GS-3012/GS-3012F User’s Guide
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CHAPTER 16
Port Authentication
This chapter describes the 802.1x authentication method and RADIUS server connection
setup.
16.1 Introduction to Authentication
IEEE 802.1x is an extended authentication protocol
1
that allows support of RADIUS (Remote
Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for centralized user profile
management on a network RADIUS server.
16.1.1 RADIUS
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) authentication is a popular protocol
used to authenticate users by means of an external server instead of (or in addition to) an
internal device user database that is limited to the memory capacity of the device. In essence,
RADIUS authentication allows you to validate an unlimited number of users from a central
location.
Figure 60 RADIUS Server
16.1.1.1 Vendor Specific Attribute
A Vendor Specific Attribute (VSA) is an attribute-value pair that is sent between a RADIUS
server and the switch. Configure VSAs on the RADIUS server to set the switch to perform the
following actions on an authenticated user:
• Limit bandwidth on incoming or outgoing traffic
• Assign account privilege levels
1. At the time of writing, Windows XP of the Microsoft operating systems supports 802.1x. See the Microsoft web
site for information on other Windows operating system support. For other operating systems, see its
documentation. If your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client
software.
