Overview of Agentless Host Support

C H A P T E R 6

Agentless Host Support Configuration Scenario

This chapter describes how to configure the agentless host feature in Cisco Secure Access Control Server, hereafter referred to as ACS.

Note The procedure in this chapter describes how to configure agentless host support by using ACS with a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) database. You can also configure agentless host support by using the ACS internal database: but, using an LDAP database is generally more efficient.

This chapter contains the following sections:

•Overview of Agentless Host Support, page 6-1

•Summary of Configuration Steps, page 6-3

•Basic Configuration Steps for Agentless Host Support, page 6-4

•Configuration Steps for Audit Server Support, page 6-24

Many hosts that ACS authenticates run agent software that requests access to network resources and receives authorization from ACS. However, some hosts do not run agent software. For example:

•Many 802.1x port security deployments authenticate hosts that do not have appropriate security agent software, such as Cisco Trust Agent.

•When an agentless host is connected to a Layer 2 device and an Extensible Authentication Protocol over User Datagram Protocol timeout (EoU timeout) occurs, in-band posture validation cannot occur.

ACS solves this problem by using the MAC address of the host device to identify and authenticate the host. This technique is called MAC authentication bypass (MAB).

1.When an agentless host connects to a network access device (NAD), the NAD detects that the host does not have an appropriate software agent and uses the host's MAC address to identify it.

2.The NAD sends ACS a RADIUS authorization request with servicetype=10 and the MAC address of the host contained in the calling-station-idattribute.

Configuration Guide for Cisco Secure ACS 4.2

	OL-14390-02	6-1

4.2 specifications

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Cisco Systems 4.2 manual Overview of Agentless Host Support

Models: 4.2

Agentless Host Support Configuration Scenario