For MSPs
Legacy IIS & Classic ASP Migrations for MSPs
A capacity and specialty partner for the old Windows Server websites your clients still run — not a competitor for the client.
The short answer
IIS Rescue is a fixed-price specialist that MSPs bring in for the legacy IIS, classic ASP and SQL Server website migrations they would rather not own. When an aging Windows Server website turns up in a client's environment, the MSP keeps the client and the relationship; IIS Rescue scopes the site, quotes one fixed price in writing, and carries out a zero-downtime migration to modern cloud hosting — a rehost, a rebuild or a replacement, whichever the site actually needs. It works under the MSP's brand when asked, never solicits the MSP's client, and sends any request outside the agreed scope back to the MSP. Every project ends with a documentation handover written for the MSP's own team, so the migrated site goes straight back into the MSP's normal care with no retainer and no ongoing dependency on IIS Rescue.
When MSPs bring IIS Rescue in
Most MSPs can keep a legacy IIS site running. Moving one is a different job, and it tends to arrive at the worst time. Four situations account for most partner projects:
- //Capacity. A client's server is out of support and the site has to move, but the engineers who could do it are already committed. The migration is well within reach — there is simply no room for it before the client needs it done.
- //Specialty. The site is classic ASP with registered COM components, 32-bit application pools and hard-coded paths — the kind of work most providers quietly decline, and the kind that is expensive to learn on a live client. What a classic ASP migration actually involves sets out why.
- //A deadline. Windows Server or SQL Server end of support has turned a known risk into a date, often by way of a security audit or a cyber-insurance renewal. The Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016 pages cover the dates.
- //An orphaned site. The developer who built it is long gone, there is no source control, and nobody at the client can say how it works. This is common and usually recoverable — it just needs someone who has done it before.
What stays with the MSP
These are operating commitments, not marketing lines. They apply on every partner project.
The client stays yours
IIS Rescue never solicits an MSP's client — not during the project, not after it, and not for anything outside the migration.
Your brand, if you want it
White-label on request: you stay the only point of contact and present the work as yours. Or introduce IIS Rescue by name. Your call.
Out-of-scope comes back to you
Anything the client asks for beyond the agreed migration is routed to the MSP, not quoted or handled directly.
A handover for your team
Documentation written for your technicians. No retainer and no ongoing dependency — the site goes back into your normal care.
How a partner migration runs
The same fixed-price, zero-downtime process as every IIS Rescue project, seen from the MSP's side. The client's live site keeps running, untouched, throughout.
- 01Assess the siteOptional, and free: run the two-minute assessment in referral mode for a first read on rehost, rebuild or replace, phrased for the client.
- 02Scoping callA free 30-minute conversation about the site and the server, with or without the client on the line.
- 03Fixed quoteOne number for the whole migration, in writing, to the MSP. That number doesn't move within scope.
- 04Build and migrateThe new environment is stood up and the site and data moved across, in parallel with the live site.
- 05Test and sign-offThe staging site is reviewed and signed off before anything goes live — by the MSP, the client, or both.
- 06Go live and hand backZero-downtime DNS cutover with a final data sync, then the documentation handover to the MSP's team.
Assess a client's site before the first call
Referral mode runs the two-minute assessment on a client's site and returns the finding as a client-facing summary — the recommended path, the confidence level, the risks and what moves the price — ready to paste into an email. “Not sure” is a valid answer to every question, and it returns no price figure: the fixed number comes after a scoping call.
Run the assessment in referral modeWorking solo rather than as a firm?
Independent IT contractors use the same arrangement on a smaller scale — subcontracting a migration inside their own engagement, or referring the client for that one project and staying their IT provider for everything else. The companion page for independent IT contractors covers it from a solo practitioner's side, including how to price a subcontracted migration to the client.
Frequently asked questions
Who handles legacy IIS migrations for MSPs that don't want to take them on in-house?
IIS Rescue does, as a fixed-price specialist working alongside the MSP rather than competing with it. The MSP keeps the client and the relationship; IIS Rescue scopes the legacy IIS, classic ASP or SQL Server website, quotes one fixed price in writing, and migrates it to modern cloud hosting with a zero-downtime cutover.
The MSP decides how visible IIS Rescue is — kept behind the MSP's brand, or introduced as the named migration specialist — and every project ends with documentation the MSP's own team can support the site from.
Can IIS Rescue work white-label, under our MSP's brand?
Yes, when asked. Under a white-label arrangement IIS Rescue delivers the migration as part of the MSP's service: the MSP stays the client's only point of contact, client communication runs through the MSP, and the handover documentation can be prepared for the MSP to present as its own. Some MSPs prefer to introduce IIS Rescue as the named migration specialist instead, which can be simpler when the client wants to hear from whoever is doing the work. The migration, the fixed price and the documentation are the same either way, and the choice is made before the project starts.
Will IIS Rescue approach or solicit our client directly?
No. A client an MSP brings to IIS Rescue remains the MSP's client, during the project and after it. IIS Rescue does not solicit that client for other work, does not offer it services outside the agreed migration, and does not use the project as a way into the rest of its environment.
What happens if our client asks IIS Rescue for work outside the migration scope?
It goes back to the MSP. Requests beyond the agreed scope — a new feature, help with email, anything else in the client's environment — are routed to the MSP rather than quoted or handled directly. If a request would change the migration itself, it is raised with the MSP first, and nothing is added to the project without the MSP's agreement.
How is a migration priced when an MSP brings in IIS Rescue?
The same way as any IIS Rescue project: one fixed price, in writing, quoted after a free scoping look at the site and before any work starts. There is no published rate card, no hourly billing, and no change orders for anything within the agreed scope. Because the number is settled up front, the MSP can set its own price to the client knowing exactly what the migration costs. Ongoing cloud hosting is billed by the hosting provider directly, with no markup from IIS Rescue.
What does the MSP's team get at handover, and who looks after the site afterward?
A full documentation handover — hosting details, where credentials live, architecture notes, and how-to steps — written so the MSP's own technicians can support the migrated site. After that the site is the MSP's to look after. IIS Rescue is project-based by design, so there is no retainer and no ongoing dependency: once the site is live and signed off, it goes back into the MSP's normal care.
How can an MSP check whether a client's legacy site needs a rehost, rebuild or replace?
Run the two-minute assessment in referral mode. It asks six plain-language questions about the client's site — file type, server version, database, source code, custom components — and returns a recommended path, a confidence level, the risks those answers imply and what moves the price, phrased as talking points the MSP can paste into an email to the client. It is an assessment, not a quote; the fixed number comes after a free scoping call. The same engine is available to AI assistants as a tool at iisrescue.com/mcp.
Have a client site that needs to move?
Thirty minutes, free, no obligation — then one fixed written quote you can build your own price on.