Administering ISA
Administering ISA
Access policy rules. Includes site and content rules, protocol rules, and Internet Protocol (IP)
packet filters. For more information, see Configuring access policy.
Publishing rules. Includes server publishing and Web publishing rules. For more information, see
Configuring publishing.
Cache configuration. Includes cache size, expiration policy. For more information, see
Configuring ISA Server cache.
Routing rules. Determine whether a Web Proxy client request is retrieved directly from the
specified destination or redirected to an upstream server. For more information, see Routing Web
requests.
Bandwidth rules. Set priorities for any request passing through ISA Server. For more
information, see Configuring bandwidth rules.
Local address table and local domain table configuration. These tables include the IP
addresses or names of all internal computers. For more information, see Configuring the local
address table and Configuring the local domain table.
Policy elements
Some rule properties can be set to values that are defined beyond the scope of the rule
itself. The group of these properties is called policy elements. You can create policy
elements for each array policy and for the enterprise policy. Policy elements include:
Bandwidth priorities
Content groups
Destination sets
Dial-up entries
Protocol definitions
Schedule
For more information, see Configuring destination sets, Configuring client address sets,
Configuring bandwidth priorities, Configuring protocol definitions, Configuring content
groups, and Configuring dial-up entries.
/Path/Folder_Name/*
To select a specific file in a folder:
/Path/Folder_Name/Filename
Rules can be applied to internal destination sets or external destination sets. Internal
destination sets are groups of computers within your local network. External destination
sets include computers outside the local network.
The following rules can specify destination sets:
Site and content rules.
Bandwidth rules.
Routing rules.
For site and content rules and bandwidth rules, destination sets usually include computers
that are not on your internal network. For Web publishing rules, destination sets usually
include computers on your internal network. For routing rules, destination sets include
external computers (on the Internet) for rules that route outgoing Web requests. Routing
rules that route incoming Web requests include internal computers.
For more information, see Site and content rules, Configuring bandwidth rules, Routing
Web requests, and Web publishing rules.
Protocol rules
Bandwidth rules
For more information, see Site and content rules, Protocol rules, Configuring bandwidth
rules, and Create a client address set.
Users and groups
When you create rules, you can specify the internal clients to which the rule is applied.
Clients can be specified either by user name or by Internet Protocol (IP) address.
For secure network address translation (SecureNAT) clients, you must specify clients by
IP address. You can create client address sets, which group client computers by IP
address.
For Firewall clients, when you specify clients by user name, you can use the
Windows 2000 groups.
For configuration instructions, see Configure users for an access rule.
2. Create a protocol rule indicating which protocols can be used to access the specific destinations.
Processing order
Although site and content rules are not ordered, rules that deny access are processed
before rules that allow access. For example, if you create two rules, one of which allows
access to all clients and one of which denies access to all users in the Sales department,
the Sales department cannot gain access to the Internet.
For more information on how ISA Server processes requests, see Controlling outgoing
requests and Rules and authentication.
Action
Site and content rules can either allow or deny access to specific sites. If access is denied,
then for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) objects, the request can be redirected to an
alternate Uniform Resource Locator (URL)—typically a page on an internal server—
explaining why access is denied.
When you specify the destination to which to redirect the request, you can specify a
whole different location by typing http:// and then the URL of the location to which to
redirect the request.
When access is denied, ISA Server sends the URL specified here to the Web browser
client. The client Web browser then tries to access the object from the destination to
which ISA Server redirected.
For example, suppose a site and content rule denies access to
http://example.microsoft.com/, redirecting requests for this site to
http://widgets.microsoft.com/accessdenied.htm. When a client requests an object on
http://example.microsoft.com/, ISA Server denies the request, and returns
http://widgets.microsoft.com/accessdenied.htm to the client. The client then requests
http://widgets.microsoft.com/accessdenied.htm.
Important
If you choose to redirect the request, then the URL that you specify must be accessible to the
selected clients or users. In other words, either the URL must be on an internal computer or some
rule must explicitly allow access to the URL.
For more information, see Configure an action for a site and content rule.
Example
If you want to deny access to all images in http://example.microsoft.com/stuff, create a
site and content rule with the following properties:
Set Destination set to a set that includes the following path:
example.microsoft.com/stuff/*
Set Schedule to Always.
For a deployment scenario that illustrates the use of protocol rules, see Firewall scenario.
Protocol rules
Protocol rules determine which protocols clients can use to access the Internet. You can
define protocol rules that allow or deny use of one or more protocol definitions. For more
information, see Create a protocol rule.
Protocols
You can configure protocol rules to apply to all Internet protocol (IP) traffic, to a specific
set of protocols definitions, or to all IP traffic except selected protocols.
If Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server is installed in cache mode,
protocol rules can be applied only to Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Secure
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), Gopher, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
protocols.
ISA Server includes a list of preconfigured, well-known protocol definitions, including
the Internet protocols which are most widely used. You can also add or modify additional
protocols. For more information, see Configuring protocol definitions.
When a client requests an object using a specific protocol, ISA Server checks the
protocol rules. If a protocol rule specifically denies use of the protocol, the request is
denied. Furthermore, the request will be processed only if a protocol rule specifically
allows the client to communicate using the specific protocol, and if a site and content rule
specifically allows access to the requested object. In other words, you must perform the
following to allow access:
1. Create a protocol rule, indicating which protocols can be used to access the specific destinations.
2. Create a site and content rule, indicating clients that are allowed access to specific destination sets.
Some application filters create and install new protocol definitions. When the application
filter is disabled, all its protocol definitions are also disabled. That is, traffic that uses the
protocol definition is blocked. For example, if you disable the streaming media filter,
then all traffic that uses the Windows Media and Real Networks protocol definitions is
blocked.
Other application filters traffic of existing protocol definitions, either user-defined or
configured by ISA Server. When these application filters are disabled, the protocol
definitions that they filter are not disabled. For example, even if you disable the Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) filter, SMTP protocol definitions might still be allowed
to pass, left unfiltered.
For more information, see Using extensions.
Processing order
Although protocol rules are not ordered, rules that deny protocols are processed before
rules that allow access. For example, if you create two rules, one rule that allows use of
all protocols and one rule that denies use of the SMTP protocol, the SMTP protocol will
not be allowed.
For more information on how ISA Server processes requests, see Controlling outgoing
requests and Rules and authentication.
Examples
Suppose you want to prohibit a group of users in your organization from using MSN
Messenger during work hours. You can create a protocol rule to enforce this policy by
configuring the following parameters:
Select the MSN Messenger protocol.
For a deployment scenario that illustrates the use of protocol rules, see Firewall scenario.
Schedule
Content types
Rule order
Bandwidth rules are ordered, with the default bandwidth rule processed last. For each
new connection, the ISA Server computer processes the bandwidth rules in order. The
first rule is processed first. If the request matches the conditions specified by the rule, the
bandwidth priority is applied to the request. Otherwise, the next rule is processed. This
continues until the last default rule is processed and applied to the request. For
instructions on ordering rules, see Change the order of a bandwidth rule.
Scenario
For example, imagine that you create a bandwidth rule called VIP that uses a bandwidth
priority called Maximum, which sets outbound and inbound bandwidth to the maximum
rate of 200. The bandwidth rule might allow a client set that includes all senior executives
and specifies all protocols, any content, and at any time.
In the scenario, it is assumed that the network is fairly congested and only a limited
amount of bandwidth remains. When two requests arrive, one from two senior executives
and one from any other employee, the VIP bandwidth will be split between the two
requests from the senior executives and the remaining bandwidth will be allocated to the
other employee.
To create a client address set
1. In the console tree of ISA Management, right-click Client Address Sets, point to New, and then
click Set.
o Name
o Policy Elements
o Enterprise
o Policy Elements
4. Click Add.
5. In From, type an Internet protocol (IP) address for the lowest IP address in the set.
Notes
To open ISA Management, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and
then click ISA Management.
If you want to include only one IP address in the set, type the same address in From and To.
Name
Access Policy
Where?
Internet Security and Acceleration Server
Enterprise
Policies
Enterprise Policy
3. In the details pane, right-click the applicable rule and then click Properties.
4. To specify clients for the rule, on the Applies To tab, do one of the following:
5. If you selected Requests from specified users or groups or Requests from specified client
address sets, then do the following:
Notes
To open ISA Management, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and
then click ISA Management.
You can configure users for site and content rules and for protocol rules.
Users will be authenticated differently, depending on how you configure ISA Server.
Inbound bandwidth, the bandwidth priority allocated for requests from external clients for
objects on the local network.
Destination sets
Schedule
Content types
Rule order
Bandwidth rules are ordered, with the default bandwidth rule processed last. For each
new connection, the ISA Server computer processes the bandwidth rules in order. The
first rule is processed first. If the request matches the conditions specified by the rule, the
bandwidth priority is applied to the request. Otherwise, the next rule is processed. This
continues until the last default rule is processed and applied to the request. For
instructions on ordering rules, see Change the order of a bandwidth rule.
Scenario
For example, imagine that you create a bandwidth rule called VIP that uses a bandwidth
priority called Maximum, which sets outbound and inbound bandwidth to the maximum
rate of 200. The bandwidth rule might allow a client set that includes all senior executives
and specifies all protocols, any content, and at any time.
In the scenario, it is assumed that the network is fairly congested and only a limited
amount of bandwidth remains. When two requests arrive, one from two senior executives
and one from any other employee, the VIP bandwidth will be split between the two
requests from the senior executives and the remaining bandwidth will be allocated to the
other employee.
Where?
o Internet Security and Acceleration Server
o Name
o Policy Elements
o Bandwidth Priorities
2. In Name, type the name of the bandwidth priority.
Notes
To open ISA Management, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and
then click ISA Management.
.dxr
.dcr
application/x-director
When you configure a content group, specifying the MIME type, you can use asterisks as
wildcards. For example, to include all application types, enter application/*. The asterisk
wildcards can be used only with MIME types (and not with file extensions). The asterisk
can appear only once and can be specified only at the end of the MIME type after /.
For configuration instructions, see Create a content group.
ISA Server comes preconfigured with the following content groups: Application,
Application data files, Audio, Compressed files, Documents, HTML documents, Images,
Macro documents, Text, Video, and VRML.
Depending on the Web server, different MIME types are associated with different file
name extensions. The table below lists the Internet Information Services (IIS) default
associations.
File Name Extension MIME Type
.hta application/hta
.isp application/x-internet-signup
.crd application/x-mscardfile
.pmc application/x-perfmon
.spc application/x-pkcs7-certificates
.sv4crc application/x-sv4crc
.bin application/octet-stream
.clp application/x-msclip
.mny application/x-msmoney
.p7r application/x-pkcs7-certreqresp
.evy application/envoy
.p7s application/pkcs7-signature
.eps application/postscript
.setreg application/set-registration-initiation
.xlm application/vnd.ms-excel
.cpio application/x-cpio
.dvi application/x-dvi
.p7b application/x-pkcs7-certificates
.doc application/msword
.dot application/msword
.p7c application/pkcs7-mime
.ps application/postscript
.wps application/vnd.ms-works
.csh application/x-csh
.iii application/x-iphone
.pmw application/x-perfmon
.man application/x-troff-man
.hdf application/x-hdf
.mvb application/x-msmediaview
.texi application/x-texinfo
.setpay application/set-payment-initiation
.stl application/vndms-pkistl
.mdb application/x-msaccess
.oda application/oda
.hlp application/winhlp
.nc application/x-netcdf
.sh application/x-sh
.shar application/x-shar
.tcl application/x-tcl
.ms application/x-troff-ms
.ods application/oleobject
.axs application/olescript
.xla application/vnd.ms-excel
.mpp application/vnd.ms-project
.dir application/x-director
.sit application/x-stuffit
.* application/octet-stream
.crl application/pkix-crl
.ai application/postscript
.xls application/vnd.ms-excel
.wks application/vnd.ms-works
.ins application/x-internet-signup
.pub application/x-mspublisher
.wri application/x-mswrite
.spl application/futuresplash
.hqx application/mac-binhex40
.p10 application/pkcs10
.xlc application/vnd.ms-excel
.xlt application/vnd.ms-excel
.dxr application/x-director
.js application/x-javascript
.m13 application/x-msmediaview
.trm application/x-msterminal
.pml application/x-perfmon
.me application/x-troff-me
.wcm application/vnd.ms-works
.latex application/x-latex
.m14 application/x-msmediaview
.wmf application/x-msmetafile
.cer application/x-x509-ca-cert
.zip application/x-zip-compressed
.p12 application/x-pkcs12
.pfx application/x-pkcs12
.der application/x-x509-ca-cert
.pdf application/pdf
.xlw application/vnd.ms-excel
.texinfo application/x-texinfo
.p7m application/pkcs7-mime
.pps application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.dcr application/x-director
.gtar application/x-gtar
.sct text/scriptlet
.fif application/fractals
.exe application/octet-stream
.ppt application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.sst application/vndms-pkicertstore
.pko application/vndms-pkipko
.scd application/x-msschedule
.tar application/x-tar
.roff application/x-troff
.t application/x-troff
.prf application/pics-rules
.rtf application/rtf
.pot application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
.wdb application/vnd.ms-works
.bcpio application/x-bcpio
.dll application/x-msdownload
.pma application/x-perfmon
.pmr application/x-perfmon
.tr application/x-troff
.src application/x-wais-source
.acx application/internet-property-stream
.cat application/vndms-pkiseccat
.cdf application/x-cdf
.tgz application/x-compressed
.sv4cpio application/x-sv4cpio
.tex application/x-tex
.ustar application/x-ustar
.crt application/x-x509-ca-cert
.ra audio/x-pn-realaudio
.mid audio/mid
.au audio/basic
.snd audio/basic
.wav audio/wav
.aifc audio/aiff
.m3u audio/x-mpegurl
.ram audio/x-pn-realaudio
.aiff audio/aiff
.rmi audio/mid
.aif audio/x-aiff
.mp3 audio/mpeg
.gz application/x-gzip
.z application/x-compress
.tsv text/tab-separated-values
.xml text/xml
.323 text/h323
.htt text/webviewhtml
.stm text/html
.html text/html
.xsl text/xml
.htm text/html
.cod image/cis-cod
.ief image/ief
.pbm image/x-portable-bitmap
.tiff image/tiff
.ppm image/x-portable-pixmap
.rgb image/x-rgb
.dib image/bmp
.jpeg image/jpeg
.cmx image/x-cmx
.pnm image/x-portable-anymap
.jpe image/jpeg
.jfif image/pjpeg
.tif image/tiff
.jpg image/jpeg
.xbm image/x-xbitmap
.ras image/x-cmu-raster
.gif image/gif