IIS - Metabase.bin

[Edgar Zapata]

W3SVC service does not start.
We must restore %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\Metabase.bin from a recent backup.
We have no backup since this is a non-production server.
We still need to start the W3SVC service.

What can we do?
Can we use a Metabse.bin file from a similar server?

Do you have any experience on this?

Tnks.

[Igor Karasik]

Edgar,
you cannot use metabase.bin from another IIS server, metabase.bin contains server name and another server specific information.
If you don't have metabase.bin backup or server system state backup - I see two options:
- try to fix problem with W3SVC (please check event viewer for realated errors and post errors here)
- or reinstall IIS on the server.

[Paul Slijkhuis · Accepted solution]

Actually you can copy the configuration, if you have an identical machine (e.g. load balanced system). You should use some basic scripting to remove machine settings. This only works if you use IIS 6, otherwise you should, because this is more safe.

First, on the production machine, run the following script:
c:\windows\system32\iiscnfg.vbs /s /copy /ts

Please replace the text with your servernames. This script will copy the metabase and removes machine specific items.

Next, the IP address in the metabase needs extra attention. Please correct the all occurring IP adresses manually or by script to the target machine.

Regards, Paul