One of the many great features of IIS 8 is Remote Administration. It is not enabled by default but once configured this feature will allow you to maintain your web site using the IIS Manager gui without having to login to the server. IIS Remote Administration is also available with .
Install the Management Service
Windows Server 2012 and IIS 8 provides two methods to install the management service. The first method is to use Server Manager and and click on the Add Roles and Features Wizard.
After opening the Add Roles and Features Wizard, scroll down to the Web Server (IIS) role and then expand the tree for Management Tools. Click on Management Service and then click Next to finish the wizard.
The installation will take a few moments to complete. Once it has finished the Server Manager will display Management Service under the IIS Roles and Features.
The 2nd method for installing the management service is to use the Web Platform Installer (WPI). You can launch the WPI from within the IIS Manager by clicking on Get New Web Platform Components.
After the Web Platform Installer opens up, filter the list of products by using the keyword IIS and sorting the Name column. Scroll through the the list and find IIS Management Service. Click the Add button and then then complete the wizard. There will be a momentary wait while the WPI wizard completes the installation. You will see a confirmation page once it completes. If you go to the Server Manager as shown above you can also confirm that it has been successfully installed.
Configuring the IIS 8 Management Service
Once you have successfully installed the remote management service on the server, it first needs to be enabled, and then user permissions need to be assigned. Using IIS Manager, click on the server name, then, as shown in the picture below, scroll down to the Management group. This is where you can manage Feature Delegation, IIS Manager Users, IIS Manager Permissions, and maintain the Management Service settings. Click on the Management Service icon to enable the service and configure the remote administration settings.
Click the checkbox next to Enable remote connections to enable the service. Next select whether or not you want to allow users to access the server using Windows credentials only or allow users with Windows credentials and IIS Manager credentials. Select the IP address you will be using for the service and the default port 8172. A default SSL certificate is available to be used for security or you can add your own personal certificate. To provide even greater security you can enable IP address restrictions. Be sure to click Start after making your changes. These settings can be changed anytime later on but you’ll need to stop the management service first before doing so.
Allow Users Access the Site Remotely
Now that the management service has been configured and is running, you can assign user permissions. The user permissions are assigned at the site level. Select the site you want to allow remote access to and in the Features View click IIS Manager Permissions.
Under Actions click Allow User.
Enter the username or click Select to browse for a list of users on the server and then click Ok. In this walk-though we’ll add a Windows user named ftpuser1.
The server configuration is complete at this point. We have enabled Remote Administration and allowed a Windows user to remotely connect to IIS 8. Now the only remaining step is to install IIS Manager for Remote Administration on your PC.
Run the Web Platform Installer (WPI) on your PC to install IIS Manager for Remote Administration.
Now that IIS Manager has been installed on your PC you can try connecting to your web site. From within IIS Manager just right-click on the globe icon under Connections. Select Connect to a Site.
You will be prompted to enter the server address where your site is being hosted as well as the site name.
On the next screen you’ll enter the username and password to authenticate.
You can change the name of the connection or just click Finish. Your site will be displayed in IIS Manager.
You can tell that you’ve connected to the remote site securely by looking at the bottom right corner of the window.
Summary
In this walk-through I covered installing and configuring IIS 8 Remote Administration on Windows Server 2012 and then using the Web Platform Installer, we installed IIS Manager for Remote Administration on your PC.
