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Microsoft Beefs Up Web Platform Tools

Developing and managing Web sites may have gotten a little easier with new tools announced by Microsoft this week as part of its MIX09 Web developer conference.

Those tools include Microsoft's Web Platform Installer (Web PI) 2.0 Beta, plus new or updated extensions to Microsoft's IIS 7 (Internet Information Services 7) Web server. Microsoft also made more general improvements in its Web platform, according to IIS Product Unit Manager Mai-lan Bukovec.

Bukovec said in a TechNet video that her team has been working on a "nuts and bolts rehaul" of Microsoft's Web platform for more than a year. She added that the new Web platform contains functionalities that make managing runtime requests, dynamic routing and database management "a whole lot easier."

Web PI 2.0 Beta, which can be downloaded here, has a new feature that lets users install various Web applications. Those applications include wikis, blogs and others available through Microsoft's Web Application Gallery. The installer's main function is to support Microsoft's Web platform components, including IIS 7, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and the .NET Framework.

Some of the new IIS extensions that Microsoft announced this week include FTP Service 7.5, a Smooth Streaming Beta for Silverlight, an Advanced Logging Beta for client-side metrics and an IIS Administration Pack. The IIS Administration Pack provides a management user interface for ASP.NET authorization, request filtering and FastCGI setup. The IIS 7 extensions can be downloaded here.

Also announced on Wednesday were release candidate versions of the IIS 7 Web Deployment Tool and Database Manager, a beta of Application Request Routing V2, and Media Services 2.0.

Access to all of these new Web tools is facilitated through Microsoft's Web PI software.

About the Author

Herb Torrens is an award-winning freelance writer based in Southern California. He managed the MCSP program for a leading computer telephony integrator for more than five years and has worked with numerous solution providers including HP/Compaq, Nortel, and Microsoft in all forms of media.

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