How to Use Forefront Server Protection Documentation
Hi, my name is Scott Floman, and I'm a technical writer in the Forefront server protection Information Experience (iX) group. I want to again share with you some information about the documentation we have available, which docs are useful for what purposes, and where to find them.
We deliver our content in several ways, primarily via product help (.chm file), as .doc files on Internet download centers, and especially via the Web on TechNet. The “latest and greatest” versions of our documentation always reside on TechNet, so that is always the recommended starting point.
The main TechNet entry page for the various Forefront server protection products is:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb932383.aspx
From this page you can access the following products:
Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server (FPE)
Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint (FPSP)
Forefront Security for Exchange Server (FSE)
Forefront Security for SharePoint (FSSP)
Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (FSOCS)
Forefront Server Security Management Console (FSSMC)
The history here is that our Sybari Antigen Version 9 products, which protect either Exchange messaging or SharePoint collaboration environments, evolved into our Microsoft Forefront Server Security Version 10 products (FSE and FSSP), which also offered the FSOCS product to protect against Internet Messaging (IM)-based malware. The FSSMC product can be used to manage our Antigen, FSE, and FSSP products in a multiple server environment.
The latest version of our Exchange and SharePoint-based antimalware protection products are FPE and FPSP. FPE is currently available. The Release Candidate (RC) version of FPSP is also available, and the General Availability release of this product is currently planned for later this spring.
The FPE and FPSP documents are grouped into several main categories, all of which can be accessed from the main FPE and FPSP pages linked above.
Release Notes—Read this content to learn important information about the current release of the product, including new features and known issues.
Planning and Architecture—Read this content to plan and deploy your deployment and operation of the product. This section is a work in progress but is a high priority as we are continuing to add content in this area.
Deployment—Read this content to install and deploy the product, or to uninstall the product. Upgrading, post-installation configuration steps, and licensing information is also included. This is another area we’re aiming to bulk up in the upcoming months, specifically how to best deploy our products in multi-server environments.
Operations—Read this content to configure and operate the product. This is our largest section and it primarily describes our easy-to-use administration console, which includes customizable configuration settings, filtering options, and monitoring features and reports. FPE also offers antispam protection and integration with the Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) product. FPE and FPSP can also be configured via Windows PowerShell, a command-line shell and task-based scripting technology that enables the automation of system administration tasks. (There is an overview topic about using Windows PowerShell in our Technical Reference section but the bulk of our documentation in this area must be obtained by accessing help from the Forefront Management Shell.)
Technical Reference—Read this content for technical reference information that pertains to the product. In addition to the overview topic about Windows PowerShell recently referenced, you can obtain a sample answer file for performing unattended installations, information about the various Microsoft Forefront services, file types used in creating file filters, macros that can be used to insert information into e-mail notifications and replacement text for deleted files, event IDs that are reported, and so on.
Troubleshooting—Read this content for information and tools to troubleshoot issues relating to the product.
Management pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007—Read this content to learn how to monitor your system with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.
When reading a topic, you should be aware of any subtopics that exist within the Table of Contents (TOC) that appears on the left side of the screen. These subtopics may or may not be applicable to the topic you are reading; depending on the task that you are trying to complete, all of the information may be self-contained in the main topic. However, if this is not the case, you should drill-down to the sub-topics and also view any links that appear in the “Related Topics” area at the bottom of the page.
Well, that’s pretty much all I have for now, I hope that this blog entry has provided a useful overview of how to best access and use the documentation for our various products, particularly our FPE and FPSP offerings.
Also, another good resource for information is the Forefront Server Security Forum (https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/forefrontserversecurity/) where you can read and answer questions about our products. A passport account is needed to access the Forum.
There are other Microsoft forums, blogs, and online technology sites that might prove useful as well; for more information, read this blog article:
Lastly, I want to call your attention to the TechNet wiki, which you can access at the following URL: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/
This is a brand new community where Microsoft employees and customers can post technical articles and interact with one another, much like how Wikipedia works. We’re excited about the possibilities of this wiki, which we feel will be a great resource of information, so please stop by and check it out.
Again, thanks for your time, and feel free to e-mail me with any feedback.
Scott Floman
Technical Writer
Forefront Server Protection
scfloman@microsoft.com