Announcing the ISA Server 2000 SharePoint Portal Server Deployment Kit

By Martin Grasdal
 
and

Thomas W Shinder, M.D.

Download the entire ISA Server 2000 SharePoint Portal Server Deployment Kit at:
www.tacteam.net/isaserverorg/spskit/sharepointkit.zip (18MB)

Read the ISA Server 2000 SharePoint Portal Server Deployment Kit docs online at:
http://www.isaserver.org/img/upl/spskit/toc.htm

Table of Contents at a Glance

I’m often asked why a company should install an ISA Server 2000 firewall when the company already has one or more firewalls in place. In some cases the company has an outdated firewall and they’re looking to upgrade to a firewall that can meet the demands of protecting against 21^st century hackers. Other companies already have an existing firewall infrastructure that they’re not interested in removing, but they are interested in the sophisticated application layer protection provided by ISA Server 2000. Other companies are just starting out and don’t have a firewall; these new companies need a firewall that allows them the highest level of protection and access control possible for their Microsoft networks.

It’s the last group who really brings into focus what all three of these groups have in common: they all want the highest level of security and accessibility possible for their Microsoft networks. These companies all have Microsoft networks. That is what drew their attention to ISA Server 2000 as a contender in their firewall decision making process. They figure that since Microsoft made the software running on the corporate network, then Microsoft probably has the exceptional insight and skill required to protect those software resources from attack and also allow secure remote access to those network servers and services.

The ISA Server 2000/VPN server and ISA Server 2000/Exchange Server combinations best highlight this "Better Together" concept. There’s no doubt that if you want to run a Microsoft VPN server, then ISA Server 2000 is the firewall of choice. There’s also no doubt that if you want to allow secure remote access to your Exchange Server resources located on the corporate network, then you should be running ISA Server 2000 on the Internet or LAN edge of the network.

The truth in these observations is clearly born out in the ISA Server 2000 VPN Deployment Kit and ISA Server 2000 Exchange 2000/2003 Deployment Kit document collections. These collections of docs clearly demonstrate how easy and effective the ISA/VPN and ISA/Exchange Server combinations are to implement and maintain.

Because the ISA Server 2000 Exchange 2000/2003 Deployment Kit and the ISA Server 2000 VPN Deployment Kit were so popular, I started to think about what other Microsoft services ISA Server 2000 might be able to provide a unique level of protection for remote access users. I noticed that a number of questions came up on the ISAServer.org Web boards and mailing list on how to publish SharePoint Portal Server has steadily increased over the last two years. Maybe ISA Server 2000 could provide the same high level of protection for SharePoint Portal Server that it provides for VPN and Exchange?

To answer this question, I enlisted the expertise of Martin Grasdal. Martin is a Microsoft certified trainer and understands Microsoft networking better then just about anyone I know. He also has a excellent understanding of SharePoint Portal Server and a gift for finding out and sharing golden nuggets of information that you just can’t find anywhere else.

Martin’s answers can be found in the ISA Server 2000 SharePoint Portal Server Deployment Kit. In this kit you will find information about how to allow secure remote access to your SharePoint Portal Server from anywhere in the world. You’ll see how ISA Server 2000 provides an absolutely unique level of protection and accessibility to your internal network’s SharePoint resources. In addition, you’ll learn things about how to make your SharePoint Portal Server more Internet friendly and more secure.

If you have a SharePoint Portal Server in production, or if you’re thinking about trying out SharePoint Portal Server, then do yourself a favor and check out the ISA Server 2000 SharePoint Portal Server Deployment Kit. I’m confident that you’ll cut many hours out of your troubleshooting time and spend less time on the phone with Microsoft PSS!

Here’s the table of contents at a glance. For a detailed table of contents, go to http://www.isaserver.org/img/upl/spskit/toc.htm

Table of Contents at a Glance

I hope you enjoyed this article and found something in it that you can apply to your own network. If you have any questions on anything I discussed in this article, head on over to http://forums.isaserver.org/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=002273 and post a message. I’ll be informed of your post and will answer your questions ASAP. Thanks! –Tom