Implementing the ISA Server Design

After successful prototype and pilot phases, and any modifications that arise from these projects, the ISA Server design can be fully implemented in production for all users. In many cases, this involves simply re-routing traffic to the ISA servers. To use the previous reverse-proxy example, after the pilot has finished, the regular mail.companyabc.com record can be directed to point at the ISA server. The same concept applies to the other ISA deployment scenarios as well.

Validating Functionality

Before the ISA design project can be considered a success, it must ideally be validated against all normal client and server traffic. Ideally, this would involve enlisting the support of members of each of the business units within an organization to test the type of standard business applications and processes that were previously performed. This should be done very shortly after the implementation of the ISA server has gone into place, such as on the Saturday after the Friday night implementation.

By getting different business units involved in the testing of the infrastructure and obtaining their sign-off that all their business needs have been met, the success of the project can be more easily ensured.

Supporting the ISA Environment Long-Term

After the ISA Server 2004 solution has been put into place, the task of administering, maintaining, and general "care and feeding" of the environment needs to take place. There are many factors to bear in mind for long-term ISA support, and more information about this topic can be found in Chapters 16, "Administering an ISA Server 2004 Environment," and 17, "Maintaining ISA Server 2004."