ASP: URL Rewrite and IIS7

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Following a kind suggestion by a follower, today we are going to see how to use IIS URL Rewrite 2.0 for IIS 7.

First of all, what's URL Rewrite?

"IIS URL Rewrite 2.0 enables Web administrators to create powerful rules to implement URLs that are easier for users to remember and easier for search engines to find. By using rule templates, rewrite maps, .NET providers, and other functionality integrated into IIS Manager, Web administrators can easily set up rules to define URL rewriting behavior based on HTTP headers, HTTP response or request headers, IIS server variables, and even complex programmatic rules. In addition, Web administrators can perform redirects, send custom responses, or stop HTTP requests based on the logic expressed in the rewrite rules."

Rest assured, we can use it for a classic ASP site as well.
What we need to do is:
1) install URL Rewrite after downloading it from the Ms IIS site;
2) enable ASP.NET role service on IIS 7;
3) write a rule

IIS: customised error messages

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Hey everybody! Today we are going to work on IIS, and give those boring error messages a new look.
Customising error pages is an underestimated thing by most web developer. However, as you may understand, it can really make our web site different, and - for example - prevent visitors from going away.
In order to customise the error pages we need to use IIS Manager on the web server. If you're not the server administrator, you can always ask for help. If your web site is hosted somewhere by some web hosting company, well... check if you've access to such configuration from your web site control panel (if you've such a tool) or ask the company directly.
Now... let's see how to customise error messages.

ASP: not installed by default on IIS

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As almost all the web thought readers know, I am a long time ASP fan - and as I can see from your comments, many of you feel the same way.
With the most new (!) MS operating systems, when we install IIS, classic ASP is not included by default. We are talking about IIS7.0 and 7.5 here.
Accustomed to having ASP automatically installed, when we see a HTTP 404 error on our browser the first time we browse our beloved ASP web site, we remain completely lost. That happened to me in the past, because I couldn't imagine the real situation behind it.
Is MS trying to put ASP aside? I don't think so, but surely they are trying to promote .NET in any possible way.
Ok. If you don't know how to install classic ASP in IIS and your great .asp pages are not shining in all their glory, here you will find a quick and swift solution.
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ASP: a tutorial for beginners

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What is ASP? Which is ASP basic syntax? Objects, methods, properties, events and collections?
AH! Do we really know what we are talking about?

The following post is just a quick reference guide for all those things. It is meant for beginners, but I believe that even experienced programmers might find it useful... just to check if everything we know is correct.

What is ASP?

ASP stands for Active Server Page. In a previous post I've already defined it as a scripting engine. That is because we usually and wrongfully consider ASP as a programming language.
We can use different programming languages in ASP pages, such as VBScript or JScript. Usually, web developers use VBScript, which is ASP default language.
The ASP engine is managed by IIS (Internet Information Services), working in a MS Windows environment. I know that it is possible to use ASP with other web server applications such as Apache.
It is worth mentioning that ASP is working with PWS as well. PWS (Personal Web Server) is a small but fully functional version of IIS and it was available on older operating systems like WIN 95 and 98 (oh what a leap in the past!).