PacketFence NAC 2.2.0 brings new hardware support

The PacketFence development team has released version 2.2.0 of its open source network access control (NAC) system. According to developers, PacketFence 2.2.0 is a "massive update" that adds a number of new features and polish, as well as enhancements, improved documentation, and a variety of bug fixes and translation updates.

The latest update features new reports (Nodes per SSID and Connection-Type), improvements to Captive Portal network access detection that make it more accurate and much faster, and hardware support for Motorola RF switches (wireless Controllers), 3Com switches and D-Link DGS 3100 switches. Integration and configuration of FreeRADIUS 2.x is now said to be easier. On startup, the Apache configuration is automatically adjusted based on system resources in order to avoid performance degradation on heavy workloads. Additionally, User-Agent violation support has been "completely re-written", making it simpler to block devices or old browsers from a network.

VoIP auto-detection can use CDP/LLDP in Wired 802.1X and Wired MAC Authentication, administrators can modify and preview remediation pages via the Web Admin, and Kerberos Authentication has been added to the Captive Portal. Other changes include new DHCP fingerprints for a number of devices, SSL certificate configuration updates and the removal of unused configuration parameters. Log levels can now be changed without requiring a restart.

More details about the release, including a full list of new features, enhancements and bug fixes, can be found in the release announcement news post and in the change log. PacketFence 2.2.0 is available to download from the project's server as source or RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) and installation guides are provided. Licensed under the GPLv2, PacketFence is sponsored and developed by Inverse inc..

(crve)