Proxy web servers and browsers

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Hey everyone, im just looking for resources or links for any good information regarding proxy servers and proxy web browsers as i have limited knowledge in this area I will be sitting ISA server shortly as part of my MCSE but would like some background knowledge jus now!
If im correct, a web cache server such as ISA will service requests on behalf of its clients to keep its clients from bein exposed on the internet and cache these requests. Does this also require all clients browsers to be set up with a proxy script or something to ensure that all its request go through the ISA server??
Any help appreciated

 

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Ye gods Ally, if you are going to sit ISA *shortly* you should know the answer to your question ISA is a tough exam and it isn't made any easier by the fact that the exam focuses on the Enterprise edition, meaning clustering!

You will find some good articles and a semi-decent forum at http://www.isaserver.org

ISA is a firewall and a proxy server, how it works depends on which type of installation you chose and which client/s are being used.

1) You can install the Firewall Client, this is software that will run on Windows systems. The software can automatically configure the browser for the web proxy settings as well or you can use WPAD (windows proxy automatic detection) entries in DNS or DHCP or both. If you use the Firewall Client software, proper user/group credentials are passed to the ISA server. This enables ISA to filter requests based on user or group membership. Without the Firewall Client software all requests are handled as anonymous.

2) You can configure clients just as web proxy clients. This means either manually configuring the clients browser with the ISA proxy server IP address and port (8080) or again, you can use WPAD entries and leave the browser set to automatically detect a proxy server. Note, that in this configuration, the client can take advantage of ISAs caching ability but it is not possible to filter out all requests for other protocols used by things like instant messaging, streaming media, net meetings, etc.

3) You can also configure the clients as *secure NAT*. Basically this means that you set the default gateway address to the internal NIC of the ISA server. If the ISA server is on a different subnet, you need to configure your clients default gateway to the router that directly leads to the subnet that your ISA server is on, and configure the routing tables to forward packets to the ISA server.

So, there are three client options and you can indeed use them in combination with each other. I found this to be quite confusing at first but you will understand it more *if* you dig in and do some serious research.

Good luck,

Pete

 

Hey thanks for the info, very useful. My original message was probably misleading, im not about to take the test shortly, im jus going to start the training for it shortly after i sit the 70 293 exam!!
Thanks, thats a great help

 

Ally

Good resource

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/traincert/virtuallab/isa.mspx

for getting some hands on and with the features Microsoft are keen to push (hint: usually in the exam as well)

 

Thanks Mark, iv been doing a lot of research on this and its all making sense now. Thanks for the link