How ISA Server caches responses to Web publishing client requests in reverse proxy mode (837737)

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By default, no disk space is specified for caching when you install ISA Server. Therefore, caching is turned off. You turn on caching when you specify how much disk space to use for caching.

ISA Server 2004

To turn on caching in ISA Server 2004, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and then click ISA Server Management.
2. In ISA Server Management, click to expand ISAServerName, and then click to expand Configuration.
3. Right-click Cache, and then click Define Cache Drives.
4. In the Define Cache Drives dialog box, select a drive that has sufficient space, enter the cache size that you want in the Maximum cache size (MB) box, click Set, and then click OK.

ISA Server 2006

To turn on caching in ISA Server 2006, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and then click ISA Server Management.
2. In ISA Server Management, click to expandISAServerName, and then click to expandConfiguration.
3. In the right-side pane, click Define Cache Drives (Enable Caching) on the Tasks tab.
4. In the Define Cache Drives dialog box, select a drive that has sufficient space, enter the cache size that you want in the Maximum cache size (MB) box, click Set, and then click OK.

You can also specify the type of content that can be cached. Content that is served from the cache requires less processing than content that is served from another network. Caching improves client browser performance, decreases user response time, and reduces bandwidth consumption on your Internet connection.

ISA Server determines whether to retrieve an object from its cache or from another server by examining the cache properties and the cache rules that you have configured. ISA Server analyzes cache configuration, cache rules, and existing cache content to determine whether an object is retrieved from the cache.

In ISA Server , reverse caching is the same as forward caching, except that in reverse caching, ISA Server disregards the cache-control headers of the client computer's request. For example, in reverse caching, ISA Server does not follow the cache-control option with its no-cache directive for the client. Because the client is communicating with the actual Web server, this directive does not make sense, and ISA Server prevents the client from interfering with the ISA Server administrator policy.

When a client computer requests a Web object from an internal Web server that is behind the ISA Server firewall, ISA Server follows these steps:

1. ISA Server determines whether the object is in the cache.
2. If the object is not in the cache, ISA Server requests the object from the internal Web server. The internal Web server returns the object to the ISA Server computer.
3. ISA Server retains a copy of the object in its cache, and returns the object to client.

The next time the object is requested, ISA Server returns the object to the client from the cache. ISA Server does not have to request the object from the internal Web server.

To configure how Web objects are cached in ISA Server , follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and then click ISA Server Management.
2. In ISA Server Management, click to expand ISAServerName, click to expandConfiguration, and then click Cache.
3. In the details pane, click the Cache Rules tab, and then click the cache rule that you want to modify.
4. On the Tasks tab, click Create a Cache Rule.
5. On the Welcome to the New Cache Rule Wizardscreen, type a descriptive name in the Cache rule name box, and then click Next.
6. On the Cache Rule Destination page, click Add.
7. In the Add Network Entities dialog box, select the network entity that you want, click Add, click Close, and then click Next.
8. On the Content Retrievalscreen, select one of the following options, and then click Next.
   • To retrieve an object from the cache only if it has not expired, click Only if a valid version of the object exists in cache. If no valid version exists, route the request to the server.
   • To retrieve an object from the cache if it is available, and to retrieve it by using a specified route if it is not available, click If any version of the object exists in cache. If none exists, route the request to the server.
   • To retrieve an object only if it is in the cache, click If any version of the object exists in the cache. If none exists, drop the request (never route the request to the server).
9. On the Cache Contentscreen, select one of the following options, and then click Next.
   • If retrieved objects must not be cached, click Never, no content will ever be cached.
   • If objects should be cached only if the source and request headers indicate that the object must be cached, click If source and request headers indicate to cache. Then, you can also select one or more of the following additional options:
     1. Dynamic content
        
        This option specifies that ISA Server will cache retrieved objects even if they are marked as not cacheable.
     2. Content for offline browsing (302, 307 responses) This option specifies that ISA Server will serve all the requests from content in the cache. This option requires that even cacheable content with 302 and 307 response codes are stored in the cache.
     3. Content requiring user authentication for retrieval This option specifies that ISA Server will cache content that may require authentication to be accessed.
10. On the Cache Advanced Configuration page, select any of the following options that you want, and then click Next:
    • Do not cache objects larger thanThis option specifies the maximum size of objects that ISA Server will cache.
    • Cache SSL responses This option lets you specify whether SSL objects are maintained in the ISA Server cache.
11. On the HTTP Caching page, configure whether cached Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) objects expire according to Time to Live (TTL) settings. To do this, select the options that you want, and then click Next.
    
    Note For HTTP objects, expiration is configured based on the TTL that is defined in the response header and on the TTL boundaries that are defined in the cache rule. TTL boundaries are calculated as a percentage of the content age. The content age is the time since an object was created or modified. HTTP objects expire according to the TTL defined for HTTP objects in the cache rule.
12. On the FTP Caching page, select whether to enable caching, and configure the TTL period for objects. To do this, select the options that you want, and then click Next.
    
    Note By default, the TTL for all File Transfer Protocol (FTP) objects is set to one day.
13. On the Completing the New Cache Rule Wizard, review your settings. When you have finished reviewing your settings, click Finish.
14. When the wizard has finished running, set the order of the new rule to be above any other rules that may apply to a similar destination set.
15. If you want to change your cache rule settings, click Edit Selected Rule in the ISA Server Management details pane.

To turn off caching in ISA Server , follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft ISA Server, and then click ISA Server Management.
2. In ISA Server Management, double-click ISAServerName, and then double-click Configuration.
3. Right-click Cache, and then click Disable Caching.