IIS backup and restore site to new site

Question

I want to take a complete copy of an existing site with files, IIS-settings (virtual direktory mappings, child applications etc) and restore it as a new site, that runs on another url, same server.

I tried using the "backup application" thing in IIS7, and it generated a zip-file of all the files. I then created a new blank site and tried to restore. But when restoring it, it does not really restore anything. It asks for a "parameter1" that I am not sure what is, but then it does nothing and the new site is left untouched.

Where can I find out how to use this feature correctly, or is this feature not applicable for what I am trying to do?

Answer 1

What I do in situations like this is a simple copy and paste within applicationHost.config. You can duplicate three sections: applicationPools (for your site), sites (for your site) and potentially a location tag at the bottom for your site. Just make sure to give them unique names and IDs and bindings. Backup applicationHost.config first.

Week 18 and 19 of this series should be helpful for you too.

It's possible to use Web Deploy (which is what the backup application is built on), but to just copy the IIS settings, you need to do it from the command line and it's not overly intuitive, so if you're just doing this once or twice, applicationHost.config is the way to go.