A great thing about reaching the B3 milestone for Windows Server "Longhorn" is all the new (and improved) documentation that we get to publish.  One such example is a set of new Network Access Protection (aka NAP) "step-by-step" guides to help you setup and test your favorite NAP scenario.

For your perusal, we have four new guides to match the four flavors of NAP enforcement:

• DHCP
• VPN
• 802.1X
• IPsec (my personal fav)

This is quite timely -- not only because we just release Beta 3 of Windows Server "Longhorn" -- because just yesterday afternoon I spoke on a panel about securing data in a highly mobile environment as part of the CSO Summit  going on here on campus.  After the panel chatted about such new and updated data security features like BitLocker and RMS, we switched gears to talk about data in motion.

I was not surprised to see that most people (including CSOs in the communications sector) were mostly concerned about the impact of "guest workers" on their network leading to information compromise and leakage.  About 3/4 of the folks in attendance indicated that was their primary motivator for evaling such things as end-point auth and network access control solutions.

When I started to talk about what were doing with NAP and other type solutions (read: Server and Domain Isolation) many wanted to know both what they could do now (like with Server and Domain Isolation -- which is available from Windows 2000 through Windows Server "Longhorn") and how they could "kick the tires"

Well.

These step-by-step guides are a great way to get things rolling.  Simply download Beta 3, install our kick arse Virtual PC 2007 (available at no cost) and pick your favorite step-by-step.  Clearly the 802.1X scenario will present some challenges since you really can't virtualize a switch (easily).

Check this stuff out and I'd enjoy hearing what you're feedback!