Jim,
Yes, if you place a folder "MySite" in your c:\inetpub\wwwroot,
that would most likely mean that you are in the default Web site,
unless your administrator changed this (possible, but most likely not
the case). What you can do is take the following steps to ensure that
this is the default Web site.
Right click on 'My Computer' and click on manage. At the bottom of
the left tree, you will see "Service and Applications" ->
"Internet Information Service" -> "Web Sites" -> "Default Web
Site". I am sure you are already familiar with these steps; however,
I am simply spelling them out in case someone else is following along.
Right click on the "Default Web Site" icon and select properties.
Select the "Home Directory" tab and ensure that your "Local
Path" is c:\inetpub\wwwroot.
While you are here, go to the "Web Site" tab and next to the "IP
Address" field, there is an "Advanced..." button. Go ahead and
click on that. Just to let you know, this is where the Administrator
places the various domain names that this particular Web site would
use. If you see an entry but it has a blank "Host Header Name",
this simply states that if you type the words 'localhost' into your
browser, this particular Web will respond.
Anyway, a long drawn out story just to ensure everything is set up. Go
ahead and close most of your windows out, but keep the Computer
Management window open. After you drag and drop your "MySite"
folder under the c:\inetpub\wwwroot directory, there is one additional
step you will need to take. Expand the "Default Web Site" icon and
find the "MySite" folder which you just copied and pasted in (you
may have to refresh the tree). Right click on the folder and select
Properties.
Application name should be grayed out. Simply hit create and OK on out
of computer management. You should now be able to access your project
via:
http://localhost/mysite.
Now, that is the basic steps. What you will actually want to do to
have a mysite.ourdomain.com type atmosphere is create yet another Web
site. In the computer management tool, where we were before, you will
want to create a new Web Site. Right click on the "Web Sites"
folder under Computer Management and select New -> Web Site. Click
Next. Now fill out a description. You can entitle this new Web site
whatever you desire, but to keep it easy, you may want to give it the
entire domain name (mysite.mydomain.com) so you can easily identify it.
Again, this has no affect on the actual domain name, just keeps it
organized.
The next step is the important part. Keep the IP address as "All
Unassigned" as you can easily run multiple Web sites on the same IP
address (as long as you are running a server type environment (win 2k
or win 2k3) which it sounds like you are. TCP port should remain at
80. Now the Host header is the part you will want to enter your full
domain name. mysite.mydomain.com for instance.
The path is the path to your project folder in your case. You should
be able to keep the rest defaults and breeze through. Now, the one
thing that is out of your control (or may be in your control depending
on your organization) is the DNS entry. Whomever owns the DNS server
that handles mydomain.com for your organization will have to be
contacted. You will simply want them to make a new DNS entry for
mysite under the mydomain.com entry. They should know what you are
talking about. You will want them to point it to the IP address of
your server. It may take a few hours to take affect, but for the most
part, it should be rather instant.
Voila!
I hope this helps!
Aaron
