Implementing NAP and NAC Security Technologies: The Complete Guide to Network Access Control

The Flow of This Book

As you would hope, a lot of thought was put into how this book was going to be laid out. The book is mean to be very comprehensive in providing a robust understanding of NAC and NAP. The book is broken down into two main sections:

• Laying the Foundation

• Understanding the Technologies

I remember when I was in the Coast Guard on a boat in Alaska. I was working for a Boatswain Mate who was telling me to perform a task. After getting done telling me to do the task, I told him I didn't understand why he wanted it done in that matter. I recall him clearly saying that he was up on the mountain and had a clear view of why this was important. I was simply in the valley and could not see the big picture. Being in the military, he never did feel the need to tell me the big picture. Clearly, understanding the big picture puts things in perspective. It would have also helped me to perform the tasks better. He obviously didn't think so.

This book will ensure that a good NAC and NAP foundation is laid. Different standards and organizations will be covered, as will terms and technologies. Also, NAC and NAP solutions are all pretty much made up of the same components. They may not all contain each component and vendors may implement components differently, but the role of each component is very similar across the various solutions. A whole chapter is dedicated to understanding what these components will provide. There is a good amount of background information on NAC and NAP ...