Now that Microsoft has launched Windows Server 2008, customers have all the elements to use Microsoft's version of NAC known as network access protection (NAP). Or do they?

NAP provides client software that forwards health-check data to the NAC server to make enforcement decisions and can trigger enforcement actions in network devices.

To these rudiments many customers will either want to add more comprehensive analysis or to take advantage of existing network hardware and software that provide other value.

For instance, a security client that tracks the status of PCs could provide valuable, granular information about endpoints beyond what the Microsoft client can gather on its own. Similarly, NAP compliant network devices could act as enforcement points for NAP policies if they are interoperable with the Microsoft server.

To point out this value to their customers, some networking and security vendors chimed in at Microsoft’s Server 2008 event to announce their compatibility with the platform.

Foundry says its switches can act as enforcement points for NAP admission policies. NAP clients on Windows computers send health checks, they are evaluated by the Microsoft Network Policy Server in Server 2008 and based on the results, instruct the switches on setting access restrictions.

McAfee has plans to support NAP starting in March when it releases a new version of its NAC software. That platform performs health checks on endpoints trying to join networks. Integrated with NAP, the Microsoft NAP agent on the same endpoints can tap the health-check results and report them to the policy server for evaluation.

Symantec has announced similar compatibility between its system health agent that supplies a granular assessment of endpoint security and the NAP agent that will be available in April. It supports a range of enforcement options from client, to DHCP to 802.1x.

Avenda is introducing a NAP client for Linux endpoints that is compatible with Windows Server 2008 NAP features. So a business that moves to the new Microsoft server can have its Linux endpoints checked within a NAP framework.

Avenda is also introducing its Universal System Health Agent, software that grabs pertinent endpoint-posture data and can pass it off to a NAP client, providing a more comprehensive view into the endpoint.

Customers considering NAP should investigate whether their existing infrastructure can increase the strength of the Microsoft platform.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.