* The two NAC protocols up for approval: posture assessment protocol and posture broker protocol
Internet Engineering Task Force standards for NAC are in their final stages, according to IETF postings.
A working group of the IETF has been considering standards for two protocols needed to support interoperability between agents that gather endpoint data and the server that decides whether the posture of the endpoint meets NAC policies.
With a standard in place, vendors can build their agents and servers so they can talk to agents and servers that likewise conform to the standards.
The two protocols – known as posture assessment protocol and posture broker protocol – have been forwarded to the Internet Engineering Steering Group for final review. Under IETF rules, the IESG determines “in a timely fashion” whether to approve proposed standards that are submitted to it.
The posture assessment and posture broker protocol drafts were presented to the IESG last month. If they are approved, they will become standards, or what the IETF calls RFPs.
There shouldn’t be many surprises with these proposals. Both were based on standards generated by the Trusted Computing Group and that have been public for years. Vendors have been following the progress of these standards and in most cases have adhered to them or closely to them. If they want to, most vendors will be able to upgrade to the standards relatively simply if they choose to.
The impact of approved standards will be the assurance that NAC agents and NAC servers made by competing vendors stand a good chance of working together, which will give customers more flexibility when deploying NAC.
As noted, the IESG received the proposals for consideration last month, so approval could happen relatively soon.
