Segment 1: NAC Foundational Concepts

• Guest: Alok Agrawal, TME Manager, NAC BU

Look lets face it, this is a technical show we all know the need for NAC on the shared Ether. The problem is not understand the need or justifying it, the problem is really defining what NAC really is. At the last Star Trek Convention, I gathered up all the network geeks and we met at the sudo-10 Forward and shared a glass of warm Gnash (crappy warm beer with 8 parts CO2, Two parts beer and 4 parts food coloring) and I asked two questions; can anyones Mom give us a ride to get a real beer and what is NAC.

Of course the answers varied, but in the end, the general idea of a NAC solution should:
- Stop access at the port level
- Perform inventory control
- Assign access privilege levels based upon log in
- Perform remediation
- Be flexible

Notice that no one said easy to deploy. I think we all know that deploying NAC sucks worse then going shoe shopping with the wife. I am a big framework kinda engineer. I do not like the "magic box" concept, so when Robb wanted to do a show on NAC I was pumped! Because we can really get down to the deep technical details on framework.

So I worked up my 802.1X stuff and demos looked at all of the parts and pieces I needed to get ready to ship from the Code Cave to the TechWiseTV Lab and then Robb and I had our show design conf call....

This is the call were I present to Robb the geek stuff to his story for a show. It is just him and I on the phone to work out the details so we have a good time with it. Robb listened quietly (like always) as I talked about all the parts and pieces, various standards and upcoming standards, mixing vendors, various clients and non client methods and then I delivered the closer and I was done! Since this call is normally on Tuesdays, that is half piece chicken day at Popeye's so I point my truck East and I head on over to get me some cajun chicken and jambalaya, but not this time... Robb asked me have I looked at NAC Appliance instead of framework. Huh?

The Perfigo stuff? yes I looked at it but it is not as cool. The technology is behind the magic code curtain and more then likely that would lead to scalability issues and certainly very long log ins. But ole Robb sees the big picture much better then me. So I agreed to take a secondlook and work with Alok on messing with this product.I really thought it would go no where and it was just a courtesy, that's all.

Man, was I wrong.

I guess I am not sure where I have been when all of that development was going on with NAC Appliance. I reckon in 802.1X framework land playing Super Mario Bros 3 on a Playchoice 10... arcade humor...I love it! maybe it's just me...