BANGALORE, INDIA: The biggest challenge for any network admin is to identify and restrict machines not complying with security standards from entering the network. To meet this challenge most organizations either ban the unauthorized machines from accessing the network or allow them only after a process of manual screening. But both these options seem non-realistic, in terms that the first can cause loss of productivity and the second would consume hell lot of administrative time.

So, to solve such issues Windows Server 2008 is coming up with NAP or Network Access Protection. Here the complete process of screening the machines entering the network is automated and driven by customizable policies. The machine is granted access to the network if and only if it passes all the screening tests. These tests can include a check for Firewall status (on or off), Antivirus Status (installed and updated or not), Windows Updates (on or off), Phishing Filter (on or off), etc.

Not only screening but a NAP server along with a remediation server can even go ahead and turn the settings on or off depending on the policies before letting the machine enter the network.

So, for example, if your laptop's Firewall is disabled and you try entering a network protected by NAP, it will automatically enable the firewall before letting it enter the network. In this article we will see how to install NAP and ensure that no machine without Firewall, Antivirus, and Anti-phishing enters the network.

Pre-requisites
Of course the first thing which you will require is a machine running Windows Server 2008 Beta 32- or 64-bit version. Next is a client with either Windows XP SP3 Beta or Windows Vista. This is because NAP requires an agent called the SVA or Security Validation Agent to be installed on the client machines and this agent is only available with either Windows XP SP3 Beta or Vista. Microsoft is also planning to release some agents for non-Microsoft OSs, but they are still in the pipeline. So till then live with Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista.