Enable optional IIS modules in base VM image.

Paul's Avatar

Paul

07 Dec, 2014 08:01 PM

Some testing scenarios may require optional IIS modules to be enabled (e.g. authentication methods), which are disabled by default. We can enable them from build script using DISM or Server Manager, but that consumes time during each build. Also, there exists theoretical possibility that module will require machine to reboot after configuration.

  1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Feodor Fitsner on 07 Dec, 2014 11:02 PM

    Feodor Fitsner's Avatar

    Have you tried Install-WindowsFeature (http://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj205467.aspx) to see if it has acceptable performance?

  2. 2 Posted by Pavel Frolov on 08 Dec, 2014 09:04 AM

    Pavel Frolov's Avatar

    I've tried Install-WindowsFeature and Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature
    cmdlets. Both takes about 2 minutes to enable 3 IIS modules. Maybe I can
    reduce that tine by using PowerShell background jobs (e.g. starting
    asynchronous job in “init” script and waiting for completion in
    “before_test” script).

     By the way, TrustedInstaller service, which is needed by both
    Install-WindowsFeature and Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature, is disabled in VM
    image for some reason. That said, before enabling optional Windows
    features, one must enable TrustedInstaller service:

    Set-Service TrustedInstaller -StartupType Manual

  3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Feodor Fitsner on 08 Dec, 2014 07:38 PM

    Feodor Fitsner's Avatar

    2 minutes is not bad I can tell :)
    Alternatively, we could deploy fully-loaded IIS. What modules are you interested in first?

    TrustedInstaller and many others are disabled to speedup boot time and minimize OS RAM/CPU overhead.

  4. 4 Posted by Pavel Frolov on 09 Dec, 2014 09:22 AM

    Pavel Frolov's Avatar

    Actually, I need IIS during testing phase to test some HTTP client code
    against HTTP server using various authentication schemes (Basic, Digest,
    Negotiate). For each scheme there exist optional IIS module which must be
    enabled. Unfortunately as I found out, Digest and Negotiate methods
    requires Windows domain environment, and while it is possible to deploy AD
    DS with PowerShell, this operation will take unacceptable amount of time
    and will require reboot in the end.

    Ultimately, I decided to automate just Basic authentication tests. I've
    used PowerShell background job to install IIS module while my application
    is building. As s result, by the time my test script starts executing, IIS
    module is already enabled! So, for now there is almost no overhead and I'm
    satisfied with that.

     But I think, fully-loaded IIS is a better alternative from usability
    standpoint, especially if it doesn't involve additional overhead during VM
    provisioning. And if it does involve overhead we could make it a separate
    option in “services” for those developers who need it, i.e., "services:
    iis-full".

  5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Feodor Fitsner on 09 Dec, 2014 06:47 PM

    Feodor Fitsner's Avatar

    Right, will add an issue for that.

  6. Ilya Finkelshteyn closed this discussion on 25 Aug, 2018 01:50 AM.

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