Microsoft ISA 2000

[blubomber]

Hi, i am new but i am looking forward to gathering alot of good security info from this site.

I was just wondering what some thought of Microsofts ISA server? Anyone use it? Major problems and how it compares to a Firewall appliance.

Thank you for your replies and guidance.

[waverebel]

I did a test of ISA server 2000 a while ago, from comparison with Squid (a linux based proxy) point of view. The main advatange for a windows network was the ability to grant deny access based on user as well as host.

http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/

Have a look under the technical resources.

btw you haven't mentioned what you wanted to use it for, if you just have a home network I would consider it overkill.

[CXGJarrod]

Definetly overkill for a home network especially at the price. Standard Edition
$1,499 US per processor. It has worked well for me in our enviroment.

[blubomber]

CXGJarrod,

What environment do you have it deployed in? i was thinking about using it where i work to replace an older Router.

[CXGJarrod]

Its in front of about 50 users who browse the net for their jobs all day long. I have it running fine on a P3 800 with 512 Megs of RAM. They download a lot and it works fine. The only thing I dont like about it is the reporting. MS put a crappy reporting feature into ISA Server. A lot of other companies have made add ons that work a lot better. Check out http://www.isaserver.org/ for more info.