you've got win7 which comes with iis7 by default, allowing to run multiple websites on your local pc... so that shouldn't be a worry.

installing using webpi should work fine (but it'll install the app in the wwwroot), but if you'd like to do a manual install, follow this wiki page: http://our.umbraco.org/wiki/install-and-setup/how-to-install-umbraco-on-windows-server-2008 (same procedure applies to win7/iis7) -> simple and will get you up and running in minutes

"You can host as many domains as you want in a single umbraco instance.

-> simply means you can manage multiple sites from within the same umbraco instance. For example, assuming a client has two cms websites, one available under www.domain.com, the other as www.domain2.com, then you could maintain both sites in the same umbraco instance (and sharing the same db), without the need to set up two umbraco instances (meaning 2 different db's)

"It is as simple as right clicking a top level node and associating a domain with that node"   ---- Where??

-> as stated, from the content section, right click a top level node and select 'Manage hostnames' from the context menu. Continuing our example, you could assign hostname www.domain.com to the first top level node, and www.domain2.com to the second top level nodes (top level nodes = nodes that are direct childs of the 'Content' node)

If you have installed CWS as you've stated, you could right click the 'Home' node and select 'Manage hostnames'. Add a domain name (eg www.mydomain.com) and a culture (which can be important if you're developing multilingual sites...) and click Ok.

For sake of testing, just open up notepad and open the file 'hosts' located under /WINDIR/system32/drivers/etc. Add an entry (eg. www.mydomain.com) as in

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
#    127.0.0.1       localhost
#    ::1             localhost
127.0.0.1       www.mydomain.com

and then browse to www.mydomain.com and you'll see the home page of CWS.

Let us know if you're still confused and need more specific info.

By the way, welcome to umbraco. 

Cheers,

/Dirk

Geoff, have you actually created a separate site under IIS for the subdirectory? If you are viewing it at localhost/Mysite and haven't created a separate site all references to root will point to wwwroot instead of wwwroot/Mysite...

Hi Dirk,

first of all many thanks for taking the time and trouble to respond at a level that I can understand - almost!

Like I said, If I let WPI install a site into ...wwwroot\james1 for example the css styles don't get applied.
Should the last part of Step 2 Setup ISS in the howto you pointed me atfix this problem?

"Then, in IIS you create a new website by right-clicking on Sites and choosing Add Web Site.
Give your website a name and an address, and point the Physical path to the folder where you extracted Umbraco."

I now understand the Manage Hostnames and I have successfully completed your suggested test using www.james1.com

If I understand you correctly I should be able to click the "Create" button at the top left of the admin page and create a new 'site' using Runway and a Gallery module which I could associate with www.james2.com.

Am I then able to point www.james2.com at 127.0.01 in the Hosts file as well.

I ask if this is possible because when I try the first stage (clicking the "Create" Button ) I select the Content node as where I want to create my new content and click OK.

I then get this error:

Server Error in '/' Application.

---

No Document exists with Version '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'

Stack Trace:

[ArgumentException: No Document exists with Version '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000']
   umbraco.cms.businesslogic.web.Document.setupNode() +1064
   umbraco.cms.businesslogic.CMSNode..ctor(Int32 Id) +89
   umbraco.cms.businesslogic.Content..ctor(Int32 id) +44
   umbraco.cms.businesslogic.web.Document..ctor(Int32 id) +61
   umbraco.dialogs.create.CheckCreatePermissions(Int32 nodeId) +70
   umbraco.dialogs.create.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +404
   System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e) +14
   System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +35
   System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +91
   umbraco.BasePages.BasePage.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +49
   System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +74
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +2207

@amir Only saw your post after replying to Dirks. Think you just answered my question about Step 2 in setup ISS in the affirmative!

I'll give that a test.

Presumably if I create a totally separate site in this way I could still use Manage Hostnames to associate www.james2.com with it and add an entry to the host file so that both www.james1.com and www.james2.com point to 127.0.0.1?

EDIT:
Seems I'm wrong on both counts :(

Basically you want to create a site in IIS, select the directory with your files as the root directory. You can then set up host headers and point whatever domain you want at the site via your external IP. You could also just change the default port for the website and access it at localhost:8080 (default is 80 for web) or whatever port you like...

How you access the site in the browser can be set up however you like, the important part is that you create a site for the umbraco install so any reference to / (root) actually goes to that level of the directory.

Here's a technet article on the subject: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/b77cf015-017f-489c-9b5b-65ca4a679392.mspx?mfr=true

Hope this helps!

Appreciate the time everyone.

@Amir - The article helps - thanks. And following guidance from it I got some results but I could only properly get at one site via a browser and I did not see any formatting at all when I previewed in Umbraco. (by formatting I guess I really mean layout - fonts seem OK).

But like I said I am a complete novice to IIS and I am still struggling. I think I may have messed up IIS by playing around with sites and application pools and tried 'resetting' it by turning it off via Programs/windows features and turning it back on. Unfortunately all the sites and app pools seemed to have been retained. Is there a way to restore IIS to the default setting?

Then I am going to try and install two sites; one in wwwroot\JRBP1 (Runway) and one in wwwroot\JRB2 (CWS) by following the document again. (other than I use WPI to 'install' Umbraco)

I'll do one at a time.

Based on current experience I may be able to browse to them OK but will not be able to see the formatting in Umbraco Preview  -- should I be able to or is this a restriction. Bit of a major problem if so!

I seems that I can support multiple sites in IIS but Umbraco insists on stuff being in wwwroot and not in a subfolder?

is working on a reply...