Administering IIS over the Internet

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To connect to a Windows NT server running Internet Information Server, NetBIOS name resolution is required. The easiest way to set up name resolution between two machines is to create an LMHOSTS file.

The LMHOSTS file is a local text file mapping IP addresses to the NetBIOS names of the remote servers with which you want to communicate over TCP/IP. Windows NT recognizes names instead of IP addresses for network requests and a name discovery process is used to correctly route network requests with TCP/IP.

Once an LMHOSTS file is created, Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows for Workgroups machines using TCP/IP are able to NET USE or share files and printers across the Internet.

The following instructions are for creating an LMHOSTS file for Windows NT.

How to Create an LMHOSTS File

By default, the LMHOSTS file is located in the directory %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC. For example:

1. Edit the LMHOSTS file with NOTEPAD, for example, and add the IP address and machine name of the server(s) you want to connect to as shown below. The #PRE is used to pre-load the entry into the name cache when the machine starts. Type, for example:
   

         xxx.54.94.97   webserver    #PRE
   
   						

   where xxx is any valid number for IP addresses.
2. If there are several machines that you want to connect to, add their IP address and names here as well.
3. Save the file with the name LMHOSTS (with no extension) in the above directory.
4. If you have several machines that will be connecting to each other over the Internet, just copy the LMHOSTS file to the same directory on those machines.
5. Configure the Windows NT servers to use LMHOSTS for name lookup by running Control Panel and choosing Network.
6. Select TCP/IP Protocol and choose Configure, then choose Advanced.
7. Under Windows Networking Parameters, check the Enable LMHOSTS Lookup box.
8. Restart the server, and connect to a remote server.
   
   If the connection is not established, you can test the connectivity by opening a command window and typing "NET USE \\WEBSERVER\IPC$". If the error "Network path was not found" appears, then the IP address for the remote machine in the LMHOSTS file is incorrect. If the message Access Denied appears, check the permissions for your account on the server you are trying to connect to.
9. If you have administrator rights on the Internet Information Server, you can administer the Internet Information Server services and also use the standard Windows NT utilities such as Performance Monitor, REGEDT32, and User Manager and set their focus on the remote server.

Other name resolution methods can be used to connect to networked machines across the Internet. For more information, query the Microsoft Knowledge Base on "name and resolution and wins" or "name and resolution and DNS".