Manage IIS Using Appcmd

Introduction

The appcmd.exe is a single command, used to manage IIS 7 and above. It is used to manage the Server without using a graphical administration tool. The appcmd is located in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv (%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\) directory. By default, it will not add into environment variable. 

Key Features 

• Creating and configuring the sites.
• To list the running worker process.
• Backup and restoring the site configuration.
• Retrieve the information about the Application pools.

Object Types

• List
• Add
• Delete
• Set
• Hide

Syntax  

appcmd <objecttypes> <parameters>
set path=%path%;%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv; //used to set the environment variable

To list all the sites, use the command, given below:

appcmd list sites

To get the details of a specific site binding and status (stopped/start), use the command, given below:

appcmd list site "Default web site"

To list all the sites, which had been stopped, use the command, given below:

appcmd list sites /state:Stopped

To add a new site, use the command, given below:

appcmd add site /name:"added using appcmd" /bindings:"http/*:81:localhost" /physicalPath:"D:\test"

To add an https binding to the site, use the command, given below:

appcmd set site /site.name:"added using appcmd" /+bindings.[protocol='https',bindingInformation='127.0.0.1:444:localhost']

To list all the applications, use the command, given below:

Appcmd list app

To change an application pool, use the command, given below:

appcmd set app "added using appcmd/app1" /applicationPool:appcmdpool

To view the application pool details including the username and password of the app account, use the command, given below:

appcmd list apppool "MyAppPool" /text:*

Backup

appcmd add backup
appcmd add backup "locahostbkup"
appcmd list backup
appcmd delete backup "backup name"

Restore

appcmd restore backup "locahostbkup "
appcmd restored configuration from backup "locahostbkup"

To view the list of the worker process, which will help us to attach the debugger in Visual Studio, use the command, given below:

appcmd list wps

To view the list of the physical path, use the command, given below:

appcmd list vdirs /text:physicalPath

To start and stop the sites, use the command, given below:

appcmd start site "Default web site"
appcmd stop site "Default web site"