Forthcoming security features for the next version of
Windows Server include automatic patch checking and a self-healing
file system.
News of the enhancements came at this week’s Microsoft
Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, California The
next version of Windows Server, code-named “Longhorn”, is due in
2007.
One of the new features is called "secure-at-install". When a
new server is installed as a terminal server or file server, for
instance, the system automatically finds and applies the security
updates that are relevant to the server’s role.
Windows Server Longhorn will also have a "self-healing" file
system, with the server being able to fix itself on the fly, when
faced with problems such as disk errors or badly performing
processors.
The server will also include Network Access Protection (NAP),
which allows companies to perform a health check on PCs connecting
to the corporate network, and block them if they do not have the
correct security protection and are in danger of infecting the
network.
