Network Access Protection (NAP)

NAP keeps noncompliant machines from accessing and infecting your network

2006-07-27T01:53:00Z

WindowsITPro article (August 2006)

- Calvin Choe

NAP Lead Program Manager

Reminder: Executive Chat - Windows Server "Longhorn" Networking Unveiled

2006-07-14T19:33:00Z

Come and join the Networking Vice President (Jawad Khaki) today to talk about Longhorn Server Networking. I will be helping with the chat as well. Bring your tough NAP questions to us:

11:00 AM Redmond / Pacific Time

Jeff Sigman [MSFT]
NAP Release Manager
Jeff.Sigman@online.microsoft.com *
http://blogs.msdn.com/nap

* Remove the "online" to actually email me.
** This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

A real, living, breathing NAP customer speaks out – “OUR TRIP TO NAP-LAND”

2006-07-07T17:00:00Z

In April/May this year, our team from Education Queensland, a government department in Australia, headed to Redmond to take part in some preliminary testing and development work on the NAP project. This was a part of a Technology Adoption Program we signed up on as part of a partnership with Microsoft. During the trip which lasted three weeks, we had the pleasure of meeting most of the NAP team (including Jeff) who led us through the land of NAP. Prior to leaving, a lot of lead up work was done in the test lab in Brisbane so that the setup and configuration of the lab in Redmond could be done as quickly as possible. Our current production environment consists of 550,000 users across 1,350 sites with 130,000 machines in an area around a third the size of the United States, so it was important to nail the preparatory work. After performing all the lead-up work, we managed to have the complete environment up and running within the first week at the Microsoft labs.

This environment included 150 Longhorn RODC’s to replicate a ‘region’ in our production environment (which we built in a single day!). We also emulated 6 ‘physical’ sites in order to perform end-to-end testing on the NAP scenarios identified as possibilities in our environment. These included the three ‘flavours’ of NAP (IPSec, DHCP and 802.1x) and SMSv4 to perform client remediation. All of these scenarios tested well, helped along by a lot of input from the developers, PM’s and other support staff at Microsoft.

All in all, the trip was a huge success with the team returning to Australia much wiser and more NAP-aware. We were quarantine checked at customs (how ironic) and headed back to work to re-build the test lab on Beta 2 and impart some knowledge on our colleagues. The project is due to continue, with a rollout of IPSec NAP using the XP client and some Vista machines into production in the coming weeks.

We would really like to thank Jeff and the team for making us feel extremely welcome on campus and for the effort they put into making our test plan a reality - as ambitious as it was! We would also like to stay in touch with the team, as well as any others who may be NAP-interested. Email me whenever you like on simon.OBRIEN@qed.qld.gov.au if you have any questions about our trip or our upcoming NAP production implementation.

Cheers,

Simon O’Brien.

Coldplay + NAP

2006-07-07T01:42:00Z

Turns out the band Coldplay are big fans of the NAP Blog. Wow, we are flattered! Check out their "reaction shot" to the latest posts:

(scroll down for image)

Just kidding. :->

NAP tops “20 Reasons Why Windows Vista Will Be Your Next OS”

2006-07-06T20:18:00Z

Check this out! NAP is one of the “20 Reasons Why Windows Vista Will Be Your Next OS” according to ComputerWorld. In fact, we are in the very first bucket of 20 “Security” reasons. This is what Scot Finnie says:

“Improved network access protection (Windows Server needed) -- requires client PCs that try to connect to a network to "security up" by installing the latest updates and turn on protections before they can connect.”

Jeff tells me I am not blogging enough, which is true. I have been busy working with tons of NAP partners who have been working hard supporting the NAP platform. The partners range from Anti-virus vendors to hardware vendors. If you don’t see your favorite vendor, let us know. Better yet, ask them to be part of NAP!

Truly yours,

- Calvin Choe
NAP Lead Program Manager
(and now wearing a business development manager hat as well)

Executive Chat - Windows Server "Longhorn" Networking Unveiled

2006-07-06T19:39:00Z

Our Vice President, Jawad Khaki, will be holding a public chat through TechNet next Friday (July 14th, 11:00 AM Redmond / Pacific Time). The NAP Team will be present, as we expect a healthy amount of questions related to NAP. We are the #2 reason to buy Longhorn Server, after all. :->

Is the NAP icon really the “Eye of Sauron”?

2006-07-06T03:20:00Z

I’m here to tell you our icon has no connection with “The Lord of the Rings”. :->

We have received Vista Beta 2 feedback that the icon is confusing and isn’t consistent with the rest of the Windows Security Center, etc. We are throwing around ideas how to make this experience better and easier to understand for the end-user.

This new icon would appear in the “notification area”, just like the old one did. The “shield” notion would move into the bubble message to help emphasize the healthy/unhealthy state:

The icon, and the bubbles, should only appear when your health state changes from healthy to un-healthy (and hopefully back to healthy).

Let us know what you think.

New look for the NAP blog

2006-07-01T22:39:00Z

I changed the look from “Gertrude” to “Poison Ivy – Water”. After seeing Ian Moulster’s blog, it seemed like a much cleaner presentation.

Enjoy (hopefully).

What has the NAP team been up to lately?

2006-07-01T22:22:00Z

Well, we haven’t just been sitting around recovering from the Beta 2 push, that’s for sure. We jumped right in to Vista RC1 work. You only get a couple of hour’s breath, once a major milestone releases, to collect yourself before starting in on the next one. :->

We took a hard look at what work remains before shipping Vista and completing the last “polishing touches” before the train leaves the station.

It is really starting to feel like the good ol’ Win2k-XP days. As the months close towards a release date, the focus and intensity keeps stepping-up to a new level. Every bug is scrutinized; every code change is triple checked. Meetings are packed; “Shiproom” is heated (literally). Everyone wants to ship a great product people will love. It’s a matter of pride.

For some on the NAP team, this will be their first ever OS release. For others like me, it is another one under the belt. That doesn’t mean the butterflies ever leave your stomach that the product of the last couple of years of your life will exceed everyone’s expectations.

This is the closest I’ve ever felt towards a product. In the past, I’ve really only worked on technology pieces - IPsec, Routing and Remote Access and the Firewall. NAP is different; it brings a bunch of technology together to form a *solution* to a real world problem.

If you are in the United States, I hope you enjoy your 4^th. Ciao to all!

NAP WebCasts available for offline viewing

2006-07-01T21:40:00Z

Wanted to post our two June WebCasts, in case you missed them:

Gene's Network Access Protection for Windows Server Codename Longhorn and Windows Vista (Level 200)
https://www118.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=1032297525&role=attend&pw=63A049C8

Elliot's Security Matters: Network Access Protection (Level 200)
https://www118.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=1032298061&role=attend&pw=1AC3A3CA