ISA 2004 caching

By default, Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 does not have a cache file, and caching is effectively disabled. When there is no cache file, "in memory" caching is not performed. The cache rule settings are not relevant if no cache drive is configured.

HTTP caching in ISA Server 2004

When caching is enabled, ISA Server maintains a cache of Web objects and tries to fulfill Web requests from this cache. If a request cannot be fulfilled by using the cache, the ISA Server computer initiates a new request on behalf of the client. ISA Server caches the response to the original client request and also sends a response to the client. ISA Server determines whether to retrieve the object from its cache or from another server by examining the cache properties, cache rules, and routing rules that are configured in ISA Server.

Note

• You must use a local NTFS file system partition on the ISA Server computer for caching.
• For best performance, use a cache drive other than the drive where ISA Server is installed.

To enable caching, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA server, and then click ISA Server Management.
2. In the ISA console, click to expand your server, click to expand Configuration, and then click Cache.
3. Under Cache Rules Tasks, click Define Cache Drives (enable caching) on the Tasks tab.
4. In the Define Cache Drives box, click the drive that you want to use, type the maximum cache size that you want to use in the Maximum cache size (MB) box, and then click Set.
5. Click Apply, and then click Apply again.
6. Click one of the following options, and then click OK.
   • Save the changes, but don't restart the services
   • Save the changes and restart the services

To disable caching, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA server, and then click ISA Server Management.
2. In the ISA console, click to expand your server, click Configuration, and then click Cache.
3. Under Cache Rules Tasks, click Disable Caching on the Tasks tab.

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