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Windows Security Health Agent (WSHA)

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Windows Security Health Agent (WSHA) is included with the Network Access Protection (NAP) client on computers running Windows Vista or Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). The WSHA is used to monitor the state of Windows Security Center and report this information to the NAP Agent service for inclusion in the client's statement of health (SoH).

Aspects

The following is a list of all aspects that are part of this managed entity:

Name Description

Windows Security Center

By default, the Windows Security Health Agent (WSHA) will be installed with the Network Access Protection (NAP) client on computers running Windows Vista or Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). The WSHA monitors health status of Windows Security Center and reports this information to the NAP Agent service.

In order for the status of Windows Security Center to be reported to the NAP Agent service, WSHA must be successfully initialized so that it can update changes in client health status.

WSHA Client Remediation

Remediation refers to the act or process of correcting a client configuration or software state that is not compliant with network health requirements. If Network Access Protection (NAP) policies are configured for automatic remediation, the Windows Security Health Agent (WSHA) will attempt to modify the client configuration to bring it into compliance with network health requirements.

For the WSHA, remediation of a client computer configuration depends on health requirements specified by the Windows Security Health Validator (WSHV) and the access of client computers to resources required to update and maintain their configuration to meet requirements of the WSHV.

WSHA Communication with NAP Agent

Windows Security Health Agent (WSHA) must be able to communicate with the Network Access Protection (NAP) Agent service in order to manage client health status that is monitored and reported by the Windows Security Center service. In order for this communication to take place, the NAP Agent service must be running.

WSHA Windows Update Assessment

The Windows Security Health Agent (WSHA) uses Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to validate Windows software update status and compliance. In order to perform this validation, the client must be able to connect to the configured WSUS server.

NAP Infrastructure