FastCGI for IIS is LAUNCHED !

FastCGI for IIS has launched.

This is HUGE for developers in heterogeneous environments and developers that "get" the power of ASP.NET but also want to leverage the great PHP applications that are available out there.

· FastCGI is a free download and you can get it at https://www.iis.net/php

· FastCGI allows IIS to reuse CGI processes for multiple requests to PHP applications, enables PHP hosting on Windows with comparable reliability and performance to Linux.

· Microsoft is embracing the PHP community and to help bootstrap early adopters of PHP on Windows, we’ve been validating the popular PHP applications on Windows and publishing walkthroughs that give step by step instructions on how to setup and install the most popular PHP apps on top of FastCGI and IIS/Windows.

Get it here - https://www.iis.net/fastcgi

Here is the official "Press Release" !

“Microsoft is eager to announce the release of Microsoft FastCGI Extension for IIS 6.0 (FastCGI Extension) as a free download from the IIS community site, www.iis.net *.  For the first time, Microsoft is providing its customers full support for a stack of technology that enables reliable, scalable PHP hosting on production Internet Information Services 6.0 (IIS 6) Web servers.” *

“Furthermore, Zend has validated their Zend Core offering, a certified and supported version of PHP, on this release of FastCGI and found PHP on Windows performs comparably to PHP on Linux.  Andi Gutmans, Chief Technology Officer of Zend states, 'We have been testing PHP on this FastCGI technology for over a year and we are very pleased with this official release from Microsoft.  There is finally a PHP solution for Windows that offers a comparable level of stability and throughput as PHP on Linux.’ “

“This release could not have come at a more exciting time for the technology: previous beta releases on IIS.NET have had over 14,000 downloads and no less than six hosting partners have already begun offering PHP hosting on IIS 6 with the FastCGI Extension.  In addition to the downloads, the www.iis.net community site also has a very active forum of users exchanging ideas and providing feedback about the FastCGI Extension. “

“With Microsoft’s implementation of the FastCGI open standard, IT Professionals will be able to host PHP applications on Windows Server® 2003 and IIS 6 with increased reliability, scalability, and security.    Customers also know that they will be able to count on Microsoft to stand by and service the Microsoft FastCGI Extension.  By supporting the open standard, Microsoft has made it possible for PHP and other CGI compliant languages to be hosted efficiently and effectively on Windows Server 2003 and IIS.  With the addition of FastCGI, IIS reliably and performantly hosts ASP.NET; classic ASP and PHP Web applications, making it easy for IT Professionals to standardize on IIS and Windows Server as their Web platform of choice.”

“This FastCGI Extension release is supported on IIS 6 in Windows Server 2003 for a fully scalable production environment and runs on IIS 5.1 in Windows XP in order to support developers who build their Web applications on Windows client machines.  This provides developers easy access to build and deploy a broader range of Web applications on the Microsoft platform.   To further facilitate application support, the IIS product group is working with the community to test and optimize popular PHP applications on this platform.  The IIS product group will make available 'getting started' guides for the most popular PHP applications as part of the release to help developers and Web hosters evaluate.”

*“Looking ahead, betas of Windows Server 2008, already include the FastCGI Extension as a completely integrated feature of Internet Information Services IIS 7.0 (IIS7).   The new modular architecture introduced in IIS 7 will provide additional functionality to PHP applications by enabling them to take advantage of new managed code services.   In fact, Hostway has already deployed a PHP offer on Windows Server 2008 and Senior Architect, Matthew Baldwin, claims ‘IIS7’s integrated PHP support lets us offer our customers a host of new application options, with the same IIS infrastructure so there is no increase in support costs.’ ” *

“These results demonstrate how Microsoft is embracing PHP hosting on Windows.  As a result of these efforts, the PHP community will be able to take advantage of the increased reliability of PHP on Windows and simplified administration available on the Windows platform.  Furthermore, this work multiplies the opportunities available on the Windows platform to partners and developers.  Regardless of the development or licensing model, today’s successful companies are choosing Windows.”