In this tutorial I will be showing you how to install a Firewall client using both UNC Name and a URL.

The main reason that the firewall client is beneficial to an organization is that user or group access control can be used. Secure NAT does not allow this. The firewall logging is also more detailed, and you are also able to see which users are visiting which internet resources. The downfalls of the firewall client are that the software has to be installed on each machine that needs to become a firewall client and that the software is only Microsoft 9X and above compliant. Firewall clients only support TCP & UDP protocols.

Please be aware that only WinNT and Win95 do not support automatic configuration of the firewall client

The command line parameters are /L language ID, /S Silent mode and /V Parameters for Msiexec.exe. These can be used in a login script if appropriate

Installing the ISA firewall client using a UNC (universal naming convention) name.

1.

In the run box type the UNC text displayed in the box above, starting with the name of the ISA server and the folder shared by default is mspclnt and this is followed by the setup.exe. Now click OK.

2.

This is the next screen displayed, click next.

3.

This screen appears and allows you to specify the path where to install the client.

4.

Click finish and the client installation is then finished. You might need to restart your computer.

5. This icon will be displayed in the taskbar.
6. This icon will be displayed in the taskbar if the client has been disabled.

Installing the ISA firewall client using a URL (universal resource locator) name.

There are quite a few ways to do this I will only cover the one that I recommend.
To complete this tutorial you need to have a machine other than the ISA server installed with IIS.(It is not recommended that you install IIS on the ISA server) In windows 2000 server IIS can be installed (if it was not installed during setup) by going into add and remove programs in control panel and checking the IIS component in the add/remove windows components.

1.

IIS will install I will assume that you have it running and that it is fully functional.

2. Now copy the contents of \\isaservername\mspclnt\ onto a directory stored on the IIS machine i.e. to your C:\mspclnt. Assign the appropriate permissions to that directory so that it is accessible by the users you want it to be accessible to. You can also right click the directory and select web sharing.

3. Create a virtual directory to the C:\mspclnt directory. So that your configuration looks like the diagram below.

4. Right click on the mspclnt directory and select properties.

5.

This screen should appear now click create

6.

Make sure your settings are as above and click Apply.

7.

A page as shown above will be displayed when you type in the URL provided the entire configuration is as above.

Summary: In any environment it is important to have a central location from where you can install your ISA firewall clients from. Most machines have a browser and that is why it is beneficial that a URL is used. The run command will be useful in a small environment