Setting up IIS

NOTE: This manual was made by using Windows Server 2012 with IIS 8. For other versions it might be slightly different.

NOTE: This manual was made by running Airsonic NOT under a custom context path (the default value is /).

IIS installation

Open the Server Manager and start the Add Roles and Features wizard from the Manage menu. From there install the Windows Server Role Web Server (IIS). If you like to use Airsonic Advanced, make sure you selected the WebSocket Protocol under Application Development as well.

To get the URL Rewrite module for IIS, you need to install the Web Platform Installer. You can download this installer from the Microsoft Page.

After installing it, open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. When you click on your server name on the left side, you’ll see the Web Platfrom Installer in the management section. Install the newest URL Rewrite module.

IIS configuration

Configure the IP/hostname binding and certificate settings according to your wishes on the Default Web Site (or use a subfolder or create your own site). You’ll find a lot of information about this on the internet for sure. If you don’t have a public trusted certificate, just go for a self-signed one, that’s completely fine.

Open the URL Rewrite settings from the IIS section under your Default Web Site. Click on View Server Variables... and make sure you add the following variables:

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PORT
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SERVER
ORIGINAL_HOST

As next you need to setup your rewrite rules. The easiest way to do so, is to just create the web.config by yourself. Open the folder of your IIS Site by making a right click on Default Web Site and choosing Explorer. There you have to create a new file called web.config with the following content. If you already have the web.config there, merge the content.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
    <system.webServer>
        <rewrite>
            <rules>
                <clear />
                <rule name="Redirect Transfer" stopProcessing="true">
                    <match url="transfer" />
                    <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false" />
                    <action type="Redirect" url="index" />
                </rule>
                <rule name="ReverseProxyInboundRule1" stopProcessing="true">
                    <match url="(.*)" />
                    <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false" />
                    <serverVariables>
                        <set name="HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST" value="airsonic.public.url" />
                        <set name="HTTP_X_FORWARDED_SERVER" value="airsonic.public.url" />
                        <set name="HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO" value="https" />
                        <set name="HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PORT" value="443" />
                        <set name="ORIGINAL_HOST" value="localhost" />
                    </serverVariables>
                    <action type="Rewrite" url="http://localhost:4040/{R:1}" />
                </rule>
            </rules>
        </rewrite>
    </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Make sure you set airsonic.public.url to the public URL of your Airsonic site. Also update the internal name localhost and the port 4040 if needed.

NOTE: You probably don’t need the Redirect Transfer rule, when you run Airsonic under a custom context path.