is improved and fully integrated into IIS 7.0, it can configure FTP and web content from the same site by adding an FTP binding to an existing website. The FTP service also has virtual hostname support, which makes it possible to host multiple FTP sites on the same IP address. It also improves user isolation through virtual directories.
4. Ability of extension
   This new FTP service has scalable support (API), which makes it easier for software vendors to write customizations for FTP authentication.
5. Logging
   FTP logging has been improved and enhanced to include all FTP traffic into log files
6. Troubleshooting features
   IIS 7.0 has a number of new troubleshooting features, such as Event Tracing for Windows (ETW), and FTP services that support this feature along with providing detailed error handling messages and notifications to users. locally, is also a new option for IIS 7.0.

The prerequisites for installation

The new FTP Publishing Service is now available for free as a module that can be downloaded from the IIS.net DownloadCenter.

Some prerequisites must be ensured before continuing to set up the FTP Publishing Service.

1. You must be using Windows Server 2008
2. IIS 7.0 must be installed
3. If you want to manage the new FTP services using the IIS 7.0 interface, you must install the IIS Management Console.
4. Must be logged in with administrator privileges
5. IIS 7.0's shared configuration must be disabled on each node before installing this new service, and it can be reactivated after the service is installed.
6. The FTP service included with Windows Server 2008 must be removed before installing this new FTP service

Setting

In this step-by-step guide, I will show you how to install the FTP service on a new Windows Server 2008 server. Note that I only introduced FTP installation, not IIS 7.0's services.

1. Download the new FTP Service version from the link above
2. Run the downloaded program with administrator privileges to install or install using either of the following commands:
   - x86 version: msiexec / i ftp7_x86_rtw.msi
   - x64 version: msiexec / i ftp7_x64_rtw.msi
3. These steps are very important because User Account Control (UAC) often prevents you from accessing the applicationHost.config file.
4. When the installation program starts, click Next:

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 1
Figure A: Installation starts

1. Accept the EULA and click Next:

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 2
Figure B: EULA

1. Select the options you want to install and click Next:

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 3
Figure C: Select the installation features

The installation features are described :

1. Common files
   Providing general files for Microsoft FTP Service for IIS 7.0, like the FTP configuration file file, these files are required on all FTP servers using the share configuration button.
2. FTP Publishing Service
   FTP Publishing Service, the core component required for FTP to work and requires the Process Model of the Windows Process Activation Service feature to be installed.
3. Managed Code Support
   Support for available code features. This feature is required when the code features available such as ASP.NET users or IIS Manager Users, will be used with FTP. This feature is optional and will not work when running Windows Server 2008 in Server Core mode.
4. Administration Features
   Support administration with IIS Manager, user interface (UI). This feature requires that the IIS Manager and .NET 2.0 Framework are installed.
5. Start installation, click Install:

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 4
Figure D: Start the installation

1. Click 'Read notes' to see the readme and click Finish:

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 5
Figure E: Installation ends

Confirm that the FTP Service is installed by checking whether the Microsoft FTP Service is running and in IIS Manager check the new FTP section with all management components for the FTP Service.

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 6
Figure F: FTP section in IIS Manager

By default the FTP server will block and not accept FTP requests.

From within IIS Manager you can easily publish a new FTP or add an FTP Publishing to an existing website.

For user security purposes, the FTP Service supports anonymity, which is not recommended and there are also two ways to authenticate your FTP users:

1. Windows Authentication
   Users are located in Active Directory or internal user storage area in dedicated FTP server.
2. IIS Manager Authentication
   This is a new feature, where IIS Manager is used for user administrators and all users are added using IIS Manager, authentication is managed by the new 'IISManagerAuth' provider.

Conclude

The new version of FTP Publishing Service with download capabilities from Microsoft is a worthwhile version. This is a great tool that Microsoft has edited and rewritten the new FTP Server for release with support for FTP-S.

Security and encryption are often not available in older versions.

Another advantage of this new service is the integration in IIS Manager and the direct connection to existing websites within IIS Manager.

IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 1: Installation Picture 7 IIS 7.0 - FTP Publishing Service - Part 2: Configuration