* A series of NAC tests address a variety of issues
Check out Network World’s package of stories regarding tests of various NAC equipment.
The stories address important basic issues about NAC and reveal some warts that only show when customers start configuring NAC gear in actual networks. The stories are written by Joel Snyder, a senior partner in Opus One, a consulting firm in Tucson, Ariz, and a member of the Network World Lab Alliance.
Snyder tests Cisco CNAC gear and compares it to various configurations of NAC equipment made by participants in Trusted Computing Group (TCG), breaking down his tests to individual functions. The object was to test gear that fits into an overall NAC framework rather than individual appliances that can impose NAC on existing networks.
For instance, he addresses authentication in both CNAC and TCG scenarios and finds that with Windows XP clients, things work well and are relatively easy to set up. Not so with McIntosh endpoints, for which TCG so far lacks an authentication client. The workaround for that was cumbersome.
With Cisco gear, he found that the 802.1x authentication software built into Mac OS X works.
The group of articles walks through concerns from authenticating devices with limited ability to authenticate; to registering guest users; to enforcement; to management.
The complete list of NAC issues Snyder addresses is too lengthy to list here. But taken together the stories in this package are like talking over NAC deployment with a colleague who has actually been through it and is willing to discuss the important fine points that people selling the equipment don’t bring up. This detailed look is a must read and well worth your time.
