A Primer on Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access)

Access control is the most tempting thing when it comes to managing user security on various nodes of networking and cloud-based systems. If by any mistake access is being granted to an unauthorized party then they can wreak all types of havoc and make operation on cloud systems nearly impossible. But what if a sophisticated piece of technology or say the software was able to help you in having deep visibility into all endpoints of your network and how these endpoints were using them? What if that information could be used to address the user access control policies?

With the help of Cisco software-defined access (SD), you will be able to do just that. It is a solution that is offered within the Cisco digital network architecture and is built on internet-based networking principles. It can help you in the segmentation of the users on different devices, provides visibility, and help in categorizing the internet traffic without physically having to change the parameters of the network. You can also program the network to automatically enforce the user access policies so the whole setup is secured from the get-go.

Another great benefit of working with this amazing tool is that it can automate the implementation of the user policies for every user and device that connects with the dedicated network system to ensure safety for everyone. It can be accomplished by applying the unified access policies across the LAN and WLAN channels so that every user must be able to experience the same experience without having to compromise on the security of the systems.

Benefits associated with Cisco software-defined access

• It can help in the advancement of visibility by using advanced analytics for users, for device identification and compliance. It can also employ artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to the similar endpoints for extracting insight and revolutionizing the experience of the users on that dedicated network.
• It can leverage the policy analytics by a thorough analysis of the traffic flows between the endpoint groups and thus using it to define the right set of user policies that should be applied to a specific endpoint according to the type of user or device being used. It can then define, author, and enforce these policies quite easily using a simple and straightforward graphical interface.
• It can enroll zero trust security and regulatory compliance system for increased and customized essence of security as well as segmenting these connections according to the user policies and compliance for both wired and wireless connections.

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Cisco SD-Access an overview

Cisco SD-Access is being programmed in such a way that a single tool can take care of so many operations and things and all at the same time. It can help you to maintain visibility across various endpoints on a single network, segment the number of devices and connections based on the security clearance these have, implement and customize group user policies while keeping it consistent for every user out there. It can also isolate traffic, mitigate the risks, contain various types of threats, and achieve consistency over policy over the entire enterprise.

The key functional elements of Cisco SD-Access includes;

• Controller-based architecture
• Network fabric
• Programmable infrastructure

Why use the Cisco SD-Access system?

There exist a lot of challenges when it comes to managing the network configurations with manual interpretations and fragmented tool systems. Manual integration is also time-intensive, requires a large capital to do so, and finally is prone to various errors given the number of people, devices and ideations of the internet security parameters continue to change on a constant basis. It has become more and more complex to maintain a consistent user policy across the complete network system with an increase in different devices across the network and configuration of different user credentials.

If the user policy can’t be made consistent throughout the network then you will have to manually integrate different policies across the wired and wireless network systems.

As users will continue to move around the same network they have connected with, interacting with different users therefore the actual locating of the users and the troubleshooting of the network systems also become very complicated, to begin with. Today's network systems simply don't address the needs of today and thus require the help of a few sophisticated tools and software systems along its side such as the Cisco SD-Access system.

Read more: The Biggest Advantages Of Cisco Certification For Network Engineers

A few challenges associated with networking architectures

Network operations

• If you can't see who is using the network, what they are using it for, and the work that is being conducted then being a network administrator you simply can't create the endpoint interventions or in the mapping of the traffic flow. The endpoint is that you then can’t control your network system at all.
• If you are still focused on implementing changes in a manual way then the network systems of today won’t be able to move along with the requirements of the business today and thus automation is the need of the hour.

Security options

• It is important to oversee the whole network system along with various endpoints that are working across it and that can’t be done until you know who is connected to the network and what they are doing with it.
• In order to cover the real-time needs of the security, the segmentation of the network systems sounds like the most obvious idea there. As it can categorize the new and older connections in a proper iteration and help in the navigation of the users that are using the network with a consistent layout of user policies laid out clearly before them.
• It is paramount to block any unauthorized access to the network systems for the sake of complying with the regulations. Other than that not only the costs for compliance of security would increase but it would also become very difficult to deal with it.

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