Ali_Aamer
asked on
ISA Server as proxy and cache server
Dear All, - I have been asked to boost internet speed. I have decided to implement ISA caching only mode hoping to see a significance difference in speeding up internet access - Any other EASY software solution advise will be appreciated.
Our Scenario:
Internet Router connected to Juniper Box, that is connected to our cisco switch LAN.
My Questions:
1 - Where will i place the ISA server
2- Will ISA be in my domain or wokgroup
3- Will ISA be Uni Homed or a Multi Homed
Our Scenario:
Internet Router connected to Juniper Box, that is connected to our cisco switch LAN.
My Questions:
1 - Where will i place the ISA server
2- Will ISA be in my domain or wokgroup
3- Will ISA be Uni Homed or a Multi Homed
Depending on what sites you access, you may be disappointed with caching. 10-15 years ago, a caching server made sense. But with large numbers of Internet sites being so dynamic, caching really doesn't have the same bang it used to. I finally stopped doing caching about 5 years ago because the rate of hits on the cache were so low it wasn't worth doing.
You might take a look at the speed of your connection to the Internet and if your topping out the available bandwidth, increasing that might get you better results.
You might take a look at the speed of your connection to the Internet and if your topping out the available bandwidth, increasing that might get you better results.
ASKER
Hi, jhyiesla and Hkunnana, Thanks for the valuable responses, We have 3 MB Fiber link for the Internet with about 30 Users, which i think is more than adequate, but the management is not very much satisfied. They usually visit sits that have a lot of animation. I wanted to cache these sites on the ISA, will that help ? - Thanks
Caching in general helps saving the bandwidth, and enhances user's experience. However, some types of the internet contents cannot be cached. So, I cannot guarantee that ISA will cache the mentioned contents (as it depends on the web site's settings). Also, It depends on the configuration of the ISA.
ASKER
Hi hkunnana, Can i place the ISA after the Juniper box, because Juniper is having Mapped IP to Mail Server and i dont have a DMZ. The requests coming IN will pass through the Juniper box and then ISA. On ISA, i will allow all traffic to pass to my LAN. From LAN, I will configure the clients to use ISA proxy to go out. If there is a cached site on ISA, it will serve it to the client request internally ortherwise the request will pass through the Juniper to the Internet. The juniper box will have all the firewall rules enabled. In this scenario, I will have a unihomed ISA joined to my domain. What do you think about this, Is it OK? Thanks
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Yes, I would think that a 3 MB circuit would be adequate, unless they are all streaming stuff all the time. You might still want to check with your ISP to get some real data on bandwidth usage. As the other expert has also commented on, I'm not sure that caching is the answer simply because of the type of content they seem to be accessing.
You might also look at your bandwidth usage on your internal LAN since this will also affect their Internet access times.
You might also look at your bandwidth usage on your internal LAN since this will also affect their Internet access times.
2- If you would like to implement domain authentication, it should be part of the domain, otherwise, it doesn't matter.
3- Both scenarios could work, but I prefer the Multihomed because is easier to implement, and it provides more security when acting as a primeter between the local LAN and the internet (in both directions)