How to choose the best network access control solution?

[Abigail101]

To select the right solution, IT managers need to consider the deployment of their network access control goals, including the desired level of safety and management level. Whether you choose a network access control solutions, you need to consider the deployment of network access control, your goals, such as security and management level, and based on your business and network size of the other factors. Hence the question remains the same that how to choose the best network access control solution? And I need the answer for that.

[Big Fish]

For a large network, there are many deployment, management and operational considerations. For example, the switch is located upstream of the in-line hardware-based network access control solution to produce a potential single point of failure. If these solutions cannot keep up the current 10G network of high-speed trunk speed, these solutions are destructive.
Moreover, the in-line network access control solution for geographically highly dispersed or highly segmented networks may be undesirable. The solution required not only in every place and every one piece of equipment, and these methods provide visibility of network communications is also very poor.

[Shen]

When you can not see or can not prevent a large subnet when the intruder communication, I believe you use the network access control, greater security is meaningless. -Band alternative methods, such as the use of 802.1x choices often need to change the number of network and server settings. They need additional isolation network and each switch port settings, as well as routers and switches need to set access rules. This not only increases the cost of management, but also increased the risk of error. Hardware-based network access control is obviously not cheap, or is not a solution.
However, hardware-based network access control can provide a high level of security, because they focus on network

[Steve123]

In the geographically dispersed networks with software-based approach, the management of challenges remains, however, these challenges transferred to the endpoint, each endpoint need to install a software agent. Although there is no proxy network access control method can reduce the administrative burden, however, agent less network access control can not provide a consistent approach to comprehensive assessment of the endpoint state. This means that the exchange with the important security features can be manageable.
Because of dynamic network access control can only use part of the system as a security enforcement persons, dynamic network access control can actually help you to use the power of distributed networks to protect themselves.

[Milton.J]

SMEs almost no dedicated IT staff and experts to configure the complex and band methods, such as 802.1x network configuration, as well as problem occurs when the proper troubleshooting. In addition, due to resource limitations, SMEs often focus on the IT team to develop their business IT projects.
This is software-based network access control to do things: to enhance security while reducing security and network management burden of the team. In fact, for SMEs, in the defense agency that there are many things to be said. For example, in the endpoint to reach higher levels of review, thus enhancing security. The reality is that agents may be the least disruption caused by the existing solutions, particularly when applied to network communications, since Agent is running quietly in the background, only periodically send updates to the policy server. So, if you are a small and medium enterprises with limited IT resources, the trick is to find the most easy to manage, most cost-effective, software-based network access control solution, or available for dynamic network access control solutions.

[Spyrus]

Regardless of your business and how the network size, you need to weigh the desired level of security cost and manageability. This is a common phenomenon, because the internal culture, risk tolerance limits, or whether this company had very strict in the management of industry and other factors have determined that the enterprise should take a higher level of security, or choose the convenience of management.
For example, if security is the only consideration, then hardware-based 802.1x (band of) solution might be the best option. Although there is no network access control agent to avoid the installation and maintenance needs of agents, but it also paid the price. Agent less approach can not provide a consistent and comprehensive approach to assess the endpoint state. In addition, by examining the network traffic to determine the identity of users may be cheating the system.
Dynamic network access systems may provide management and security between the right balances.

[AlDev]

Depends on wheather your NAC solution will be for endpoints your in control of, endpoints your not in control of such as contractors, partners, temporary workers, and from how these systems access your network such as wired, wireless, VPN, etc. From here you can evaluate if a NAC solution will meet your requirements. Of course this is a basic overview, there are many other aspects you need to be aware of such as does the NAC solution support your antivirus software and so on.

Personally I think Symantec is the most complete NAC solution.