Richard has been working with Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 and its predecessors for more than 12 years. He has designed and deployed network security solutions using TMG and ISA for SMB’s, military and defense organizations, and Fortune 500 companies around the world.

In addition to his isaserver.org blogs, Richard has his own ISA/TMG blog where he recently posted some useful tips on changing WebSpy Vantage’s scheduled task recurrence interval using the schtasks.exe command line tool. Adding more frequent import options (i.e. hourly) is on the product roadmap but until then, using the command line tool is a great alternative.

We do recommending visiting tmgblog.richardhicks.com – brimming with ISA Server and TMG information and tips, here’s just some of the latest blogs:

• Changing WebSpy Vantage Scheduled Task Recurrence Interval
• Websense Integration Support for Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010
• Load Balancing and Forefront TMG Firewall Clients
• How to Slipstream Service Pack 1 for TMG

All three products in the Vantage range (Premium, Giga and Ultimate) have been updated with the following features:

• Multi-processing
  Vantage now utilizes the extra processing power on machines with multiple cores or CPUs to import log files and generate reports faster.
  
  

  The new Performance tab in Vantage

• Improved report styles
  HTML (including MHT) reports are now sporting an updated look and feel.
  
  

  New Report Style

• Updated Aliases and Profiles
  Added support for the latest search engines, social networking sites, operating systems and user agents.
  
  

  Profiles Aliases support the latest Internet tools and technologies.

• Storage Repair Utility
  Storages can become damaged if there is a system crash or if WebSpy.Vantage.exe process is ended when an import is in progress. Damaged storages are now detected automatically and you have the option of repairing them. Storages can also be manually checked and repaired on the Storage properties dialog.
  
  

  Storage Repair Utility

• Save / Open Tasks
  Scheduled Tasks can now be saved to an external file (.Tasks) for backup and migration purposes.
  
  

  Save and Open Tasks

Obviously, the multi-processing feature is the big one! Many of you (Vantage customers) have been running Vantage on multi-core or multi-cpu machines and just dying for Vantage to grab hold of the CPUs and make them work. You should be happy with this new build. Import a folder full of log files and watch 6 to 8 logs import simultaneously instead of watching them import one after the other. Run a full analysis or a comprehensive report with no filters and watch your CPU jump into gear to generate the report in 30% – 50% of the time. We’re expecting this to be a very popular update, especially among our larger customers.

Multi-processing is a great new feature, but be aware that there are some circumstances where Vantage will not be able to utilise more CPU power when generating reports. For example, if your report contains filters that significantly cuts down the amount of data in your storage that needs analysis, Vantage’s analysis engine and your CPUs will not be significantly pushed. Also see my earlier blog for more information on how the report structure can also affect the performance.

To get hold of this build, simply download the latest version of Vantage from our website. It will run side by side with your existing Vantage 2.1 installation, which minimizes any downtime, and makes it easy to transfer all your settings across (use the Migration Wizard in the Tools menu). Then you can uninstall Vantage 2.1 when you’re ready.

Let us know how you go by leaving comments below, or by tweeting us.

Cheers!
Scott