In my recent testing with Nano, I found the xWebsite DSC resource and further the get-website PowerShell cmdlets are not available on Nano. Initially, I thought I had made a mistake in my Nano configuration/setup but eventually found some documentation on the subject.
Nano Server is a clean server platform for the future and so we currently have no plans to include the older legacy WebAdministration module at this time. Instead we will provide the new IISAdministration module.
In addition to PowerShell (IISAdministration), using appcmd.exe to manage IIS is also an option.
https://www.iis.net/learn/get-started/whats-new-in-iis-10/introducing-iis-on-nano-server
Okay, so it appears the WebAdministration module is old and has been effectively replaced by IISAdministration. The new module was announced in 2015.
Per the IIS team, the main benefits of the new IISAdministration are:
- Speed
- Direct access to ServerManager
- Improved PowerShell pipelining
These all sounds like good things. It also makes sense that if Nano is not backwards compatible with previous versions of server, now is the time to swap to a new administration module for IIS.
I plan on reviewing the xWebsite DSC resource and potentially submitting a pull request to add support for Nano using the IISAdministration module when I find some free time. Check out TechNet for official documentation on the IISAdministration module.
If this blog post, helped you please let me know in the comments below.