Control bandwidth with ISA Server

An important measure in controlling the Internet access is to limit the bandwidth usage. This is needed so, that no single user can hog all the bandwidth by running something like a download accelerator.

You can use Microsoft’s ISA Server to limit the amount of bandwidth. We’ll demonstrate how you can do so. Installing the server is a simple wizard driven process, so we’ll not get into that. Once installed, go to Start > Programs to access the Management console. Then double click on the server icon located on the left side of the window. Next double click on Policy Elements and right click on Bandwidth Priorities. Then choose New Bandwidth Priority from the menu and enter low, medium or high (depending on what you want) and give a description in the description box. After this you will find two text boxes for specifying outgoing and incoming value ranging from one to 200. Fill these text boxes with the value. A higher value means higher priority. Finally, click on OK to finish.

You can allocate and prioritize bandwidth for different applications using ISA Server

Now, to create bandwidth rules, open ISA Server’s Management console. Double click on the server icon to expand its tree. Right click on Bandwidth Rules and select New Bandwidth Rule. This will run a wizard, asking you the name for the new rule. Give a suitable name and click on Next. The wizard will now ask you to select the protocols you want to prioritize. After this click on Next. Here you can choose the time when the priority should be activated. Keep it to Always and click on Next.

Now you need to set the client type, who will be accessing the bandwidth. This will throw up three options: Any request, Specific computers and Specific users and groups. The first is self-explanatory. In the second, you need to specify the IP addresses of the clients, while in the third option you need to specify the user names in your domain. Finally, click on Finish to complete the process.