Running an EE site on IIS. What are the "gotchas"?

Question

I may be taking on a project for a large EE site that would most likely be running on IIS. Although I have some very minor experience of IIS I have never run PHP on it let alone an EE site. I don't envisage problems with getting things sorted on the server since the company I will be working with are an IT firm.

Are there any specific things I should be looking out for with regards to running an ExpressionEngine site in this environment?

Answer 1

If at all possible try to convince the client to let you run WAMP. I had to manage an IIS EE site for 3 years and it was an absolute nightmare.

1. Make sure you have .php set as a default document and higher priority than .html.
2. You may want to purchase ISAPI_Rewrite, which would allow you to use an .htaccess for any URL rewriting.
3. Permissions are a nightmare. You have to use the Windows Explorer "permissions" interface to set upload directories and whatnot.

The biggest recommendation I have is reading through Microsoft's guide. Let us know if you run into anything crazy and I, for one, am happy to help.