Network Access Control
and PacketFence
Network Startup Resource Center
These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license
([Link]
What is Network Access Control?
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Requiring users to authenticate before being
allowed onto the network
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Establishing a strong link between user identity
and network location (physical port, IP address)
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Creates accountability for network users
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Prevents access by unauthorized users
Wireless NAC
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Captive portal (typical hotspot)
– Browser login required for each session
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WPA Enterprise (WPA 802.1x)
– Now widely supported by clients
– Credentials stored in client device
– In simplest mode (PEAP), client sends a username
+ password, validated by RADIUS server
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WPA Enterprise becoming the preferred option
Wired NAC
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802.1x can be used on managed switches too
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Needs special software ("supplicant") on the
client, and 802.1x to be configured on the client
– Client cannot download the software or instructions
if their network port is blocked!
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A captive portal solution is more user-friendly
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But you want to avoid funnelling all your
network traffic through an in-line box
PacketFence
User authentication
database
PacketFence
Edge switches / APs
PacketFence features
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Captive portal
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802.1x authentication (wireless and wired)
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Dynamic configuration of switch ports
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Act on SNMP traps (e.g. port unplugged)
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Choice of user authentication databases
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Free and open source
– Perl scripts, readily hackable
– Commercial support available
Snort/Suricata integration
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Infected or misbehaving machines can be
automatically dropped into "isolation VLAN"
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Customized portal page depending on what the
problem is
– e.g. virus detected, bittorrent detected
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Gives user a chance to fix the problem
(remediation) and then click to get back onto
the main network
Inline enforcement mode
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PacketFence box acts as network gateway
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Works with dumb (unmanaged) edge switches
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PF adds iptables (ipset) rules to control clients
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All traffic funnelled through PF box; does not
scale to large networks
VLAN enforcement mode
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Modifies the switch config in real time to
configure access ports
VLAN enforcement mode
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Initially configures port to "MAC detection VLAN"
– To learn MAC address of connected device
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If MAC is not already registered, move to
"registration VLAN"
– PacketFence is DHCP server and DNS server
– Forces users to registration page
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After authentication, change to "default VLAN"
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If anomalies seen, change to "isolation VLAN"
and display appropriate captive portal page
VLAN enforcement mode
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Return port to registration VLAN on:
– change of active MAC address
– timeout (e.g. after one week)
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Requires managed switches at edge
– Several different types supported
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PacketFence is out-of-line on data VLAN!
– Does not hamper throughput, scales really well
Detection of (new) MAC address
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Several different methods supported
– Some switches have "security trap"
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one MAC allowed, send trap if a different one seen
– Some switches send a bridge table learning trap
– Otherwise just use port up/down traps and poll for
the MAC address when device is connected
[Link]
PacketFence and wireless
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Includes FreeRADIUS and 802.1x
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Dropping clients into isolation VLAN requires
AP feature "dynamic VLAN assignment" via
RADIUS
– Unifi firmware does not support this yet :-(
– OpenWrt does
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Same authentication backend for wired and
wireless access
PacketFence requirements
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Supported Linux OSes
– CentOS/RedHat 6 (used to be only option)
– Debian 7 (Wheezy)
– Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
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4GB RAM
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100GB disk (RAID-1 recommended)
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1 NIC (+1 for IDS, +1 for high availability)
Designing for PacketFence
PacketFence in Campus Network
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Campus networks route at the core
– Provide building isolation and scalability
– Don't span VLANs between core ports!
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Don't break this when deploying PacketFence
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Needs a degree of planning
Ideal routed campus network
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Separate subnet per building
vlan 4
R servers
vlan 11 vlan 41
vlan 21 vlan 31
building 4
building 1
building 2 building 3
Inline enforcement (less preferred)
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Don't span the inline VLAN!
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Create a separate inline VLAN per building
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Trunk them through to the PacketFence box
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This means the core device is now switching
not routing
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NOT IDEAL but may be the only option with
dumb edge switches
Inline enforcement
eth1
Consider how
PacketFence PF outside and
eth0.11 eth0.31 server subnet
eth0.21 eth0.41 are routed
S
vlan 4
R servers
vlan 11 vlan 41
vlan 21 vlan 31
building 4
building 1
building 2 building 3
Inline enforcement
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PacketFence becomes a one-legged router
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PacketFence is choke point and SPOF
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PacketFence does not (yet) support IPv6 for
inline enforcement
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Core network device may be switching on some
VLANs and routing on others
VLAN Enforcement (preferred)
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Each building needs:
– its own data VLAN (standard campus design)
– its own registration and isolation VLANs
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PacketFence sits on the server network and is
out-of-line
VLAN Enforcement
vlan 4 servers
vlan 12
R Packet
vlan 13
vlan 14
Fence
vlan 42
vlan 22 vlan 32 vlan 43
vlan 23 vlan 33 vlan 44
vlan 24 vlan 34
building 4
building 1
building 2 building 3
xx2 Registration network
xx3 Isolation network
xx4 Data network
VLAN Enforcement
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PF is DHCP server for reg and isol VLANs
– DHCP helper needs to point to PF server
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Set ACL on reg/isol VLANs which blocks all
traffic except to/from the PF server
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If your edge switches can do layer 3 ACLs so
much the better (a.k.a. "vlan-isolation")
– blocks peer-to-peer traffic on the VLAN
– on isolation VLAN, helps prevent infected
machines infecting each other
VLAN Enforcement
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PacketFence is configured with the
management IP of each managed switch
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For each switch, told which VLANs to use for
reg/isol/data
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Configured not to manage trunk ports (i.e.
switch to switch links, and ports with dumb
switches downstream)
– PF calls them "uplink ports"
Configuration note
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Web configurator will force you to create
registration and isolation interfaces on the
PacketFence server itself - even though you
won't use them
– (Perhaps they expect you will span them across the
campus? No thank you!)
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These interface IPs can still be the targets for
DHCP helper and DNS from your reg/isol nets
VLAN Enforcement
Unused
reg & isol
VLANs
vlan 4 servers
R
2 3
vlan 12
vlan 13 Packet
vlan 14
Fence
vlan 42
vlan 22 vlan 32 vlan 43
vlan 23 vlan 33 vlan 44
vlan 24 vlan 34
building 4
building 1
building 2 building 3
xx2 Registration network
xx3 Isolation network
xx4 Data network
Both inline and VLAN enforcement
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If you have some managed switches and some
dumb switches
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Building aggregation switch needs to be VLAN-
capable
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Downstream dumb switches configured on
access ports on the inline VLAN
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Four VLANs per building - complicated :-)
– Oh, and PacketFence supports VOIP VLANs too
Possible VLAN / addressing plan
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Lots of VLANs, so make a repeatable and
consistent scheme
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Following page is just a suggestion
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Feel free to adapt, drop the bits you don't need,
or just make your own
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For IPv6, you can just put the VLAN ID as the
fourth word
– pr:ef:ix:vlanid::/64
Plan for building X
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Allocate a /20 for each building, e.g. 10.90.0/20
Vlan xx0 [Link]/24 Spare
Vlan xx1 [Link]/24 Wired Inline
Vlan xx2 [Link]/24 Registration
Vlan xx3 [Link]/24 Isolation
Vlan xx4 [Link]/24 Wired Data Managed
Vlan xx5 [Link]/24 Spare
Vlan xx6 [Link]/24 Spare
Vlan xx7 [Link]/24 Spare
Vlan xx8 [Link]/22 Wireless Routed (802.1x)
Vlan xx9 [Link]/22 Wireless Inline
(Building 0 = NOC/server room. Generate configs for your network devices using a script)
MAC detection
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The MAC detection VLAN should be completely
isolated
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You can use the same VLAN ID everywhere
(e.g. VLAN 4000) but don't enable it on any
trunk ports
DHCP notes
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PacketFence is the DHCP server for the
registration and isolation VLANs
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Keep your existing DHCP for live subnets
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PacketFence will also keep track of the live IP
addresses assigned to users
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Add PF’s management IP address as the last
"ip helper-address" on each live subnet
– pfdhcplistener process will pick it up
Other considerations
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Maybe not all networks need to be PF
controlled
– Dorms only? Not staff offices?
– Shared PC labs better to have domain logins?
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VLAN enforcement scales better and is easier
to roll out incrementally
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Upgrade your edge switches to managed!
– and check the model you buy is supported by PF
