Setting up ISA Server

[Steven]

Hi, Im new to ISA Server Could you tell me if ISA Server has to be on a its own Server or Does it work on a Domain Controller, Also can I use it as a Proxy and Filter Websites, Many Thanks Steven. Edited February 21, 2008 by Steven

[SYNACK]

You really should not put it on a DC as its purpose it to firewall stuff off, putting it on a DC would be a security risk and also a complete nightmare as you would need to enable tonnes of ports for it to be able to work as a DC.

 

You can use it as a proxy and it does have very rudimentry filtering capibilities. For example you can block certain sites that you enter into the configuration but for reall filtering you will need a plugin something like websence/surfcontrol.

[Steven]

How do you unblock ports in Windows Server 2003 Im new to this stuff as im learning it all bit by bit before i go to college. Thanks Ste.

[srochford]

It might be worth downloading an eval edition of small business server - that comes with ISA server and is a domain controller. You could look at how that's configured and go from there.

[SYNACK]

If you have ISA on a DC you would need to go into ISA Server Managment and add some access rules to allow things like LDAP, RDP and DNS to all hosts on the local network. I would agree with Steve that if you are after an all in one setup Small Business server is a much easier way to go about it than ISA + AD manually.

[Ryan]

We added ISA server a year ago, and i used a bog standard PC, chucked some more RAM in it (which is important, it's obv being a server and all - 2GB now), and it's as happy as larry (well, hardware-wise anyway).

[sahmeepee]

I'd also avoid running it on a webserver if possible. We have IIS serving up some intranet web apps on our ISA box and although it's possible it does complicate things.

[Jamman960]

I'm not a fan of having ISA on a DC but the school I work for only has 1 curriculum server on each site and both of them are DC's with ISA installed as well(argh!)

 

I've set them up to allow everything internally followed by a few rules for allowing certain types of traffic to pass between the internal and external network. As above I would if possible get ISA setup on a seperate box to save headaches.

[timzim]

Hi, Im new to ISA Server Could you tell me if ISA Server has to be on a its own Server or Does it work on a Domain Controller, Also can I use it as a Proxy and Filter Websites, Many Thanks Steven.

 

Take a look at http://isaserver.org/tutorials/Questions-Answers-ISA-2006-Firewall.html. Should help you get started.