Can ISA Server 2006 Configuration Storage Server be use to manage an ISA Server 2004 Array?

Recently I have seen the following question popping up in different locations and wanted to clarify the issue.

 

Can ISA Server 2006 Configuration Storage Server be use to manage an ISA Server 2004 Array?

 

Unfortunately ISA Server 2006 Configuration Storage Server can only be used to manage ISA Server 2006 arrays and ISA Server 2004 Configuration Storage Server can only be used to manage ISA Server 2004 arrays. There is no down level management feature in ISA Server 2006.

 

So if you have multiple ISA Server 2004 arrays and you cannot upgrade all of them at the same time to ISA Server 2006, depending on your configuration you might need to make changes in both ISA Server 2006 and 2004 Configuration Storage Servers. For example if you have to make a change to an Enterprise policy that is applied to all arrays, or a change in Enterprise Networks.

 

For more information on how to properly upgrade to ISA Server 2006 Enterprise Edition see the following paper, at the Microsoft TechNet Web site.

 

Gershon Levitz, ISA Server User Education