Back up the IIS metabase in Windows 2000

by Jim Boyce | Mar 21, 2005 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Backups, Servers, Microsoft IIS Server, Jim Boyce, Microsoft Windows, Internet information service, backup, server, Internet, Microsoft Windows 2000

Takeaway: If you host services such as Web sites with IIS in Windows 2000, you should take steps to back up the IIS metabase, which holds configuration data for IIS. Learn how to back up the IIS metabase in Windows 2000 Server.

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If you host services such as Web sites with Internet Information Services (IIS) in Windows 2000, it's a good bet that you've implemented a process to back up the server and its content. If you're not already doing so, you should also take steps to back up the IIS metabase, which holds configuration data for IIS.

A metabase backup not only helps you restore the server's IIS configuration more easily, but it also helps simplify moving IIS services between servers if necessary.

To back up the IIS metabase in Windows 2000 Server, follow these steps:

1. Open the IIS console, and expand the server tree in the left pane.
2. Right-click the server you want to back up, and choose Backup/Restore Configuration.
3. In the Configuration Backup/Restore dialog box, select Create Backup, type a descriptive name for the backup, and click OK.
4. Click Close.

Each time you create a backup using this method, IIS creates two files in the %windir%\System32\inetsrv\MetaBack folder, one with an .mdx extension and one with a .scx extension. The .mdx file is the metabase data, and the .scx file is the schema. In both cases, x is a placeholder for a number that indicates the backup version.

In addition to creating the metabase backups, make sure to include the MetaBack folder in your regular backup scheme.

If you need to restore a server, you can restore the files and then use the Configuration Backup/Restore dialog box to restore the configuration. Or you can copy the backup files to the %windir%\System32\inetsrv\MetaBack folder of a new server and restore the configuration to clone the IIS configuration on the new server.