Managing IIS Express Servers

By Lex Li

This page shows you how to add IIS Express servers in Jexus Manager.

Background

You need to add an IIS Express server in Jexus Manager before managing its configuration.

Global IIS Express

In older Visual Studio releases (such as 2012/2013), a global IIS Express configuration file can be found at %userprofile%\documents\iisexpress\config\applicationhost.config or %userprofile%\my documents\iisexpress\config\applicationhost.config.

If Jexus Manager detects this file, a default server called “IIS Express” is automatically created and showed.

Add IIS Express From Custom Configuration File

An IIS Express server can be easily created from a custom configuration file.

  1. Click “File | Connect to a Server…” menu item, and a wizard starts,

    ../_images/add_server_types.png

  2. Choose IIS Express Configuration File and click “Next” button.

  3. Specify full path of the configuration file (.config) in the text box, or click “…” button to browse the file system,

    ../_images/add_server_iis_express_file.png

  4. Click Next button.

  5. Give this connection a unique and meaningful name.

    ../_images/add_server_name.png

  6. Click “Finish” button.

Add IIS Express From Visual Studio 2015/2017/2019 Solution File

When you create a new web project in Visual Studio 2015/2017, the IDE adds a custom IIS Express configuration file to the project folder at ($SolutionDir)\.vs\config\applicationHost.config.

Note

This file (and the .vs folder) is hidden by default in Windows Explorer.

IIS Express custom configuration is documented in this blog post .

Visual Studio 2019 uses ($SolutionDir)\.vs\config\$(ProjectName)\applicationhost.config.

JetBrains Rider uses a similar approach, and it puts the configuration file at ($SolutionDir)\.idea\config\applicationHost.config.

Note

This file (and the .idea folder) is hidden by default in Windows Explorer.

Jexus Manager allows you to add such a solution file as a new IIS Express server (so it automatically locates and reads the hidden configuration files).

  1. Click “File | Connect to a Server…” menu item, and a wizard starts,

    ../_images/add_server_types.png

  2. Choose Visual Studio IIS Express Configuration File and click “Next” button.

  3. Specify full path of the solution file (.sln) in the text box, or click “…” button to browse the file system,

    ../_images/add_server_vs.png

  4. Specify which custom configuration file to use, from Visual Studio or Rider.

    ../_images/rider.png

    Jexus Manager takes care of the rest to manage web sites and applications.

    Note

    For new projects/solutions, please debug/run them at least once in Visual Studio, so that IIS Express configuration file can be added.

  5. Click Next button.

  6. Give this connection a unique and meaningful name.

    ../_images/add_server_name.png

  7. Click “Finish” button.

Next Step

Once a server is added, sites and applications can be managed by choosing one of the categories in the middle panel.

../_images/jexus.png

Note

If the server node is not yet expanded for management, double click the node so that Jexus Manager tries to load its configuration.