I am very new to ISA server and have been stumbling on something I don't know where to begin to find the information. There is a weblistener on my ISA server that states " Allow HTTP for all users to email.Domainname.com, which is where my exchange webmail is. I can't figure out how ISA server knows that email.Domainname.com is the IP of my exchange server? How does it know to direct traffic to my mail server? I am not sure if someone needs more info to tell me this, but if you do please ask and I will try my best to get the info to you.
It depends on how you've configured ISA to resolve DNS generally .... if DNS is configured (only) on your internal NIC (versus your external NIC) and you're forwarding through your internal DNS (e.g. AD) to resolve the name then that'll correctly forward to the Exchange Server... if the external NIC is resolving the DNS name in question, you may require a HOSTS file entry pointing to the internal private IP of your Exchange server... this can be placed under C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc .. matching the FQDN of the externally published public name...
Well heres the thing.....My internal DNS is for AD only and theres no record at all for that domain name.....I have a DNS server out in a hosting environment that has this domain name in it, but it is directed to my external IP address on my ISA server, so the request comes to my ISA server and ISA server forwards that request to my Exchange server how?? thanks.
The key is to how you've configure ISA tho.... if ISA doesn't or cannot resolve the name internally because it's using external DNS primarily then you can use the hosts file to spoof the resolution to the internal server.
In other words.. only assign DNS servers in ISA to a single adapter...... so if it's currently pointing externally, you need a hosts file entry to resolve the name of the internal Exchange address. If it's pointing externally, then you should have your DNS servers configured as forwarders to resolve the name externally...
Posts: 3472
Joined: 3.Jan.2008
From: Amazon, Brazil
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Hi,
ok, I got it! ISA use the reverse NAT capabilities to do the map between the external address and the internal IP address of your mail server. How? When you create a mail server publishing rule, donīt you place the internal IP address of your mail server? Thatīs how ISA maps these two address. As Mylo said, keep in mind that first your internal DNS server forwards the request to your external DNS server in your hosting environment.
PS: Thereīs a tool named fwengmon that monitors the ISA kernel drive. You can find it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=01fc5551-5d44-4a99-966a-bd86caeb43d7
HOSTS File........SOB!!$%&$ Last thing I would have thought about since I only use Hosts files for testing purposes.....That was it!!! Thanks for the help on that, but i still can't get OWA to work from the outside, inside works great when i access the server name\owa.....but can't access domain name from outside....I am sure its another issue.
Check your web publishing rules again.. the number of times I've hit myself over the head with that :0)... if it's dying at the ISA server (check the monitoring/logging) ...it's probably the rule ...
Understood with the connect name and the computer name but ISA still needs to be able to resolve the name of the internal server... as I understood it tho... DNS servers configured on external and internal interfaces (while it may work) was a general no-no... if you can shed further light.. please enlighten mate