How do I configure Perl/CGI to work with IIS?

[eUK-Scott]

The following things are assumed:

1. You are running Windows Server 2003
2. IIS Web Server 6.0
3. You installed ActiveState ActivePerl (www. activestate.com) to C:\Perl
4. You are using default (unmodified) ACLs/Permissions

Load IIS Web Server from the Administrative tools in the Control Panel by clicking Start -> Administrative Tools -> IIS Web Server Manager (or loading the Control Panel, entering the Administrative Tools folder, and double clicking IIS Web Server Manager).

Click the name of your computer then click "Web Service Extensions", on the left side of the main frame you will see a green arrow pointing to a link that says "Add a new Web service extension...", click that link.

In that window, where it asks for the extension name you can put anything, like "CGI script" and under the "Required Files" section put the following in (without the apostrophes) 'C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe "%s" %s' click OK to the notification, click "Set status to allowed" and press ok.

Now, load up a command prompt (Start->Run... type cmd) and type (without the quotes) "md c:\inetpub\cgi-bin"

Back in the IIS Web Server Manager right click Default Web Web site hosting highlight "New" in the pop-up menu and click "Virtual Directory..." in the new menu

Click next to the first dialog in the wizard, then as a the alias put "cgi-bin" and click next then as a path for the next dialog put in "c:\inetpub\cgi-bin". On the next dialog leave everything checked and check execute and click next

Click Finish to end the wizard.

Now right-click cgi-bin and click properties

Click Configuration in the lower right-hand area of the dialog and make sure .pl is there (if it isn't, add it the way you see it)


To make your scripts work the shebang line (#!/usr/bin/perl) should now be #!C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe . Any reference to any files should be changed from /home/user etc, to c:/home/user or c:\\home\\users - note the double back-slashes.

Also, renaming your .cgi scripts to .pl is highly recommended

Assuming this is all done correctly, you should now be able to run your Perl scripts successfully using Windows Server 2003, and IIS Web Server 6.0