In response to my recent blog post about system policies in Microsoft ISA Server, several people asked me about a rule called ‘Web Management’…

The description of the rule states that “Enabling this configuration group enables system policy rules that allow remote management of ISA server from selected computers using Web applications”. This rule is disabled by default when you install the ISA firewall software. If you view the access rule itself, you will notice that the protocol defined is “ISA Server Web Management” and is configured to use TCP port 2175 outbound.

So, is there a native web-based management application for Microsoft ISA Server 2006? The answer is no; at least not natively. According to Jim Harrison, this system policy rule was implemented to provide OEM’s a way to enable remote web-based management of an ISA appliance. Embarrassingly enough, I work for Celestix Networks but didn’t know this. ; ) In my defense, however, the web-based management utility that ships with the Celestix MSA Series security appliance is configured to use port 10000. Since the ISA defined protocol was TCP port 2175, which coincidentally is near other native Microsoft ISA Server ports, it sure sounded plausible that maybe there was a native Microsoft ISA web-based management console (or perhaps there were plans for one at some point).
So there you have it. In spite of what the system policy rule might look like, there is no native Microsoft ISA Server web-based management console. If you would like the ability to manage ISA with a web browser, I would strongly encourage you to check out the Celestix MSA Series security appliance featuring Microsoft ISA Server 2006. Not only will you get an intuitive web-based management console, you’ll get plenty of other benefits as well.




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