Looks like that TMG beta 1 has gone public.... Read on!

Sunday, May 25, 2008 1:05 AM yuridio

Overview of Forefront Threat Management Gateway Beta 1

1. Introduction

The Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway promises to be the milestone that all ISA Server admins were waiting for. I heard all the time people saying that the difference between ISA Server 2004 and ISA Server 2006 were not that big and that we pretty much have the same product for 4 years already. Well, that isn’t really true; there are indeed many differences between 2004 and 2006. Maybe some people were waiting for a huge upgrade like it was from ISA 2000 to 2004 and this didn’t happen. After two years since ISA Server 2006 was released, we have now (without a doubt) a big change, maybe will not be noticeable now but it will in the final version.

You can download the beta version from here and use the installation guide article that my friend Tom Shinder wrote. This beta version available for download has only a limited set of features. However, before install read the release notes to see what you can and what you cannot do.

There are many things that you will notice and see that it is different from ISA Server 2006. As far as installation is concern there are some things that you need to remember:

· IIS will be installed: that’s correct; IIS now will be installed by TMG. You might be thinking: “I remember that we have issues with IIS and ISA in the same box…”. You are right for ISA Server, but for TMG we need IIS because TMG needs SQL Reporting Services 2005 and SQL Reporting Services 2005 needs IIS. It is important to emphasize that IIS is not removed if you uninstall TMG.

· 64 bits System: although the final version of TMG requires a 64-bit processor and Windows Server 2008 64-bit, this beta version can be installed in a 32-bit system with Windows Server 2008.

· WEBS: the TMG beta version that we have available for download it will be part of the Windows Essential Business Server. TMG will be available through WEBS Standard and Premium Edition.

Note: The official TMG documentation is available at Microsoft TechNet Library web site.

View the complete article at Overview of Forefront Threat Management Gateway Beta 1