Introduction

In the preceding chapters, you ve learned about what ISA Server is and how it works, how it fits into your network security plan, some tips on planning and deploying it in your organization, basic management techniques, how to configure inbound and outbound access, and how to use the publishing features and VPN support.

With the information we ve covered so far, you should be able to install and set up an ISA solution. However, you still might not be getting the best possible performance out of your ISA server(s). There is a difference between getting it to work and getting it to work at peak efficiency. In this chapter, we turn to performance issues and explore ways of optimizing ISA Server to enjoy all its benefits without negatively impacting your overall network performance.

We ll talk about bandwidth, load balancing, and scalability issues as well as application compatibility and how you can use the ISA Server SDK to customize ISA to fit your network s needs or use third-party add-ons to provide even more functionality in specific areas.

This chapter also discusses how ISA gets along (or doesn t get along) with other services. You will learn how to ensure that ISA peacefully coexists with Active Directory, RRAS, IIS, and IPSec, along with how you can best integrate your ISA servers into an existing Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 network environment.

Optimizing ISA Server Performance

The word performance has different meanings to different people. To some, computer hardware or software performance refers solely...