Exporting and Importing Sites and App Pools from IIS 7 and 7.5

When using multiple IIS server in a Load Balanced Environment it will  be alot of work to create all your website twice with the same settings on each webserver. Therefor it is possible to export and import your configuration from one webserver to the other. This will also be usefull when your upgrading from IIS 7 (Windows Server 2008) to IIS 7.5 (Windows Server 2008 R2).
When you create a website in IIS 7 or 7.5 a unique application pool will also be created and used by this website, that’s why you need to import these application pools first on the second webserver before importing the website(s).
To Export the Application Pools on IIS 7 :
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list apppool /config /xml > c:\apppools.xml
This will export all the application pools on your webserver, therefor you need to edit the apppools.xml and remove the application that you do not need to import for example:

• DefaultAppPool
• Classic .NET AppPool
• SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool

And other apppools that already exist on the second webserver, appcmd doesn’t skip already existing apppools, it just quit’s and doesn’t import any.
To import the Application Pools:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd add apppool /in < c:\apppools.xml
All the AppPools in the xml will be created on your second webserver.
To Export all your website:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list site /config /xml > c:\sites.xml
This will export all the websites on your webserver, therefor you need to edit the sites.xml and remove the websites that you do not need to import for example:

• Default Website

And all other websites that already exist on the second webserver.
To Import the website:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd add site /in < c:\sites.xml
It’s also possible to export a single website or application pool all you need to do is add the name of the Application Pool or Website to the command line:
To export/import a single application pool:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list apppool “MyAppPool” /config /xml > c:\myapppool.xml
Import:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd add apppool /in < c:\myapppool.xml
To export/import a single website:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list site “MyWebsite” /config /xml > c:\mywebsite.xml
Import:
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd add site /in < c:\mywebsite.xml