Yes, for multiple sites you need a front end of some kind. IIS should work for that, but I don’t particularly care for it, and couldn’t help you with it.
If you plan on running a bunch of sites you really should consider the web server/load balancer question now. If you get down the road a ways with IIS and decide to switch to something else later, it could be a logistical problem switching sites over. Also if some of your sites need more robustness either due to load or reliability, you will want to run more than one instance of an app.
I don’t serve any websites on windows, but I’d probably look at nginx to start as I think there is a windows native version.
Whatever you choose, the SSL would be handled by IIS or nginx or whatever. Your xojo apps would just run on some port of your choosing like 9000 and be connected to by the front end, or they would run in cgi mode.
CGI mode is a little easier for some things because there is less configuration to get it running, but not so great for other things. It’s not clear to me for instance, how you would make a cgi hosted app redundant or load balanced on a single server.
There might be some more experienced hosters who can provide better advice when using windows.
I am not tied to IIS, just trying to use something to get this going. Has anyone here used Abyss?? http://aprelium.com/abyssws/ I own an older copy and I’m fine with using something like that if I can figure out what properly needs to be setup on it and my xojo app to make it work. I’m not against CGI either, though I thought CGI was a bit slower, but my bottom line is getting this to work, and I am open to almost anything. I am running on WIndows 2012 R2 server, but that’s about it.
Sorry, I’m out of town at the moment,so a little slow on responses. Using IIS you would create a certificate request for your domain, use that request to purchase a certificate, install that certificate in IIS. Then use URL redirection to point requests to your Xojo web standalone instance. I would run the instance as a service application.
To ensure secure access you would not bind port 80 to the IIS website.
The whole process is not complicated, does not require installing 3rd party add-ons to windows and foes offload the SSL handling to the web server saving your app from doing the work.
I am planning on presenting this process at a Xojo virtual user group meeting, but maybe not this month.
I will be back in town on Monday and will be available to assist in the setup remotely if that will help. PM me.
Hi Wayne, @Wayne Golding ,please do you have a video or a step by step guide to getting the SSL and routing working? I can’t seem to get IIS and the standalone app to sit happily together on the same machine. Many thanks, Matt.
You can find useful information on the Xojo Dev Center http://developer.xojo.com/iis-deployment including a link to my presentation to the Virtual Xojo Users Group.