Forefront TMG 2010 Web Protection Services Licensing

Introduction

Forefront TMG 2010 adds two new subscription-based features, known collectively as Forefront TMG Web Protection Services (WPS). These features include URL Filtering (URLF) and Anti-Malware or Enhanced Malware Protection (AM or EMP). One thing that makes these features unique within Forefront TMG is that they are licensed separately from Forefront TMG itself. This blog will discuss the various licensing and purchasing options available for URLF and EMP subscriptions and guide you through managing the license details in Forefront TMG management.

WPS Purchasing and Pricing

The first thing most people want to know is “How do I get a Forefront TMG WPS license and how much does it cost?”

Forefront TMG WPS is subscription product licensed per user or per device. This subscription is only offered through Microsoft Volume Licensing programs, and must be purchased separately from Forefront TMG 2010. Forefront TMG WPS is included in Forefront Protection Suite and ECAL. You can find information on purchasing Forefront TMG WPS through Microsoft or a Microsoft partner at http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/threat-management-gateway/en/us/purchase.aspx.

The Forefront TMG WPS pricing structure is outlined in http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/threat-management-gateway/en/us/pricing-licensing.aspx.

UPDATE: we've received a number of request for clarification on what is to be entered in the "key" field when activating your WPS license. This field receives the number that represents your Enterprise Agreement (EA). If your EA number is longer than seven digits, enter only the first seven digits of the EA number in the "key" field.

Verifying the Evaluation License

You may want to take advantage of Forefront TMG WPS while you wait for your license to arrive; or perhaps you want to give WPS a test drive before you decide whether you want to purchase a license. Regardless, TMG provides a free 120-day trial subscription that goes into effect as soon as you deploy Forefront TMG 2010.

Using the Getting Started Wizard (GSW)

The Getting Started Wizard (GSW) provides one way to configure these options. During this process, you can choose to enable HTTPS Inspection, URLF and EMP as well as whether to use the evaluation license (selected by default). The following steps show you where you make these choices in the GSW.

Note: if the TMG computer is a member of an array, the GSW is not available. In this case, you must use the Without the GSW steps

 

Immediately after FOREFRONT TMG Installation

When the installation wizard completes successfully, you are offered the option to launch the Forefront TMG management console. Select Launch Forefront TMG Management when this wizard closes and click Finish as shown below:

 

Figure 1- GSW TMG management startup

1. When the Forefront TMG management console opens, the GSW appears. Proceed through the Configure Network Settings and Configure System Settings wizards

2. When the Configure System Settings wizard completes, click on Define Deployment Options as shown below:

 

Figure 2 - GSW deployment options

3. In the Welcome to the Deployment Wizard page, click Next

4. In the Microsoft Update Setup page, select Use the Microsoft Update service to check for updates (recommended) and click Next

5. In the Forefront TMG Protection Features Settings page Web protection area, make the following selections as shown below and click Next:

 

Figure 3 - GSW Web protection license

Note: as shown above, Forefront TMG automatically enables the evaluation license and sets the expiration data for 120 days from the installation date, regardless whether you enabled Forefront TMG WSP. If you already have your Forefront TMG WPS subscription license, you should change the license options using your license key (Enterprise Agreement number) and EA expiration date as shown below:

 

Figure 4 - Entering the license in GSW

6. Continue through the remaining Deployment Options Wizard pages using options appropriate to your environment

After Running The GSW

If the GSW has already been run, but Forefront TMG is not yet joined to an array, you can still use the GSW to perform these tasks.

1. Open the Forefront TMG management console

2. In the left pane, select <ArrayName>

3. In the right pane, click Launch Getting Started Wizard

4. When the Getting started Wizard appears, click on Define Deployment Options as shown below:

 

Figure 5 - Re-running the GSW

5. Continue with step (4) in Immediately After TMG Installation

Without the GSW

If you joined Forefront TMG to an array, the GSW isn’t available to configure Forefront TMG WSP licensing. In this case, you need to accomplish this task in a different way.

Note: because the same license information applies equally to URLF and EMP, this task only needs to be performed once; not once for each feature.

1. Open the Forefront TMG management console

2. In the left pane,

3. Expand

a. (Enterprise Edition) Arrays, then <ArrayName>

b. (Standard Edition) <ArrayName>

4. Select Web Access Policy

5. In the right pane, click Configure Malware Inspection

6. In the Malware Inspection page, click License Details.

7. In the License Details page, you will see that the license is “Evaluation” as shown below:

 

Figure 6- License details in Malware Inspection controls

8. If you want to activate your license, enter the Enterprise Agreement number and expiration date in the fields provided as shown below:

 

Figure 7 - Entering license details in MI control

9. Click Apply, then OK

All done

In the center pane, click Apply to enforce your new policy. When prompted, enter a description for this change (hey - the URL for this blog could work) and click OK

Monitoring License State

Something the Forefront TMG product team foresaw is the need for the Forefront TMG administrator to get advance warning that the Forefront TMG WPS license is nearing expiration or that it has already expired. Thus, they created two new alerts specific to this feature set as shown below:

 

Figure 8 - License alerts

· License Expired this error alert is triggered when the Forefront TMG WPS license expiration date has passed. At this point, Forefront TMG is no longer receiving EMP updates nor is it issuing MRS queries.

· License Nearing Expiration this warning alert is triggered when the current date is within one month of the expiration date. Forefront TMG continues to obtain EMP updates and issue MRS queries until the license actually expires.

These two alerts are enabled by default and both are configured to write an event to the Windows Application event log when they are triggered. This makes it possible for any standard server monitoring system to be monitor for these alerts and thus make you aware when you need to take action regarding your license.

If your license has expired, and you attempt to initiate an update cycle from the Update Center in Forefront TMG management, this action will result in the warning message shown below:

 

Figure 9 - Update Center license expired warning

If you click Yes, Forefront TMG will attempt to perform an update cycle for NIS signatures only.

Summary

By default, Forefront TMG provides and enables an evaluation license for Forefront TMG WPS that expires 120 days after installing Forefront TMG; not 120 days after you enable EMP or URLF. Forefront TMG provides two alerts relevant to Forefront TMG WPS licensing that also write to the Windows Application event log. Finally, changing and verifying your Forefront TMG WPS license details is as simple as a few mouse clicks.

Author
Jim Harrison, Program Manager, Forefront TMG

Reviewers
Adwait Joshi, Senior Product Manager, Identity & Security BG
Brita Jenquin, Senior Product Manager, Identity & Security BG