How do I create a new website on my Windows VPS?

The following article explains how to create a new website on your Windows VPS. The new website is configured in Internet Information Services (IIS) directly on the VPS either as a name-based website or an IP-based website^*.

To create a new site in IIS, please follow these steps:

1. Log into your server through Remote Desktop Connection (instructions for connecting to your server through RDC can be found here).
2. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and select Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
3. Expand local computer and right click on Web Sites.
4. Click New and select Web Site.
5. Click Next to begin.
6. Type in a description for the website. This is usually the domain name but can be anything that you prefer to distinguish the site from others.
7. Click Next.
8. Type in the IP address of your new site. TCP port should be 80.
   • If the site is an IP-based site you can leave the host header line blank.
   • If the site is a name-based site you will need to enter the domain name in the host header line. If you prefer to view the name-based site using the IP address, leave the host header line blank.
9. Click Next.
10. Enter or browse to the path where the website will have its root directory. This is the directory where the home page should go.
11. Select the check boxes for the type of permissions you would like.
    • Read: allows your site to be visible through a Web browser
    • Run Scripts: allows scripts such as ASP and ASP.Net to be run
    • Execute: allows .exe and .dll files to be run (we recommend not checking this option)
    • Write: allows certain browsers to write to files in your website (we recommend not checking this option)
    • Browse: if there is no index page, this option will display a listing of all the pages in your folder (we recommend not checking this option)
    
12. Click Next and then Finish.
13. If this is a name based site, right click the domain name you just created and select Properties.
14. On the Web Site tab, click Advanced.
15. Click Add.
16. Enter the requested information:
    • IP address: enter the same IP address for the website
    • TCP port: enter 80
    • Host Header value: enter the domain name with www. as the prefix
    
17. Repeat steps 13 through 16 for each additional domain name that will be used to access this specific website.

^*An IP-based website has a unique IP address. No other website uses this IP address. If you need multiple IP-based websites, you will need to contact us to add the IP addresses to your server.

A name-based website shares a single IP address with each website on the server. You are able to make as many name-based sites as you wish with your single IP address.