Configuring IIS to Stop Logging Requests for Web Site Graphics

Our Web sites contain many small graphics, and we've discovered that our Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 logs are filled with entries requesting these graphics. A request to view our default Web page might generate 20 or 30 log entries, only one of which is for default.htm. Consequently, we located our Web sites' decorative graphics in one directory on our IIS server and turned off logging for that directory. However, the logs are still reporting requests for the graphic files even though we explicitly cleared the Log visits check box in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Internet Services Manager (ISM) snap-in. How can we configure IIS to stop logging these requests?

You've discovered a bug in IIS 5.1, IIS 5.0, and IIS 4.0 that occasionally occurs even when you properly configure the Log visits check box. The symptoms of this bug appear as you've described them—sites or directories for which you've cleared the Log visits check box continue to log events. The problem seems to be that the IIS installation doesn't properly create the IIS metabase key DontLog, which holds the value for the Log visits setting. To remedy this problem, you must delete the DontLog metabase key for the Web site, directory, or file (this setting is available down to the individual file level). I recommend that you use the Microsoft utility Metaedit 2.2, which is available for download from http://download.microsoft.com/download/iis50/utility/5.0/nt45/en-us/mtaedt22.exe, to visually inspect the metabase structure to see where the key exists and delete the key. The DontLog key won't exist unless you've set the Log visits setting to differ from the WWW Master Properties. Alternatively, you can use the IIS Administration Script Utility (Adsutil) to remove this key, as the Microsoft article "Internet Information Services Does Not Log Requests Properly" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314938) explains.

—Brett Hill