Course 2159: Help Protect Your Network with ISA Server 2000
Zubair Alexander, MCSE, MCT
On This Page
 | Emphasis on security |
| ISA Server's role in Microsoft .NET |
| What do the experts say? |
| Attain skills needed to implement ISA Server 2000 |
| Validate your skills with certification |
| Conclusion |
| Additional resources |
In today's high-tech world, we are more security conscious than ever. Computer networks are being attacked by hackers all over the world. Many businesses think hackers are mostly teenaged pranksters breaking into a network for a "joy ride." Hackers attack networks for many reasons. Their motives include vandalizing businesses by defacing their Web sites, gaining competitive advantages, and making political statements to advance personal causes.
Businesses are also worried about virus attacks, such as NIMDA, which can shut down a network, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, which impede Internet access for employees and prevent customers from doing business. Customers are concerned about personal and financial data being stolen. Attacks erode customer confidence and result in lost revenue.
Businesses need to help protect their networks from external attacks. Firewalls help provide the first line of defense. Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 is a firewall product that addresses these and other security concerns and helps protect your network from external attackers.
Emphasis on security
Security is now part of most technical discussions. Microsoft recognizes the importance of security and has taken several measures to ensure that Microsoft Windows is one of the most security-enhanced platforms in the world.
In launching Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative in January 2002, Bill Gates said, "Trustworthy Computing is the highest priority for all the work we are doing. We must lead the industry to a whole new level of trustworthiness in computing." Microsoft is convinced that delivering trustworthy computing is essential—not only to the health of the computer industry, but also to the economy and society at large.
ISA Server's role in Microsoft .NET
Microsoft .NET includes a comprehensive family of products that you can use to build, develop, and manage Web-enabled solutions. ISA Server 2000 plays an important role in Microsoft .NET by offering an extensible, multilayer enterprise firewall solution combined with scalable, high-performance Web cache services. ISA Server satisfies the needs of all types of businesses, from small organizations to large enterprises.
ISA Server includes features that are not typically part of traditional firewall packages: a full-featured enterprise firewall, a Web cache server, and a security-enhanced Network Address Translation (SecureNAT) server.
What do the experts say?
Security experts and third-party vendors have thoroughly tested ISA Server. ICSA Labs firewall certification tests, considered by many as the industry standard for firewall security, passed ISA Server with flying colors. Security training and consulting experts are confident that ISA Server will successfully compete with well-established firewall products.
According to industry expert Joel Scambray, co-author of Hacking Exposed, a best-selling book about Internet security, "ISA Server comes out of the box with built-in array technology for firewall clustering, which makes it an attractive proposition for large enterprises. It's a pretty bold step considering that other providers require customers to buy third-party solutions to do load balancing and clustering."
Other security professionals have expressed similar excitement about ISA Server 2000. "Microsoft has a winner on their hands with this product," said Larry Leibrock, a security expert with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. As the associate dean and chief technology officer for the Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration at the University of Texas in Austin, Leibrock decided to add ISA Server to his department's network.
Leibrock deployed the Enterprise Edition of ISA Server on an array that supports more than 10,000 users. He based his decision to migrate to ISA Server on security, manageability, and total cost of ownership. "ISA Server is a robust firewall," Leibrock said. "I really like the ability to define so many rules for Internet access and usage. Other firewalls on the market simply don't have the manageability that ISA Server provides."
Attain skills needed to implement ISA Server 2000
Microsoft developed the three-day Course 2159: Deploying and Managing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000, which teaches you how to install and configure ISA Server 2000 in an enterprise environment. This Microsoft Official Course contains information about firewalls, filters, site and content rules, bandwidth priorities, protocol definitions, content groups, and more. If you are a Web administrator, a security administrator, or a network administrator, you will benefit greatly from attending this course.
The overview in Course 2159 includes a primer on firewalls, which are a controlled point of access for all traffic coming in and leaving your network. At the end of this course, you will be able to:
| • | Install and configure ISA Server as a firewall and cache server |
| • | Enable security-enhanced Internet access |
| • | Configure Web and server publishing |
| • | Plan a strategy for monitoring and reporting ISA Server activities |
| • | Configure alerts to monitor intrusion detection |
| • | Use reports to analyze ISA Server activity |
Course 2159 covers ISA Server deployment in small businesses, branch office configurations, and large enterprises. The course also explains how to upgrade from Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 to ISA Server 2000.
Figure 1 shows a typical back-to-back firewall configuration, which is highly security-enhanced. In this type of scenario, you can implement two ISA Servers on either side of the perimeter network to help protect your corporate network. The perimeter networks are generally used to deploy servers that are accessible to the general public over the Internet, such as Web servers or e-mail servers.
Figure 2 shows how a small business can benefit from ISA Server's cache features and accelerate the clients' access to the Internet.
Validate your skills with certification
Learning how to deploy and manage ISA Server isn't the only benefit of attending Course 2159. The course also prepares you for Microsoft Certified Professional Exam 70-227: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000, Enterprise Edition. This exam measures your ability to implement, administer, and troubleshoot information systems that incorporate ISA Server 2000 Enterprise Edition.
When you pass this exam, you achieve Microsoft Certified Professional status. In addition, you can also earn:
| • | Elective credit toward Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator on Microsoft Windows 2000 certification |
| • | Elective credit toward Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer on Microsoft Windows 2000 certification |
Conclusion
Microsoft ISA Server 2000, an enterprise firewall and Web cache, is the security and performance product of the family of the Microsoft Windows Server System. As its name suggests, ISA Server offers Internet security (firewall) and acceleration (cache) to help provide safety and speed to organizations of all sizes. Dozens of companies have announced add-on services and solutions to ISA Server, which give customers many choices for customizing these third-party solutions to their network security needs. Security experts and third-party vendors have given ISA Server high marks for its firewall capabilities and excellent performance.
Microsoft offers ISA Server Course 2159 through its Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centers (Microsoft Certified Partner(s) for Learning Solutions programs). These courses are delivered by extensively trained instructors who are certified by Microsoft. Most of these instructors have a security background. Many of these instructors also consult for their clients so they bring real-world experience to the classroom in dealing with security issues in general and in deploying ISA Server in particular. In addition, these Microsoft Certified Partner(s) for Learning Solutions programs offer state-of-the-art facilities and are required by Microsoft to meet certain criteria before they can deliver Microsoft Official Courses. Course 2159 also helps you prepare for MCP exam 70-227. By passing this exam, you qualify for MCP status and also earn elective credit toward MCSA or MCSE certification.
Additional resources
Other ISA Server resources that you will find beneficial.
| • | Microsoft Official Curriculum Course 2159: Deploying and Managing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000 The goal of this course is to provide IT professionals with the knowledge and skills to deploy and manage Microsoft ISA Server 2000 in an enterprise environment. |
| • | ISA Server on Microsoft TechNet |
| • | Microsoft ISA Server 2000 book |
| • | Exam 70-227: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000, Enterprise Edition. |