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Institutional Web Support Services (IWSS) at Illinois State University

Server Administrator

You have two options for hosting your Web site. You can either host your Web site on your own Web server or on a Web server maintained by a third-party department. The University maintains a Unix-based Web server and a Windows-based Web server for campus groups and does all the work so your group can be worry-free.

Planning Phase:

Decide whether your group wishes to have your site hosted on your own Web server or a third-party Web server. If you discover that the server you will be hosting your site on will not be able to support certain features you wish to include, let us know so we can develop other alternatives.

Development Phase:

Make sure your server will be able to support any special features your group wishes to include on the site.

Maintenance Phase:

If you are hosting your own server, be sure to:

  • Download security patches as soon as they are released to keep your information safe.
  • Use detailed logging capabilities to get the most accurate understanding possible of how your audience is using your site. If the Web site is hosted on an IIS server in your department, refer to the Web Server Settings for Traffic Analysis (pdf) for the necessary log settings.
  • Turn the Web server's ability to use server side includes (shtml) on, otherwise your site will not display correctly.
  • Switch off the directory browsing options on your Web server to restrict visitors from being able to view your directories.