Monitoring IIS Web Servers with Nodinite
Nodinite empowers you to proactively monitor, manage, and optimize your IIS environments—all from a single, secure interface without RDP access.
What You'll Gain
- ✅ Proactive issue detection—real-time alerts before users are affected
- ✅ Remote management—control IIS without RDP, VPN, or admin access requests
- ✅ Automated self-healing—clean logs and restart services automatically
- ✅ Enhanced security—reduce direct server access and misconfiguration risks
- ✅ Role-based access—empower teams with selective visibility via Monitor Views
Example list of monitored IIS Resources in a Role-based Nodinite Monitor View.
How It Works
Nodinite's Windows Server Monitoring Agent leverages WMI for automatic discovery of IIS components. Each monitored item appears as a Resource in Monitor Views and is evaluated based on configurable thresholds:
- OK – Service running normally
- Warning – Potential issue detected (e.g., large log files)
- Error – Immediate attention required (e.g., stopped service)
- Unavailable – Server cannot be reached
Application Naming Convention
The Application name follows the Windows Server configuration display name:
Example of Application naming pattern.
Synchronization
Note
Depending on the user-defined synchronization interval for the Windows Server Monitoring Agent, there might be a delay before Nodinite Web Client/Monitor Views reflects changes. Click the Sync All button to force resynchronization.
Option to force Nodinite to request a resynchronization with the monitoring agent.
What's Monitored
Nodinite monitors four IIS component types, each with specific state evaluations and Remote Actions:
| Component | Category | Quick Overview | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|
| IIS Services (W3WP.exe) | IIS | Main IIS service monitoring, performance counters, log file cleanup | Details below ↓ |
| Web Sites | IIS - Web Sites | Monitor availability, start/stop/restart operations, list applications | Full documentation → |
| FTP Sites | IIS - FTP Sites | Monitor FTP availability, start/stop/restart file transfer services | Full documentation → |
| Application Pools | IIS - Application Pool | Monitor app pools, view details, start/stop/recycle worker processes | Full documentation → |
| IIS Log Files | IIS | Threshold-based monitoring with automated cleanup | Details below ↓ |
| IIS Log Files | IIS | Total size thresholds | Clean by age (4 days, 1 week, 1 month) |
List of IIS related categories as filter in a Monitor View.
IIS (W3WP.exe)
Monitor the Web Server (W3WP.exe) service and IIS log file sizes with automated cleanup actions
IIS State Evaluation
| State | Status | Description | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unavailable | Service not available | If the server can't be reached and evaluated either due to network or security-related problems | Review prerequisites | |
| Error | Error state raised |
|
Clean IIS Logs > 4 daysClean IIS Logs > 1 week Clean IIS Logs > 1 month |
|
| Warning | Warning state raised |
|
Clean IIS Logs > 4 daysClean IIS Logs > 1 week Clean IIS Logs > 1 month |
|
| OK | Online |
|
IIS Performance CountersDetails Edit |
IIS Available Actions
The following Remote Actions are available for the IIS Category:
- IIS Performance Counters
- DetailsNew 6.2.2.0
- EditNew 6.2.2.0
- Clean IIS Logs > 4 daysNew 6.2.2.0
- Clean IIS Logs > 1 weekNew 6.2.2.0
- Clean IIS Logs > 1 monthNew 6.2.2.0
Here's an example of available Remote Actions for the IIS Category.
IIS Performance Counters
View performance statistics for the selected IIS instance. Click the Action button and then select the IIS Performance Counters menu item within the 'Control Center' section.
Show IIS statistics, using the 'IIS Performance Counters' action.
Next, click the option to present the modal.
Here's an example of ASP.NET performance counters.
This modal is designed for use as a Widget in the Dashboard.
IIS Details
New 6.2.2.0
View detailed information about the selected IIS instance. Click the Details menu item in the Actions button to open the details screen.
Example of the IIS Details action menu item.
Next, click the option to present the modal.
Here's an example of the details page for the selected IIS instance.
When IIS Log Files Monitoring is enabled, you can click any of the buttons to clean the IIS Log files:
- Clean IIS Logs > 4 daysNew 6.2.2.0
- Clean IIS Logs > 1 weekNew 6.2.2.0
- Clean IIS Logs > 1 monthNew 6.2.2.0
Note
If IIS Log Files Monitoring is disabled, the buttons to clean the IIS Log files will be disabled New 6.2.4.0.
IIS Edit
New 6.2.2.0
Configure IIS Log Files Monitoring thresholds for the selected IIS instance. Click the Edit menu item in the Actions button to open the configuration screen.
Example of the IIS Edit action menu item.
Configure the following settings:
- Enabled - When checked, IIS Log Files Monitoring is enabled. When disabled, related administrative features are also disabled
- Description - User-friendly description about the IIS Log Files Monitoring configuration
- Warning - Set the threshold for maximum total size before triggering a Warning alert
- Error - Set the threshold for maximum total size before triggering an Error alert
Here's an example of the Edit screen from where you can adjust the IIS Log Files Monitoring thresholds.
IIS Log Files Monitoring
When the total size exceeds any of the monitoring thresholds, the IIS Resources evaluate accordingly. Below is an example:
Here's an example of a Warning when IIS Log Files exceed the Warning limit.
If the operation is successful, regardless which cleansing action you performed, you will see a confirmation message similar to the one below:
Here's an example of a successful IIS Log Files cleanup operation.
IIS Clean 4 Days
New 6.2.2.0
Remove IIS Log Files older than 4 days. Click the IIS Clean 4 Days menu item in the Actions button to execute this cleanup operation.
Example of the IIS Clean 4 Days action menu item.
IIS Clean 1 Week
New 6.2.2.0
Remove IIS Log Files older than one week. Click the IIS Clean 1 Week menu item in the Actions button to execute this cleanup operation.
Example of the IIS Clean 1 Week action menu item.
IIS Clean 1 Month
New 6.2.2.0
Remove IIS Log Files older than 1 month (31 days). Click the IIS Clean 1 Month menu item in the Actions button to execute this cleanup operation.
Example of the IIS Clean 1 Month action menu item.
Web Sites
Monitor IIS Web Site availability and perform remote start, stop, and restart operations.
Key capabilities:
- List Applications with App Pool status
- Start stopped Web Sites
- Stop running Web Sites
- Restart Web Sites to apply configuration changes
- Manage Application Pools directly from Web Site context
Complete Web Sites documentation →
FTP Sites
Monitor IIS FTP Site availability for secure file transfer operations.
Key capabilities:
- Start stopped FTP Sites
- Stop running FTP Sites
- Restart FTP Sites to apply configuration changes
- Monitor file transfer service health and availability
Complete FTP Sites documentation →
Application Pools
Monitor Application Pool availability and perform remote start, stop, and recycle operations.
Key capabilities:
- View detailed configuration (status, pipeline mode, CPU limits, runtime version) New 6.4.0.0
- Start stopped Application Pools
- Stop running Application Pools
- Recycle Application Pools without stopping Web Sites
- Graceful worker process management for minimal downtime
Complete Application Pools documentation →
Configuration
Configure IIS monitoring settings using the Remote Configuration feature.
IIS Tab
Click the IIS tab to manage IIS monitoring options.
Here's an example of the 'IIS' tab.
Within the IIS tab you have the following sub-tabs:
IIS Basic Tab
Configure essential settings for IIS monitoring from the IIS Basic tab.
Example of the IIS Basic tab configuration options.
- Enable Monitoring of IIS on this server - When checked, the state of IIS, Web Sites, and Application Pools is evaluated. When unchecked, IIS monitoring is disabled
- Description - User-friendly short description for this configuration
IIS Log Files Tab
New 6.2.2.0
Configure settings for IIS Log Files monitoring from the IIS Log Files tab.
Here's an example of the 'Log Files' monitoring tab.
- Enable IIS Log Files Monitoring - When checked, monitor the total size of IIS log files
- Description - User-friendly short description for this configuration
- Total size (MB) - Warning - When the total size exceeds this threshold, a Warning is triggered
- Total size (MB) - Error - When the total size exceeds this threshold, an Error is triggered
Next Step
Explore IIS components:
- IIS - Web Sites - Detailed Web Site monitoring and management
- IIS - FTP Sites - FTP Site monitoring and management
- IIS - Application Pools - Detailed Application Pool monitoring and management
Related Topics
Windows Server Monitoring Agent
Resources
Monitoring
Monitor Views