Network Access Protection (NAP) is not new, and can be used independently of URA to provide better network security by ensuring that clients are in good health. The well-known cure for computer-sniffles is an antivirus, of course, and organizations throughout the world have always been looking for creative ways to keep their computers safe. NAP was first introduced with Windows Server 2008, and is primarily targeted at protecting the organization's network from computers that move in and out of the network, such as mobile computers. To do its work, NAP has three main components:
NAP Health Policy Servers (HPS), which are computers running the Network Policy Server (NPS) service on a Windows Server.
Health Registration Authority (HRA), which can be one computer or more running Windows Server and sometimes hardware Network Switches that have been designed to support NAP.
System Health Agent (SHA), which is integrated into Windows clients starting with Windows XP SP3. On...