1 Introduction

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard protocol designed to reduce the administrative burden and complexity of configuring hosts on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)–based network, such as a private intranet.

Network Access Protection (NAP) is a platform that enables an administrator to validate a machine's health before granting it access to the network. It provides for multiple enforcement mechanisms to validate the client's configuration, limit a client's network access, and enable a client to update itself while it has limited connectivity so that it can regain full network access. NAP allows multiple enforcement methods and also provides for new enforcement methods to be developed by different vendors.

This document specifies a set of vendor-class options defined for use by DHCP clients and DHCP servers to support NAP enforcement through DHCP.

Sections 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 2, and 3 of this specification are normative. All other sections and examples in this specification are informative.