A quick note: it’s simple to set up, and, it runs great.

This web site is only in existance because I wanted to see if WordPress would run on IIS 6 (I’ve run Linux servers, for years). I’d read a bunch of posts in which people were having various problems installing, and, running WordPress on IIS 6 and – always tinkering – I wanted to try the thing and see what happened. I’d read some posts where people were griping about their web host running IIS, they wanted to install WordPress and it was a big pain, etc. I knew almost nothing about IIS 6 so I figured I was in for major headaches – but, hey, I like a challenge. In fact, the WordPress installation was very simple and without any major problems. And, this darned thing (Wordpess on IIS 6) has been running fine for months. Go figure. Virtually every feature works and it was brain-dead. I haven’t found any plugins, really, that failed to work. The only issue, at all, is the fact that IIS does not support mod_rewrite. Anyway, I’m still confused. WordPress runs just fine from IIS 6. Obviously, you have to install PHP and MySQL – which is stupidly simple. If you’ve ever installed a WAMP server on XP, for instance, it’s about the same level of “complexity” (in other words, it ain’t complicated). Maybe if you were buying web hosting Linux would make more sense for WordPress – really, I don’t really see where it would matter…. Actually, installing and running WordPress could be a bit more complicated on IIS (as compared to Linux) if you’re web host doesn’t tweak some permissions. If your web host knows what they’re doing, it should be painless.

If I ever hit the lotto, maybe I’ll actually buy a copy of Windows Server 2003 – it’s pretty damned nice, kids! At this point, I think a lot of the bitching is coming from the “I hate Microsoft because they’re a ‘for profit’ business” crowd.

I love Linux, and, I love Microsoft stuff. I was introduced to the Mac late in life – and I’m a big fan of those, too. I’m just more comfortable on a computer running Windows because I’ve used it for a very long time. Anyway, I don’t care about the politics.

Editorially speaking: Microsoft is constantly bashed for selling their products. If it were not for Microsoft, to a large extent, everybody on the planet would not have a computer in their home. And they make really, really nice stuff – and they need to get paid for it, in order to continue making really, really nice stuff. A lot of my Unix buddies gripe about Microsoft and I think it’s pretty damned silly. And, by the way, a lot of Linux distros are now selling various features, support, etc. in order to make try to make better products – uhm…just like Microsoft.

At the moment I store a bunch of random notes on this site – it’s a bit of a mess. I’m certain you’ll wanna check out my dog pictures and my eclectic collection of music videos – MAYBE NOT.

The Steps

Setting up IIS 6 with PHP and MySQL was no big deal, and, the WordPress installation was just like a WordPress install on Linux – here’s an outline of what I did for PHP and MySQL:
PHP & MySQL on IIS 6

To play flash videos, mp4s, etc. you have to add some mime types. I can’t recall the exact syntax for an mp4, but it works. On a random note, I recall that you have to add a mime type for .png images (kinda weird). Anyway, this is what I did:
Adding MIME Types in IIS 6

Recently I set up WordPress on IIS 7 using ISAPI php – actually, the FastCGI version of php is recommended. The ISAPI version is considered unstable – but, I haven’t had have any major problems with the thing (so far…). There were a couple of minor “hiccups” but working around them was not a big deal. Here’s a link to my notes:
PHP & MySQL on IIS 7

I haven’t tried the FastCGI installation, yet (I’m always puttering around – I will soon) but here’s some info I grabbed from the web regarding that installation:
FastCGI PHP on Server 2008

Check a site’s server

This is kind of a nifty tool, from Netcraft, that will allow you to enter a domain and determine the server type:
Check Server Type