Programming Microsoft® ASP.NET 4

Chapter 2. ASP.NET and IIS

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.

— Benjamin Disraeli

Any Web application is hosted within a Web server; for ASP.NET applications, the Web server uses typically Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). A Web server is primarily a server application that can be contacted using a bunch of Internet protocols, such as HTTP, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). IIS—the Web server included with the Microsoft Windows operating system—is no exception.

A Web server such as IIS spends most of its time listening to a variety of ports, including port 80, which is where HTTP packets are usually forwarded. The Web server captures incoming ...