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Catalyst 2960 and 2960-S Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-8603-09
Chapter 10 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Authentication
Configuring the Switch-to-RADIUS-Server Communication
RADIUS security servers are identified by their hostname or IP address, hostname and specific UDP port
numbers, or IP address and specific UDP port numbers. The combination of the IP address and the UDP
port number creates a unique identifier, which enables RADIUS requests to be sent to multiple UDP
ports on a server at the same IP address. If two different host entries on the same RADIUS server are
configured for the same service—for example, authentication—the second host entry configured acts as
the fail-over backup to the first one. The RADIUS host entries are tried in the order in which they were
configured.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure the RADIUS se rver parameters on
the switch. This procedure is required.
Step 9 switchport mode access (Optional) Set the port to access mode only if you configured the RADIUS
server in Step 6 and Step 7.
Step 10 authentication port-control auto
or
dot1x port-control auto
Enable 802.1x authentication on the port.
For feature interaction information, see the “802.1x Authentication
Configuration Guidelines” section on page 10-38.
Step 11 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.
Step 12 show authentication
or
show dot1x
Verify your entries.
Step 13 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.
Command Purpose
Command Purpose
Step 1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode.
Step 2 radius-server host {hostname |
ip-address} auth-port port-number key
string
Configure the RADIUS server parameters.
For hostname | ip-address, specify the hostname or IP address of the
remote RADIUS server.
For auth-port port-number, specify the UDP destination port for
authentication requests. The default is 1812. The range is 0 to 65536.
For key string, specify the authentication and encryption key used
between the switch and the RADIUS daemon running on the RADIUS
server. The key is a text string that must match the encryption key used on
the RADIUS server.
Note Always configure the key as the last item in the radius-server
host command syntax because leading spaces are ignored, but
spaces within and at the end of the key are used. If you use spaces
in the key, do not enclose the key in quotation marks unless the
quotation marks are part of the key. This key must match the
encryption used on the RADIUS daemon.
If you want to use multiple RADIUS servers, re-enter this command.
Step 3 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.