Computer Networking - Lesson 5: Creating an Intranet (Installing a Web Server IIS 7)

	Creating an Intranet in a Peer-To-Peer Network (Installing a Web Server IIS 7)

Introduction

Besides regular networking, another way computers share private information is to use their network as a private Internet. This is called an intranet.

An intranet is a computer network where connected computers use the technologies of the Internet to share resources such as folders or printers, etc. This means that a person seating on one computer can access a folder (or printer) in another computer using a browser and specifying the address of that folder (or resource).

Installing Internet Information Services

An intranet is a system where a computer allows other computers to access one or more of its resources using a browser. Many things must happen before this sharing or resources is possible.

In Microsoft Windows networks, an intranet starts from a web server. The web server is created using an application named Internet Information Services or IIS. In Microsoft Windows 7, the web server is available as IIS 7.5.

To install IIS in Microsoft Windows 7:

Click Start -> Control Panel
Click Programs
Click Turn Windows Features On Or Off
In the Windows Features dialog box, scroll down and click the + button of Internet Information Services
Click the check boxes of the options you want:
Click OK.
The installation will start. This may take a few minutes

Testing IIS

After installing the web server, to make sure it is working, start a browser. Set the web address (URL) to one of the following:

http:// followed by the name of the computer
http://localhost
http://127.0.0.1

Creating a Web Site

The most fundamental way to use an intranet is to access a resource using a browser. To make this happen, you must create a web site. A web site starts from a regular folder. When you have installed Internet Information Services, the installation automatically create folder and a web site. The folder is created on the C: drive and named. It has a sub-folder named wwwroot.

To access the newly created web site, use one of the above addresses:

Browser

The installation creates a file named iisstart.htm and puts it in the C:\inetpub\wwwroot folder. This is the home folder and the iisstart.htm file is the home page.

To change the home page, create an HTML document with a content of your choice. Here is an example:

<html>
<head>
<head>
<title>Exercise</title>
</head>
<body>

<h3>Private Matters</h3>

<p>This is our intranet web site.</p>

</body>
</html>

Save the document as index.htm or index.html or default.htm or default.html and store it in the C:\inetpub\wwwroot folder. When you access the web site, that file would show as the home page. Here is an example:

Intranet

In the same way, you can create additional folders and files to complete your intranet.