Why publish Dynamics CRM with Forefront UAG?

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Updated: February 1, 2011

Applies To: Unified Access Gateway

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is a fully integrated customer relationship management (CRM) application that allows you to automate day-to-day tasks for sales, customer service, field service, call center, and marketing professionals.

Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) provides in-built support for publishing Dynamics CRM, helping you to secure and control access to Dynamics CRM servers, as follows:

  • Control downloads and uploads─For example, you can prevent file downloads for unmanaged client endpoints, or for endpoints that do not comply with corporate access policy.

  • Control data export─You can control who exports CRM data to Excel, and from where.

  • Provide session clean-up capabilities─You can clean an endpoint cache and temporary files after a session ends.

  • Control session access─Forefront UAG adds timeout and logoff functionality to reduce the risk of session hijacking.

  • Provide frontend authentication─You can authenticate clients on the Forefront UAG server, to ensure that only authenticated traffic reaches backend CRM servers. Forefront UAG provides a variety of frontend authentication mechanisms, including strong authentication using smartcards and one-time passwords.

  • Provide backend authentication─Forefront UAG provides single sign-on so that clients need to authenticate once only. Credentials provided for session access to Forefront UAG sites can be delegated to backend CRM servers that require authentication. Forefront UAG also supports Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS).

  • Verify endpoint health─You can configure access policies using Forefront UAG inbuilt policies, or using Network Access Protection (NAP) policies downloaded from a Network Policy Server (NPS). Only clients complying with the policies can access Forefront UAG, and backend CRM servers.

For instructions on publishing Dynamics CRM with Forefront UAG, see Publishing Dynamics CRM.