System requirements for Forefront TMG

  • Article

Updated: February 1, 2011

Applies To: Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG)

This topic describes the minimum hardware and software requirements for running the following Forefront TMG deployments:

  • Forefront TMG—For unified perimeter security with integrated firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, malware inspection and URL filtering.

  • Enterprise Management Server—For central management of Forefront TMG arrays. Use EMS to create and update enterprise policies, and to create policy rules to assign to the arrays in the enterprise.

  • Forefront TMG Management—For remote management of Forefront TMG servers installed on other computers.

Important

The following table shows the minimum hardware required to install the Forefront TMG software. To correctly provision Forefront TMG for the number of users, wide area network bandwidth, and features and protections enabled, see Forefront TMG 2010 hardware recommendations.

Forefront TMG

Hardware Minimum Requirements

CPU

64-bit, 1.86 GHz, 2 core (1 CPU x dual core) processor.

Memory

2 GB, 1 GHz RAM.

Hard Disk

2.5 GB available space. This is exclusive of the hard disk space required for caching or for temporarily storing files during malware inspection.

One local hard disk partition that is formatted with the NTFS file system.

Network adapters

One network adapter that is compatible with the computer's operating system, for communication with the Internal network.

Note

You can use Forefront TMG on a computer with a single network adapter. Typically, you would do so when another firewall is located on the edge of the network, connecting your corporate resources to the Internet. In this single-adapter scenario, Forefront TMG typically functions to provide an additional layer of application filtering protection to published servers or to cache content from the Internet.
Software Minimum Requirements

Operating system

Windows Server 2008

  • Version: SP2 or R2

  • Edition: Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter

Windows Roles and Features

These Roles and Features are installed by the Forefront TMG Preparation Tool:

  • Network Policy Server.

  • Routing and Remote Access Services.

  • Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Tools.

  • Network Load Balancing Tools.

  • Windows PowerShell.

You can run the Preparation Tool from the Forefront TMG autorun page.

Note

Windows Roles and Features that are installed during the Forefront TMG installation are not uninstalled when you uninstall Forefront TMG. If required, uninstall them manually after you uninstall Forefront TMG from the server.

Other software
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

  • Windows Web Services API.

  • Windows Update.

  • Microsoft Windows Installer 4.5.

Note

Services and driver files installed by Forefront TMG are placed in the Forefront TMG installation folder.

Important

Installing Forefront TMG on a domain controller is not supported.

Enterprise Management Server

Hardware Minimum Requirements

CPU

64-bit, 1.86 GHz, dual-core processor.

Memory

1 GB RAM.

Hard Disk

2.5 GB available space.

One local hard disk partition that is formatted with the NTFS file system.
Software Minimum Requirements

Operating system

Windows Server 2008

  • Version: SP2 or R2

  • Edition: Foundation, Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter

Windows Roles and Features

Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Tools.

Other Software
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

  • Microsoft Windows Installer 4.5.

Important

Installing EMS on a domain controller or on a Forefront TMG computer is not supported.

Forefront TMG Management

Hardware Minimum Requirements

CPU

1 GHz processor.

Memory

1 GB RAM.

Hard Disk

2 GB available space.

One local hard disk partition that is formatted with the NTFS file system.
Software Minimum Requirements

Operating system

Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP1.

Concepts

Forefront TMG Deployment