Network Access Control For Dummies®

7.8. Help! (Desk)

Although you probably won't have the helpdesk team actively involved in the evaluation of and decision making for a NAC solution, you will certainly need to involve them after you start testing, piloting, or deploying the NAC solution in a lab environment, in phases, or (gulp!) all at the same time on the organization's existing network environment.

Users see your helpdesk as the first line of defense, so naturally you should involve the helpdesk team in your NAC solution. If a user attempts and fails to access the organization's network, which they've been accessing successfully every day for several years, who do you think they're going to call? The helpdesk team.

Who do you think the CEO calls when the new NAC solution kicks his or her laptop off the network because that laptop's antivirus automatic protection is disabled or its operating system patches are out of date? He or she calls the helpdesk.

Get on the good side of the helpdesk team by lab testing or piloting the NAC solution first, and involving the helpdesk team in the process. Involve your helpdesk team by

• Setting up and deploying the solution

• Creating new or repurposing existing policies

• Knowing to stage, operate, and use the NAC solution of choice

• Staging and deploying the lab test or pilot of the NAC solution, so that they can observe the NAC solution being deployed and in action, and even become familiar with the NAC solution by using it.

If the helpdesk can't answer a user's question (for example, ...