<[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> The short answer with PF is always: ³Yes.²  You can extend PF
> to do ANYTHING but if what you are trying to do seems extraordinarily
> hard, you may want to step back and ask if what you are doing is
> really a function of NAC or is it something else?
 

The great thing about open-source software is that you
can customize it to do whatever you want.  The bad thing
about open-source software is that you have to know how
to program in whatever language(s) the package was written
in to make those changes.  In the case of PF, it is a bundle
of different open-source packages from different maintainers
that they have bundled together to act as a NAC.  You need
to not only be familiar with PF's code, but how to
configure and troubleshoot each of the bundled packages
as well.

They really don't remind us much on this list, but the
maintainers of PF (Inverse) offer consulting services for
installing/configuring the software.  Since both Inverse
and Josh's school are located in Canada, they don't even
have to deal with the currency exchange rate hassle. :-)

The cat's meow of commercial NAC for academic environments
is Impulse Point's Safe-Connect product.  It comes with
agents for every device that you can think of, and does
exactly what Josh is looking for.  Large universities love
it. The quote that I got from them last year for our 2500
FTE enrollment was 6-digits per year (US), and the annual
maintenance would have paid for a 3-series BMW every year.
It wouldn't hurt to look at their feature list and ask
for a quote, if for no other reason than to put a price tag
on your own wish list to see how much getting everything
you want will cost.  I've already done the math for our
site, and the ~40 hours that I have invested in PF to
get "close enough" functionality makes it seem like a steal...

-Arthur

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arthur Emerson III                 Email:      [email protected]
Network Administrator              InterNIC:   AE81
Mount Saint Mary College           MaBell:     (845) 561-0800 Ext. 3109
330 Powell Ave.                    Fax:        (845) 562-6762
Newburgh, NY  12550                SneakerNet: Aquinas Hall Room 11


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