We visit many customers and partners around the world. One thing we hear consistently is “NAP client enforcement MUST BE SUPPORTED on XP”.
Which OS’es would block / hinder your NAP deployments if they weren’t supported? Any nice-to-have’s (non-blocking)? Raw numbers and/or supporting facts about your deployments, to justify the need, would really help us judge how big the problem really is.
Do you need support for:
1.) Windows 2000
2.) Windows Server 2003
3.) Mac
4.) Linux
5.) Other
Please post your comments through the blog.
Jeff Sigman [MSFT]NAP Release ManagerJeff.Sigman@online.microsoft.com *http://blogs.technet.com/nap
* Remove the "online" to actually email me.** This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
For the client side mostly Windows XP (~200+) and some Windows 2000. For the server side Windows Server 2003. Is there any information on implementing the server side on an alternate platform other than Longhorn? ie Server 2003.
Hey Morgan. We have no plans at this time for implementing the Server-side pieces of NAP on anything but Longhorn Server. We are looking at allowing WS03 Servers to act as NAP Client's, by back-porting NAP Client pieces to this platform. This would also include x64 support for WS03.SP1. Is there a specific reason you ask? - Jeff
XP is enough in windows side through out microsoft's support lifecycle. Big linux distributons such as Fedora and Suse would be great also with Nap client and customizable scripting to check health status
XP/2003 and major Unix distros.(including Solaris10, Linux and Mac OS). I do not think there is a huge implementation demand for other OSes than Windows platforms for client sides, but think about the server side. There are plenty of those platforms up there at any data center. So I vote for these platforms...
As far as OS support goes, looking at it from a security perspective, Server 2003 should be supported at the head of the class; particularly, before any third party operating systems. There are multiple security scenarios where rogue 2003 servers could be introduced into a customer network that intentionally or unintentionally compromise network security and health (vendors running Server 2003 on laptops). The ability to certify known instances of Server 2003 as compliant and quarantining rogue installations is a MUST moving forward.
We agree with you Joe. WS03 NAP Client support is planned to be released in parallel with Longhorn Server's release. I plan on running a public beta of the XP / WS03 so folks can try it out. You must have access to Beta Longhorn Server builds though, in order to test NAP end-to-end. I will keep the blog updated with the latest news! - Jeff