The IIS team has made the URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 Release To Web (RTW) available for download. This is a final, production-ready release that is officially supported by Microsoft.
Overview
URL rewrite module provides a rule-based rewriting mechanism for changing requested URL’s before they get processed by web server. The module can be used to express URL rewriting logic that can use regular expressions or wildcards and can make rewriting decisions based on HTTP headers and server variables. While the primary purpose of the module is to rewrite requested URL’s, it also has functionality to perform redirects, send custom responses or abort requests based on the logic expressed in the rewrite rules. In the end this means more Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs, something used in a lot of web applications like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, just to list a few, there’s already some documentation from Microsoft on how to enable pretty Permalinks in WordPress.
Benefits
The Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 provides flexible rules-based rewrite engine that can be used to perform broad spectrum of URL manipulation tasks, including, but not limited to:
- Enabling user friendly and search engine friendly URL with dynamic web applications
- Rewriting URL’s based on HTTP headers and server variables
- Web site content management
- Controlling access to web site content
Download
More info
More information and a full feature list at Ruslans Blog.
Stumpled across a interesting new module for IIS 7.0: Helicon APE (APache Emulation) by Helicon Tech, currently in beta and available for download.
Helicon Ape is a unique module that emulates Apache execution environment on Microsoft IIS. It literally implements Apache configuration model (like .htaccess and httpd.conf files) and all most demanded Apache modules in a single IIS add-on, not only making IIS compatible with Apache, but also extending it’s functionality by a number of highly essential features.
Key features of Helicon APE:
- compatibility with Apache modules configurations (beta version includes only basic modules but the list will be extending with future releases)
- unprecedented compatibility with PHP-based applications;
- user-friendly interface and plain text configurations (no XML!)
- per-site installation without hosting administration involvement/assistance
- powerful and flexible modules for URL rewriting
- extensive forward and reverse proxy instruments
- comprehensive authorization capabilities
Benefits:
- users can move their Apache web sites to IIS without modifications
- current PHP and other Unix oriented web applications can be easily configured for IIS
- flexible user permissions control (as they implemented in Apache world)
- powerful URL rewriting compatible with Apache does not require rule redesign
- reverse and forward proxy features available for your web server
- low level controls over web site behavior open extended abilities for optimisation, security and performance
Currently implemented modules:
- mod_auth_basic – allows the use of HTTP Basic Authentication
- mod_auth_digest – allows the use of MD5 Digest Authentication
- mod_authn_anon – configures anonymous users access authenticated areas
- mod_authn_default – rejects whatever credentials if no authentication is set
- mod_authn_file – provides authentication based on user look-up in plain text password file
- mod_authz_default – rejects any authorization request if no authentication is configured
- mod_authz_groupfile – allows or denies access to particular areas of the site depending on user group membership
- mod_authz_host – allows access control to particular parts of web server based on hostname, IP address, or other characteristics of the client request
- mod_authz_user – allows or denies access of authenticated users to portions of the web site
- mod_core – implements core features of Helicon Ape
- mod_env – allows control of the environment provided to CGI scripts and SSI pages
- mod_expires – allows setting of Expires HTTP header and max-age directive of Cache-Control HTTP header in server responses in relation to either the time the source file was last modified, or to the time of the client access
- mod_headers – enables modification of HTTP request and response headers
- mod_proxy – implements forward and reverse proxy functions for your IIS server
- mod_rewrite – allows rewriting of requested URLs on the fly based on regular-expressions-based rules and various conditions
- mod_setenvif – allows setting environment variables depending on whether different parts of the request match specified regular expressions
- mod_so – emulates loading modules functions
More info. and download at: http://www.helicontech.com/ape/
As previously announced on my blog, Microsoft released a new version of the URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 a few weeks ago. The new release is a Go Live release, so we are getting closer to the final release.
The Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 provides flexible rules-based rewrite engine that can be used to perform broad spectrum of URL manipulation tasks, including, but not limited to:
- Enabling user friendly and search engine friendly URL with dynamic web applications
- Rewriting URL’s based on HTTP headers and server variables
- Web site content handling
- Controlling access to web site content based on URL segments or request metadata
Overview of the features:
- Rules-based URL rewriting engine
- Regular expression pattern matching
- Wildcard pattern matching
- Global and distributed rewrite rules
- Access to server variables and http headers
- Various rule actions
- Support for IIS kernel mode and user mode output caching
- Lower case conversion
- Rewrite maps
- Failed Request Tracing support
- Rule templates
- UI for testing of regular expression and wildcard patterns
- UI for managing rewrite rules and rewrite maps
- GUI tool for importing of mod_rewrite rules
For at full list and explanation of features of URL Rewrite Module, see this post.
It’s available for download:
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