IEEE 802.1X
Issue 5 April 2010 77
IEEE 802.1X
Certain 1600 Series IP Telephones support the IEEE 802.1X standard for pass-through and
Supplicant operation. The system parameter DOT1X determines how the telephones handle
802.1X multicast packets and proxy logoff, as follows:
●When DOT1X = 0, the telephone forwards 802.1X multicast packets from the
Authenticator to the PC attached to the telephone and forwards multicast packets from the
attached PC to the Authenticator (multicast pass-through). Proxy Logoff is not supported.
●When DOT1X = 1, the telephone supports the same multicast pass-through as when
DOT1X=0. Proxy Logoff is supported.
●When DOT1X = 2, the telephone forwards multicast packets from the Authenticator only to
the telephone, ignoring multicast packets from the attached PC (no multicast
pass-through). Proxy Logoff is not supported.
●Regardless of the DOT1X setting, the telephone always properly directs unicast packets
from the Authenticator to the telephone or its attached PC, as dictated by the MAC
address in the packet.
All 1600 Series telephones support Supplicant operation and parameter values as specified in
IEEE 802.1X, but, as of software Release 1.3, only if the value of the parameter DOT1XSTAT is
"1" or "2". If DOT1XSTAT has any other value, Supplicant operation is not supported.
IP telephones will respond to unicast EAPOL frames (frames with the telephone’s MAC address
as the destination MAC address, and a protocol type of 88-8E hex) received on the Ethernet
line interface if the value of DOT1XSTAT is "1" or "2", but will only respond to EAPOL frames
that have the PAE group multicast address as the destination MAC address if the value of
DOT1XSTAT is "2". If the value of DOT1XSTAT is changed to "0" from any other value after the
Supplicant has been authenticated, an EAPOL-Logoff will be transmitted before the Supplicant
is disabled.
As of software Release 1.3, the system parameter DOT1XSTAT determines how the telephone
handles Supplicants as follows:
●When DOT1XSTAT=0, Supplicant operation is completely disabled. This is the default
value.
●When DOT1XSTAT=1, Supplicant operation is enabled, but responds only to received
unicast EAPOL messages.
●When DOT1XSTAT=2, Supplicant operation is enabled and responds to received unicast
and multicast EAPOL messages.