Introduction to IIS
In a Nutshell - CIW Course Section 3, Part A1, Chapter 7
IIS Installation, Installing Internet Information Server
The likelihood is, if you are running Windows 2000 server or Windows 2003 server, that IIS is already installed. These operating systems use Internet Information Server for a number of tasks other than serving Web pages, so it is installed by default.
If it is not installed then run Add/Remove Programs from the control panel and select Add/Remove Windows Components.
Select Internet Information Services (IIS) and click Next and follow the Wizard through the install process. You may be required to insert the Windows CD, so be sure to have this to hand.
IIS Configuration
IIS will work "Out of the Box" so to speak. In other words, having installed it, it should be working without any further configuration. Of course, you may not wish to use the default settings so I will detail what I believe are the ones most likely to need updating.
All configuration changes to IIS are made from the Web Site Properties dialog box. To access this, from the Start menu click Programs | Administrative Tools | Internet Services Manager. Expand the server tree and right-click on Default Web Site. Click Properties.
The Local Path specifies the directory to be used as the home directory. This can be any directory on any local disk on your machine, or a network share. The other settings may come into play if you begin experimenting with running scripts like ASP or PHP.
The default document list specifies which document names the server should look for if the site name or domain name is entered in a browser without a page as the target. he server will check for these files in the order they appear. This order may be altered by selecting a file name and using the up or down arrows.
The course notes cover several more settings and cover them all in more detail. But as ever, I would suggest getting your hands on a machine and trying it out for yourself.