Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) Overview Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) is combination of a firewall and Web caching server that can be used to protect the enterprise from external access, while sharing a internet connection on the network. The multilayer firewall of ISA Server protects valuable network resources of the enterprise from unauthorized external access, attacks from hackers, and malicious viruses. You can also control client access to the Internet. The Web cache server enables faster Web access for users by serving objects locally Read More

Understanding the ISA Server Reporting Feature ISA Server includes a reporting feature that you can use for a number of purposes: Use reports to obtain and view information on usage statistics of the server for both computers and client users. Create your own reports. Each report here consists of a number of sub-reports, taking the form of charts and graphs. This concept is illustrated on the 2nd page of the Article: The predefined ISA Server reports are listed here: Summary reports: These reports combine data from the Firewall service log Read More

Configuring Dial-up Connections and Dial-up Entries Before you can configure ISA Server dial-up connections, you have to create the necessary policy elements. ISA Server dial-up connections are typically configured when you want to access services that are not Web services, on clients that do not have the Firewall Client installed. These services are usually the Post Office Protocol (POP3) service or the Network News Transfer Protocols (NNTP). When you create dial-up entries, you can apply connection rules and policies for these connections with ISA Server. A dial-up entry uses policy Read More

Configuring VPN Connectivity Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide secure and advanced connections through a non-secure network by providing data privacy. Private data is secure in a public environment. Remote access VPNs provides a common environment where many different sources such as intermediaries, clients and off-site employees can access information via web browsers or email. Many companies supply their own VPN connections via the Internet. Through their Internet Service Providers (ISPs), remote users running VPN client software are assured private access in a publicly shared environment. By using analog, ISDN, DSL, Read More

Modifying the Local Address Table (LAT) for ISA Server Installation When ISA Server runs as a firewall (install ISA Server in Firewall mode or in Integrated mode), ISA Server uses the Local Address Table (LAT) to determine the following information so that it can implement access rules: Determine the IP addresses on the private network. Determine the IP addresses on the public network. The firewall client uses the information in the LAT to determine the following: The addresses that need to be forwarded to the firewall The addresses which should Read More

IP Packet Filter Overview Access rules and packet filtering should be configured on firewalls to control both source and destination addresses and ports. With packet filtering, you can manage the flow of IP packets to ISA Server and from ISA Server. Packet filtering inspects the header of each packet for protocol, port, and destination address and source address information. Packets are dropped if they are not explicitly allowed. IP packet filters can be configured when ISA Server is installed in either of these modes: Firewall mode Integrated mode Packet filters Read More

ISA Server Planning Overview When planning your ISA Server installation, there are a number of factors that you need to consider and others that you need to determine: How network topology needs to be configured to incorporate ISA Server. The size of the network. How you are going to achieve Internet connectivity. The needs and requirements of users. Active Directory integration requirements. The different ISA Server installation options. Is ISA Server going to be as a standalone server or an array? ISA Server array considerations (if applicable). The ISA Server Read More

Designing a Proxy Server Implementation Before you can design a Proxy Server implementation and install Proxy Server, you need to be knowledgeable on a number of concepts: IP routing concepts Firewalls concepts Packet filtering concepts Files and protocols utilized in Web applications To design a Proxy Server implementation, there are a number of factors that has an impact on the Proxy Server design: The characteristics of data that will pass to the Proxy Server. Data characteristics should include factors such as the quantity of data which you expect the Proxy Read More

ISA Server Cache Summary The Web Proxy service of ISA Server enables frequently requested Web objects to be cached. Subsequent client requests are checked against the ISA Server cache to determine whether they can be served from the cache. A new request is initiated if the ISA Server cache cannot be utilized to serve the client request. ISA Server stores most frequently accessed items in RAM. The items are then retrieved from memory instead of from disk. Objects remain in the ISA Server cache until either of the following events Read More

ISA Server Client Types Overview The different ISA Server client types are: Firewall client: These are client computers on which Firewall Client software is installed and enabled. SecureNAT client: These are client computers that have no Firewall Client software installed and enabled. Web Proxy client: These are client Web applications which are set up to use the ISA Server computer. You have to consider the needs of the organization before you install any client software: You have to determine which applications and services your internal clients need to access. You Read More