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Comparing UAG and TMG arrays

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Judging from a number of newsgroup posts, there is some confusion about differences and similarities between TMG Beta 3 arrays and UAG Beta 2 arrays. So I thought a quick summary might be useful:

  • TMG Beta 3 comes in two flavors – Standard edition and Enterprise edition. Enterprise edition provides the following types of arrays:

    • Enterprise array
    • Standalone array

  • UAG Beta 2 uses the standalone array topology provided by TMG. UAG has no concept of an Enterprise array.

     

So what's the difference between the array types?

  • A TMG enterprise array uses an Enterprise Management Server (EMS) – a server that is installed on a separate box. The EMS is used for centralized management of an enterprise array or arrays (and can also be used to manage single TMG servers). You can add TMG servers to an enterprise array by connecting them to the EMS. On the EMS, you can create enterprise policies that are applied to enterprise arrays managed by the EMS.
  • A standalone array, on the other hand, has the following characteristics:
    • It does not require a separately installed server for array management.
    • It consists of multiple single UAG server peers that are joined together into an array configuration.
    • All UAG servers that are members of the standalone array share the same configuration – for UAG this includes the same portals, published applications, permissions, VPN settings etc.
    • Although array configuration is shared, a few server-specific settings continue to be maintained, including certificates and passwords
    • A standalone array with NLB enabled supports up to 8 array members.

So how does a standalone array work?

  • One of the array members operates as the designated array manager.
  • The array manager stores the configuration settings for all array members, and the server-specific settings for each array member.
  • To configure a server as member of a standalone array, you join it to the array manager.
  • To create a new array you do the following:
    • Add the UAG server that you want to join to the array to the TMG Managed Server Computers computer set. Do this from the TMG Management console running on the array manager (the UAG server that you intend to join the server to).
    • Run the Array Management Wizard on the UAG server that you want to join to the array.
    • During the wizard, you select the UAG server that you want to join to in order to form the array.
    • The UAG server that you select to join to becomes the array manager.

So what can I do with a standalone array?

  • You can join single servers to an array. After joining the array and activating, the joined server inherits the array configuration and the original server settings are no longer applied.
  • In the Array Management Wizard, before joining the array, you can choose to specifically back up server settings to an export file before joining an array. This is useful if you want to restore a specific configuration if you later remove the server from the array.
  • You can remove a server from an array so that it reverts to behaving as a single server with no array dependencies. When you disjoin the server from the array, the following occurs:
    • If you do not restore server settings from an exported file, the disjoined server will revert to using its local settings that were disabled when you joined the array.
    • If you specifically backed up server settings when you joined the array, you can select to restore the settings from this exported backup file, or from any other backup file. 
    • If you want to continue to use the array settings on the server after it is disjoined from the array, you will need to export the settings before disjoining from the array, and then restore the server settings from this export file. Note that this option isn't supported for Beta 2.
  • You can modify the array member that is designated as the array manager.
  • If the array manager is modified, you need to run run the Array Management Wizard on each array member to make sure that each server is aware of the new array manager.

So what should I know before I start?

· As with all beta versions, there are issues you should be aware of before beginning an array deployment. The release notes have all the known issues at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd772157.aspx.

Where can I read more?

· For UAG, there's a planning guide for arrays and NLB over at TechNet (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd861476.aspx)

· For UAG array deployment information, take a look at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd857305.aspx

· Also, take a look at Asaf Kariv's blog post at https://blogs.technet.com/edgeaccessblog/archive/2009/06/29/array-and-network-load-balancing.aspx

· If you're using UAG DirectAccess, take a look at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee191502.aspx for information about array configuration

· For TMG, take a look at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd440989.aspx

 

 

Cheers!

 

Rayne Wiselman

Forefront UAG UE team

 

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 31, 2009
    Does this mean that Direct Access will not be supported if you are using ie. cisco firewall equipment?