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Is IIS a web server or an application server?

Or is it both?

What is the difference between (or similarity between) Web and Application servers in .Net?

Thanks!

Update: On further investigation, concluded the following: It all depends on the protocol used for 'serving'

Web server: Only HTTP, and App server: any, including HTTP.

Not sure if IIS has other protocols that deviate much from HTTP, (and if it doesnt,) maybe in a stricter sense, is only a Web Server! (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc268242.aspx)

Application servers, by definition, should be able to serve (any) 'application'; not just browsers. (web services being a problematic area in this context)

Correct the above if wrong... thanks again.

Gadam
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1 Answers1

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IIS 6.0 is basically a web server, with an extension, aspnet_isapi.dll, which handles the ASP.NET functionality. in IIS 7.0 and above, the .NET handling has been integrated into the webserver itself, and IIS might be considered an application server, hosting .NET applications (ASP.NET).

If you are looking for something similar to a Java Bean container in .NET, there is really no such concept. You can use Windows Services, or you can use Windows Azure worker roles, they resemble "app servers" as JBoss, etc.

Are there any more specific questions? It's really difficult to elaborate more without going too far off your original question.

Erik A. Brandstadmoen
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  • I was trying to understand the exact nature of application servers and how web-servers and application-servers would be (set up) in a .net environment. Since you say '.NET handling has been integrated...' I assume the answer to my question would be 'both'. On a tangent and as an extension to the above: please correct me if I am wrong in thinking that in a load balanced scenario with multiple servers, it would mean that each server has both a web server and an application server? Even though I do not have very specific questions, any explanations 'going too far off..' are still appreciated :) ! – Gadam Aug 28 '13 at 21:23
  • I guess you would separate your application in a web tier and a service tier. The service tier could be implemented using Web services, namely WCF. You would probably host them in IIS too, yes. I would definitely run the web tier and the application server/service tier on different clusters. – Erik A. Brandstadmoen Aug 28 '13 at 21:25