Of course this requires that you have a separate system and a license for SQL, but for most organizations this will not be a limiting factor. Neither version of SQL has limitations on the amount of memory that can be used, nor does SQL Enterprise have a CPU limit (SQL Standard is limited to 4 CPUs). One significant advantage is having the ability to leverage core editions of SQL (Standard or Enterprise). There are advantages and disadvantages to this option. TMG can be configured to log to a remote SQL server, which provides an alternative to the limitations imposed by the local SQL Server 2008 Express installation. SQL Server 2008 Express is limited to a single CPU socket and 1GB RAM. It does have some limitations of its own, however. By comparison, SQL 2008 Express has a 4GB database file size limit, does not include a workload governor, and is much more robust and higher performing. MSDE also had additional limitations, including a workload governor and a 2GB database file size limit. When the firewall was unable to write to the log database, the firewall service would shut down and all traffic would be denied. Under load the MSDE database would quickly become a bottleneck. If you have ever managed an ISA firewall infrastructure in a busy environment you are well aware of the limitations imposed by MSDE. MSDE, which is officially known as the Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine (the operative word here being desktop), was never designed for serious enterprise use. This by itself is a substantial improvement over previous versions of ISA which utilized MSDE. In this article I will share with you the improvements made to the logging infrastructure in Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010.īy default, TMG is configured to log to a local SQL 2008 Express database that is installed along with TMG. In many organizations logging is necessary for regulatory compliance, and in the event of a security breach it is critical to performing forensic analysis. Accurately and reliably recording requests allowed and denied by the firewall is essential for auditing, troubleshooting, and usage reporting. Access logging is a vital component for an edge security device.