IIS Express vs Default IIS that comes with Windows 7

Question

I am new to the world of IIS and I wanted to know the following...

I have heard about IIS Express. I run Windows 7 Ultimate and have installed the IIS that comes packaged with Windows 7.

As a developer, is there any major benefit for me if I install IIS Express over the default IIS that comes with Windows 7 for .Net Web projects?

Answer 1

Here are the differences from http://www.mywindowsclub.com/resources/3302-Key-differences-between-IIS-IIS-Developer.aspx.

If you already have IIS installed - its a better product. IIS express would only be used by people who don't have access to IIS or want something that is lighter than IIS but more like IIS than Cassini.

• Integrated with OS
  • IIS 7 ships with the operating system and is tightly integrated to Windows.
  • IIS developer express is a separate downloadable tool
• Targetted users
  • IIS 7 is for both developers as well as for production purposes.
  • IIS developer express can be used only for development purposes and not for production.
• Supported Windows editions
  • IIS 7 will work only on Windows Vista and newer editions of Windows. In case of server OS, IIS 7 will work only on Windows 2008.
  • IIS developer edition will work even on older version - starting from Windows XP and newer.
• Process model and activation
  • In IIS 7, the worker thread is automatically launched and managed by Windows Process Activation Service.
  • In case of IIS Express, user has to handle this.
• FTP support
  • IIS developer express does not support FTP while IIS 7 supports it.
• WCF support
  • IIS Developer express supports only WCF over HTTP.
  • IIS 7 supports WCF including over TCP, Named Pipes, and MSMQ.
• Multi developer support
  • IIS 7 is a single user application.
  • IIS Developer express supports multi developer environment. Configuration files, settings, and Web content are maintained on a per-user basis.
• Visual Studio integration
  • All editions and versions of Visual Studio have built-in support for IIS 7.
  • Only VS 2010 and future versions will have built-in support for IIS developer express.
• Runtime extensions
  • IIS developer has support for URL Rewrite and FastCGI.
  • Webmatrix offers support for SEO, database management and Web Deployment. Other extensions that are offered with IIS are not yet tested with IIS Developer express.
• Management Tools
  • IIS 7 is managed using the IIS Manager.
  • IIS Developer express can be managed using Webmatrix. Also, the express edition has support through system tray.
• Port used by IIS
  • The default website comes with IIS 7 listens to port 80.
  • The default website part of IIS developer express listens to port 8080 to avoid conflicts with IIS 7 when they are running side by side.