w3wp.exe Proc utilization

[ArmyITGuy]

We have a couple of IIS servers with w3wp.exe running in the background and it is hogging resources.

I've done a couple of google searches on it and I'm lead to believe the exe is part of IIS, though I can find conflicting information that would suggest it's a seperate exe that only monitors SQL/IIS/processes.

1) Is it a seperate app or part of IIS?
2) If I end the task that is taxing resources can I expect any ill effects?

 

[jshurst]

You'll need that process to run IIS applications. If you stop this then your web server will just start it again. I would check the code in the websites themselves (for endless loops, bad coding, etc). You can also use the performance counters in Server 2003 to help out.