While the ISA 2004 and ISA 2006 firewall management console was a model of ease of use, some people thought the firewall team could do a lot more to make the initial configuration of the firewall a bit easier. I can see their point – there’s a bunch of stuff that you need to do in the operating system, outside of the firewall console or firewall configuration interface, to get things working from the start.
Wouldn’t it be better to have the installer take care of all the prerequisite software requirements and also guide you thought the initial configuration settings so that you don’t get caught with a non-functional firewall right out of the box?
Microsoft agrees –and they’ve done a lot of work to make the installation experience easier. Instead of the initial configuration interface we’re used to seeing with ISA 2004 and 2006, we have a brand new one. With the new installer interface, you have three sections:
- Before You Start
- Prepare and Install
- Additional Options
The first big difference you’ll see is the Preparation Tool. This tool checks your machine to make sure that all the prerequisite software is installed. If that software isn’t installed, the installer takes care of that for you. You’re not sent to web to find it for yourself and install it yourself. Nice!
For more information check out Donny Rose’s article on this subject on the TMG firewall team site over at:
HTH,
Tom
Thomas W Shinder, M.D., MCSE
Sr. Consultant / Technical Writer
Prowess Consulting www.prowessconsulting.com
PROWESS CONSULTING | Microsoft Forefront Security Specialist
Email: [email protected]
MVP — Forefront Edge Security (ISA/TMG/IAG)