After the first installation or an upgrade to a licensed version from an Evaluation installation Forefront Server products must be activated by entering the “License Agreement Number” (LAN), this code is provided along with the contract. Recently we have got some calls from clients receiving errors while entering the LAN, where the LAN…
Spamhaus Update
Although Microsoft doesn’t recommended any particular RBL (Realtime Block List) provider for use with Antigen products, Spamhaus is one of the most widely-known providers on the market. It’s come to our attention recently that Spamhaus has phased out the old SBL-XBL list, which has now been replaced by the ZEN list (named after a…
Anti-virus Discussion and Troubleshooting Tips
The virus world has always seen a battle between virus makers and anti-virus vendors, each trying to outwit each other through their speed and technology. Antigen and Forefront products incorporate proprietary and 3rd-party anti-virus scan engines that use heuristics and pattern (definition) technology to scan and detect viruses. When a new virus is released…
Licensing in Antigen 9 and Forefront Server Security 10 Products
This blog entry gives you an overview of licensing for Antigen 9 and Forefront Server Security products, such as FSE and FSSP. Your product’s expiration date can depend on several factors. Historically, Antigen licensing was controlled by a file called license.cfg (located in the product’s main install folder). This file determined whether your installation…
How do Exchange IMF and Antigen Advanced Spam Manager work together?
Following article explains how Exchange Intelligent Message Filtering (IMF) and Antigen Advanced Spam Manager (ASM) work together. Specifically how SCL ratings are assigned IMF Options Blocking spam with the IMF is a two-stage process. The filter scans the mail and gives each message a Spam Confidence Level rating from zero to nine, with zero…
Log Purge Tool for FSSMC
I wanted to introduce you to a handy, but little-known tool that we have for FSSMC (Forefront Server Security Management Console). The Log Purge Tool comprises of a GUI and some SQL scripts, which allow you to easily backup and purge old data from your FSSMC SQL databases. As you use Forefront Server…
The ‘Illegal Mime Header’ Feature – what you need to know
‘Illegal Mime Header’ is an important feature in Antigen/Forefront. This blog entry describes the expected functionality of this feature from the Antigen 9 for Exchange/SMTP with SP1 and Forefront for Exchange RTM (SP0) releases. The ‘Illegal Mime Header’ feature is basically a check on the internet headers of the SMTP message to confirm that they…
Required Accounts and Permissions for Installing Forefront Server products
There are several different accounts and permissions that are required for successful installation of Forefront server products. This blog discusses those accounts and permissions, however complex environments may need additional information not covered in this blog and should contact Support for assistance. 1- Forefront Server Security for SharePoint (FSSP) Accounts needed for installing…
How to use the Forefront Server Security Management Console diagnostic tool
Diagnostic logging is helpful information that can be used by Microsoft support technicians to help troubleshoot problems that are occurring while Forefront Security Management Console (FSSMC) is not working properly. To accurately diagnose a problem, support engineers typically need a variety of information about FSSMC and the Forefront servers it is managing. This information consists…
Updating Scan Engines in FSE, FSSP, FSOCS and Antigen 9 – what are my options?
Customers often ask us the best way to update their scan engines in their specific environment, so I’m writing this blog to go through the main scenarios that customers face and to discuss how to best choose an update method that suits your individual needs. Note: This blog targets current, fully released Antigen and…