ISA Server Logging Questions

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From: Andy (Michael.Anderson_at_doc.state.wi.us)
Date: 11/05/04 

Date: 5 Nov 2004 08:31:12 -0800

>From what I've read, there are issues logging to a SQL database on ISA
Server 2000.

Can someone verify that the following statements are true, and if they
are true for both ISA Server 2000 and 2004?

The major concerns I've found in other postings are:

1) ISA performance is degraded when using ODBC logging (as opposed to
text logging). This is true whether the SQL server is on the same
machine or over the network.
2) ISA Server stops serving requests if it can't log the traffic it
serves. If the logging fails for any reason, the ISA services are
stopped. Therefore, if the log is configured for SQL, and the SQL
database is unavailable, ISA service will not start. This is true at
boot time as well.
3) The only database supported for loggin is SQL Server.
4) Each ISA Server requires it's own SQL Server database for logging.
5) Quote: "Also, from experience, I would suggest you consider not
doing Live logging of data to SQL. First, it is slower and can affect
user performance. Second, if logging fails for any reason, ISA
services will stop. My suggest is that It works better and is more
reliable if you log to text files and then at the end of the day post
the entire file to SQL as a backend process. The down side is that it
is not automatic in the product. Check isatools.org for scripts that
can help do this."

If the above statements are true, it seems that logging to text files
as recommended above is the best option. True or false for 2000/2004?

Thanks for your help!
Andy

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