Implementing 802.1x port authentication in a corporate environment is hard enough, but to attempt it with free open source software is even more of a challenge. PacketFence, developed by Inverse Inc., has positioned itself as a comprehensive open source network access control (NAC) solution.
At Indeed, we embrace the open source ideology of bottom up versus top down decision making, as well as the concept of open source software. We will describe the challenges and pitfalls we experienced in deploying a geographically dispersed, multi-office NAC service. Some of the challenges and pitfalls included centralized logging, synchronizing user and node data between offices, software configuration management, multi-department involvement and coordination, and networking architectural challenges. PacketFence is also a quickly evolving product, so keeping up with updates and new features in a key infrastructure component is also a paramount concern.
PacketFence has delivered on its promise of being a comprehensive NAC solution. We now have username to IP address to MAC address correlation. We have iplogs, locationlogs, device discovery, inventory management, and user auditability. We have successfully implemented 802.1x port authentication on our wired, wireless, and even VPN network devices. Join us as we help you successfully climb over the PacketFence!
Speaker: Robert Bogart
