3Com 10014299 manual Components of Radius server

530CHAPTER 38: CONFIGURING AAA AND RADIUS PROTOCOL

responsible for receiving a user's request for connection, authenticating the user, and returning the required information to NAS.

The RADIUS server maintains three databases:

■Users: stores user information, such as username, password, applied protocols, IP address

■Clients: stores information about the RADIUS client, such as the shared key

■Dictionary: explains the meaning of RADIUS protocol attributes

The following figure shows the three components of a RADIUS server.

Figure 165 Components of RADIUS server

RADIUS Server

Users

Clients

Dictionary

In addition, a RADIUS server can act as the client of other AAA servers to perform authentication or accounting. A RADIUS server supports multiple ways to authenticate the user, such as PPP-based PAP, CHAP and UNIX-based login.

Basic Information The RADIUS server usually uses the agent authentication function of the devices Interaction Procedure of like NAS to authenticate the user. The RADIUS client and server authenticate their

RADIUS interactive messages through shared keys, and the user password is transmitted over the network in ciphertext mode to enhance security. The RADIUS protocol integrates the authentication and authority processes and the response packet carries authority information. The operation process is shown in the following figure.