I hate having multiple RDP sessions open to my servers (although the Remote Desktops MMC is nice), so I have installed Adminpak.msi, Exchange System Manager and ISA Server Management on my XP Workstation to cut down on these RDP sessions and make life easier for myself. However, ISA 2004 requires a little configuration in order to get remote administration working.
The first step involves configuring the ISA 2004 server to accept remote administration connections. On the ISA 2004 server run ISA Server Management MMC and drill down to the Firewall Policy. Right-click the Firewall Policy node and select Edit System Policy.
Scroll down the list of Configuration Groups until you find Remote Management. On the General tab of the Remote Management screen check the box next to Enable.
Next click the From tab and ensure the Remote Management Computers is in the list. If it is not, click Add, then expand Computer Sets from the Add Network Entities box and select Remote Management Computers.
Click OK to exit the System Policy Editor. Then click Apply in ISA Server Management to apply these changes. (Note: We can set different remote admin/access policies for MMC, terminal server, and ICMP is we choose however we just set a global policy to cover all three) The next step is to add the required computers to the Remote Management Computers computer set. Click on the Toolbox tab in the Task Pane and then click on Network Objects. Expand Computer Sets and right-click on Remote Management Computers; select Properties. In the Remote Management Computers properties we can add a single computer, a range of IP addresses, or a complete subnet.
Click Add and select Computer from the drop down list. Enter the computer name, IP address and click OK.
Click OK to save the changes and then click Apply in ISA Server Management to apply the change. Next enable Remote Desktop on the ISA server; right-click My Computer and select Properties, click the Remote tab. Check the Enable Remote Desktop on this computer box.
ISA 2004 is not configured to allow remote administration from the XP workstation. Lets hop over to the XP workstation and install ISA Server Management. From a command line run: mstsc.exe /v:{ISA.SER.VER.IP} You should start a remote desktop session to the ISA server. (Note: add /console switch to the above command and grab the console session of the server!)
Now open a command prompt and run the following command: ping {ISA.SER.VER.IP} You should get replies from the ISA server.
Finally pop in the ISA 2004 installation CD and start install the ISA Server Management MMC. Run through the installation wizard, ignore the error that it cannot be installed on this version of Windows and select the ISA Server Management component.
Let the installation proceed and when complete launch ISA Server Management from All Programs | Microsoft ISA Server. When ISA Server Management opens up click on Connect to Local or Remote ISA Server and enter the computer name.
Click OK to establish the connection. You now have MMC control of the ISA 2004 server!