Deployment Considerations

Successful NAC deployment with Genian NAC

Establishing network access control can lead to changes in the network environment. To avoid distruption to end-users, Genian NAC uses a phased approach to deployment. Based on the experience gained by deploying NAC to many customers over 10 years, Genians highly recommends the following deployment steps:

Step 1: Gain visibility into your network assets

Understanding your network and user environment is the most important factor in establishing security policies and successfully applying network access control.

Having visibility into the network and the user device means that the following information can be monitored in real time:

Exact type and quantity of devices in the network, including switches / routers and their configuration
Operating system / hardware / software information of the user's device
Wireless LAN environment

There are many ways to achieve this visibility. We hear from many customers that they have failed to achieve visibility through the 802.1x access control method, which has a high degree of implementation complexity. It is very difficult to establish gradual network access control through 802.1x, because 802.1x is a technology designed for control rather than visibility. This means that network control must be established before visibility is obtained.

Another method is switch device integration via SNMP / CLI. This makes it easier to obtain visibility without control. However, considering compatibility with switch manufacturers and models, as well as un-managed switch devices, there are still considerable limitations.

To address these complexity and compatibility issues, Genians offers a method of securing visibility through an independent Network Sensor. The network sensor is connected to each subnet (broadcast domain) and can be deployed without changing the existing network environment. Usually, installation and full visibility can be acheived in under three days.

Genian NAC also provides Agent software for greater visibility into Windows and MacOS operating systems. It can be installed on the user's system to collect information (operating system / hardware / software / update, etc.) desired by the administrator.

Step 2: Classify assets and check compliance

Once the visibility of the IT assets is established, the next step is to classify known assets. Genian NAC offers more than 500 different conditions for grouping assets. Node group membership updates in real time as the status of the node changes.

Ideally, groups are defined by multiple perspectives, such as who the intended user is, what kind of device the node is,or what subnet the nodes are part of. To this end, various additional information such as manufacturer / product name / model information, connection method, and more are provided by Genian NAC's Device Platform Intelligence.

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In addition to administrative classification, classification of devices that violate security regulations is also very important.

In general, groups may be configured for:

Devices that are not assets of the company are connected to the network (personal devices)
PC's without antivirus software
Non-Authenticated devices

Step 3: Establish IT security policy and remediation

Once an IT security policy is established, control of the device that violates it is required. Becasue it is not easy to control all identified violation devices at once Genian NAC provides a step-by-step, automated approach.

The Agent is equipped with a variety of control action plug-ins to automatically process various security settings and configurations without user intervention. The Captive Web Portal (CWP) can also guide you through the tasks you need to perform, such as guest user on-boarding.

For more information on control actions, see Controlling Endpoints with Agent

Step 4: Enforce network access control and Quarantine non-compliance devices

After removing the known unauthorized device through the above steps and completing the necessary security measures for the user's device, the remaining task is to continuously monitor whether the security regulations are complied with, and to control network access by the devices that violate the regulations. At this stage, various control methods can be selected according to the network environment and required security level. Genian NAC provides a variety of controls for this.

802.1x
Layer 2 (ARP, DHCP)
SNMP/CLI (Port Shutdiown)
Port Mirror (SPAN)
Inline
Integration with 3rd party device (Firewall, VPN, etc)
Agent

For details about each control method, see Policy Enforcement Methods

Technical Considerations

Topic	Layer 2 Sensor/Enforcer	SNMP/CLI	Port Mirror (SPAN)	Inline	802.1x	Agent
Access Control at Layer 2	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Access Control at Layer 3	RBAC	Switch Port ACL	RBAC	No	Switch Port ACL	OS Firewall
Post-admission Control	ARP, DHCP	VLAN/ACL/Shutdown	TCP RST, ICMP unreach.	Filtering	CoA*	OS Firewall
Additional Hardware	Network Sensor	Managed Switches	Full traffic capable Device, Tap Device, SSL Decryption Device	Full traffic capable Device	802.1x Switch/AP	No
Endpoint Dependency	No	No	No	No	802.1x Supplicant	Agent required
WLAN Security	Monitoring (WNIC on Sensor)	Monitoring (SNMP with Controller)	No	No	Monitoring / Control (WPA2-Enterprise)	Monitoring / Control (SSID Whitelist)
Layer 2 Security	Detect MAC Spoofing, Detect Rogue DHCP, Managing IP Conflict	No	No	No	No	No

CoA*: Change of Authorization, RFC 5176 - Dynamic Authorization Extensions to RADIUS

Management Considerations

Topic	Layer 2 Sensor/Enforcer	SNMP/CLI	Port Mirror (SPAN)	Inline	802.1x	Agent
Network Config Change	Trunk port (optional)	Switch Config, VLAN/ACL	Tap Device, SPAN Port	Gateway Change	Switch Config, VLAN/ACL, Endpoint Config	No
Compatibility Issue	No	Vendor-dependent SNMP MIB/CLI	No	No	RADIUS Vendor Attribute, non-802.1x capable Device (Poor wired device support)	OS Type/Version
Easy of Deployment	Easy	Difficult	Intermediate	Easy	Very Difficult	Intermediate
Phased Deployment (Discover First, Control Later)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Must be controlled from the start of deployment	Yes
Single point of Failure	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Vendor Lock-in	No	Intermediate	No	No	High	Intermediate
Recommended for	Essential Discovery and Control	Extended information and port control			Wireless network	Extended information and enforce compliance

Deployment Models

On-Premises

Policy Server and Network Sensor can be deployed flexibly.

Policy Server/Network Sensor combined may be hosted on a single appliance or separately

Sensor(s) may be deployed centrally (802.1Q trunk or mirror port) or distributed between networks.

Trunked Sensors support up to 128 Vlans(recommended 64 VLANs)

For more info on sensor modes , see: Controlling Network Access

Configuring High Availability

Your Cloud

The Policy Server may be hosted in an existing Private Cloud by utilizing the publicly available AWS AMI. Deployment instructions are posted in the AWS Market Place product listing for Genian NAC Policy Server.