If you, like me, are maintaining lots of websites, you probably want to script as much as you can. It’s time consuming to change a setting for 20+ websites, and it’s also a great chance you miss something in the process.

PowerShell is really neat in these cases, and it gets better for every new release as well.

This is a script i use to do the following:

1. Create a new application pool, with the preferred .NET version, identity and a few other settings
2. Create a folder to hold the website
3. Create the website
4. Configure a scheduled task to rotate and archive log files.

This script is highly customized for my needs and my environment. As you can se there’s a lot of assumptions in the script, that you may want to change, but i may be a nice start for you!

#
# PowerShell Script used to create new websites. Requires Eleveted PowerShell Console!
# This script: 
# 	- Creates a new Applicatiopn Pool with our preferred settings
#	- Creates a new website using that pool
#	- Create a scheduled job to manage logfiles
#
# Make sure to edit these parameters before you run the script:
# - $AppPoolName Sets the name of AppPool and WebSite
# - $AppPoolIdentityName and $AppPoolIdentityPwd to set the identity
# - $SiteDirectory is the base path to the folder holding websites
#

#########################
# Import modules needed #
#########################

Import-Module WebAdministration

#####################
# Usefull Functions #
#####################

#Get the next website-id from IIS. You should override this if you use random ids, or if your sites isn't in order!
Function Get-NextSiteId {
	$MaxId = Get-Website | Measure-Object -Property ID -Maximum
	return $id.Maximum + 1	
}

######################
# Set all parameters #
######################

#AppPool parameters

$AppPoolName 			= "Test.Domain.Com"	#Name of ApplicationPool, Should be the same as the name of the website (Eg. Soot.Msb.Se)!
$AppPoolDotNetVersion 	= "v4.0"						#.NET version for pool
$AppPoolIdentityName 	= "domain\sysAccount"			#Identity to execute pool
$AppPoolIdentityPwd 	= "P@ssw0rd"					#Identity password

#WebSite parameters
$SiteName 				= $AppPoolName					#WebSite name, by default the same as name of pool
$SiteDirectory 			= "C:\WebSite\Sites\"	#Base folder, where the site should be created. Site folder is created automatically
$SiteId					= Get-NextSiteId				#Get next free ID, change this manually if needed, eg. if you are using random id.

#Scheduled task, LogRotate
#Theese values shouldn't be neccesarry to edit. 
#Make sure LogRotate exists under Program Files and that you WebSite-folder point to the correct location.
$TaskName 				= "LogRotate W3SVC$($SiteId)"
$TaskDescription 		= "Archives old logfiles for site $($SiteName)"
$TaskActionCommand		= "C:\Program Files\LogRotate\LogRotator.App.exe"
$TaskArguments			= "C:\WebSite\Logs\W3SVC$($SiteId) C:\WebSite\Logs\Backup W3SVC$($SiteId) *.log 31 true"
$TaskPath				= "LogRotate"

###########################
# Create application pool #
###########################

#Create Pool and store it in $AppPool
New-WebAppPool –Name $AppPoolName
$AppPool = Get-Item IIS:\AppPools\$($AppPoolName) 

#Stop AppPool
$AppPool | Stop-WebAppPool 

#Set additional properties
#Uncomment these three lines to user AppPoolIdentity
$AppPool.processModel.identityType = 3
$AppPool.ProcessModel.Username = $AppPoolIdentityName 
$AppPool.ProcessModel.Password = $AppPoolIdentityPwd

$AppPool.ProcessModel.IdleTimeout = "0"
$AppPool.ManagedRuntimeVersion = $AppPoolDotNetVersion

#Save and start AppPool
$AppPool | Set-Item
$AppPool | Start-WebAppPool

##################
# Create website #
##################

#Create Website Directory
New-Item -ItemType directory -Path "$($SiteDirectory)$($SiteName)"

#Create Website and store it in $WebSite
New-Website -Name $SiteName -PhysicalPath "$($SiteDirectory)$($SiteName)" -ApplicationPool $AppPoolName -Port "170$($SiteId)" -HostHeader "localhost"
$WebSite = Get-Item IIS:\Sites\$($SiteName) 

#Start Website
$WebSite | Start-WebSite

######################################
# Create scheduled job for LogRotate #
# This only works on Win2012         #
######################################

$PsHost = host
$OsVer = [environment]::OSVersion.Version

If(($OsVer.Major -ge 6) -and ($OsVer.Minor -ge 2) -and ($PsHost.Version.Major -ge 4))
{
    Import-Module ScheduledTasks 
	$TaskAction = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $TaskActionCommand -Argument $TaskArguments
	$TaskTrigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -AT "05:00"
	$Task = New-ScheduledTask -Action $TaskAction -Trigger $TaskTrigger -Description $TaskDescription
	Register-ScheduledTask $TaskName -InputObject $Task -TaskPath $TaskPath
}
Else
{
	"You need a PowerShell 4 and Windows Server 2012 to create Scheduled Task!"
	"You'll need to configure LogRotate manually."
}