The main disadvantage of using virtual directories is the slight drop in performance that occurs when content stored on remote servers is accessed over the network. This can be minimized by:
Upgrading network cards in servers
Locating Web servers physically close to stored content
Walkthrough: Creating a Virtual Directory
Virtual directories can be created and managed using any of the following tools:
The Internet Services Manager (ISM)
The HTML version of the Internet Service Manager
The Windows Scripting Host
In this walkthrough, we will use the MMC with ISM snap-in to create and configure a virtual directory on the default Web site.
First create and store the Web content that needs to be published in either a local directory on your IIS server or on a remote network share. Assign appropriate NTFS permissions for controlling access to the folder containing your content.
From the Microsoft Management Console, right-click the Web site (here the Default Web Site) to which you wish to add a virtual directory. From the shortcut menu that appears, select New, Virtual Directory, and the New Virtual Directory Wizard will appear.
The New Virtual Directory Wizard.
Click Next to start the wizard. Enter the alias to be used to access the virtual directory and click Next.
Specifying the alias to use.
Next, you will need to specify either the path to the content directory on the local machine if you are creating a local virtual directory (Figure 5-3) or the UNC path to the network share containing the Web content if you are creating a remote virtual directory (Figure 5-4). In either case, you can either type in the path or select Browse to locate it.
Specifying the path to use.
Specifying the UNC path to remotely stored content.
If you specify content stored on a remote server, the next step will be to enter credentials sufficient to allow access to the remote folder.
Specifying the credentials to access remote content.
This can be a guest account, a specially defined domain user account, or an account belonging to the group that will have sole access to the virtual directory. Be careful to use an account with the minimum permissions necessary to provide access to the content. Never use an administrator account to provide access to a virtual directory.
Finally, specify the IIS access permissions you want for the virtual directory (Figure 5-6). These include whether or not to allow:
Read access
Write access
Script access
Execute access
Directory browsing access
Specifying access permissions for the virtual directory.
By default, read and script access permissions are enabled.
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Disadvantages of Virtual Directories
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