* NAC concerns/needs vary from one network group to another
Customers considering NAC should take a careful look at the management platform because it may make or break their deployment.
The nature of NAC has a variety of network staff interested and invested in the technology and they will all need a unique view. Concerned parties include the networking group, the security group and the desktop group.
The networking group will need to evaluate the impact of NAC on the infrastructure and to set and manage necessary configurations such as VLANs if they are part of NAC enforcement. Tools to make this simpler are important to them.
The security group needs to have an interface that can set policies that correlate endpoint assessment factors with the access policy rules. If such an interface stands separate from the desktop assessment interface so much the better. This can help avoid having misconfigurations die due to accidental missteps that can occur when different groups manage from the same view.
The desktop group will need to manage and configure NAC agents and figure out how to integrate them with other desktop monitoring software. Their primary role will be to make sure individual machines can gather and present as complete an evaluation of their posture as possible. This is an aspect of NAC management that the other interested parties need not deal with.
It is important to get all these groups together on the product evaluation because it’s important to have input about these factors before a purchase is made. They can also give the best of NAC’s impact on the existing network gear and any upgrades that NAC might require.
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