Developers guide

Chapter 2
Copyright © 2008-2013 Inverse inc.
Introduction 3
module. This allows you to secure your
wired and wireless networks the same
way using the same user database and
using the same captive portal, providing a
consistent user experience. Mixing Access
Points (AP) vendors and Wireless Controllers
is supported.
Registration PacketFence supports an optional registration
mechanism similar to "captive portal"
solutions. Contrary to most captive
portal solutions, PacketFence remembers
users who previously registered and will
automatically give them access without
another authentication. Of course, this is
configurable. An Acceptable Use Policy can
be specified such that users cannot enable
network access without first accepting it.
Detection of abnormal network activities Abnormal network activities (computer
virus, worms, spyware, traffic denied
by establishment policy, etc.) can be
detected using local and remote Snort or
Suricata sensors. Beyond simple detection,
PacketFence layers its own alerting and
suppression mechanism on each alert type. A
set of configurable actions for each violation
is available to administrators.
Proactive vulnerability scans Either Nessus or OpenVAS vulnerability
scans can be performed upon registration,
scheduled or on an ad-hoc basis. PacketFence
correlates the scan engine vulnerability ID’s
of each scan to the violation configuration,
returning content specific web pages about
which vulnerability the host may have.
Isolation of problematic devices PacketFence supports several isolation
techniques, including VLAN isolation with
VoIP support (even in heterogeneous
environments) for multiple switch vendors.
Remediation through a captive portal Once trapped, all network traffic is
terminated by the PacketFence system.
Based on the node’s current status
(unregistered, open violation, etc), the user
is redirected to the appropriate URL. In
the case of a violation, the user will be
presented with instructions for the particular
situation he/she is in reducing costly help
desk intervention.
Command-line and Web-based management Web-based and command-line interfaces for
all management tasks.