From time to time every IIS admin will need to create additional websites for new applications that the business needs to run, including applications for new product launches and internal help desk ticketing applications. You’ll create and configure websites to support many internal products like Microsoft System Center and SharePoint.
You may be wondering, “Why do I need additional websites? Can’t I create more web applications in the default site? What’s the big deal?” Back in chapter 3 you learned that it’s best to put new applications in their own application pools for isolation purposes: if something bad happens to one application, other applications won’t be affected. You get those new application pools by creating new websites.
But there’s another, even more important, reason for creating new websites: it’s all about the name, the URL. Often you want a unique URL—hopefully a simple one, easy for people to remember—that clients will use to access a specific web application. Here’s an example: let’s say you have a website dedicated to customers wanting information about cool bicycles. The current URL for these customers is www.WebBikez.com. Now consider that the business has added a new repair line called WebBikezRepair, as shown in figure 5.1. Instead of directing customers who need repairs to the original link, you can direct them to www.WebBikezRepair.com. This is one of several reasons for a new, unique site.