14-2
Cisco IE 2000 Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-25866-01
Chapter 14 Configuring Web-Based Authentication
Information About Configuring Web-Based Authentication
Web-based authentication and Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT) are mutually exclusive. You
cannot use web-based authentication when NEAT is enabled on an interface, and you cannot use
NEAT when web-based authentication is running on an interface.
Web-based authentication supports only RADIUS authorization servers. You cannot use TACACS+
servers or local authorization.
Information About Configuring Web-Based Authentication

Web-Based Authentication

Use the web-based authentication feature, known as web authentication proxy, to authenticate end users
on host systems that do not run the IEEE 802.1x supplicant.
Note You can configure web-based authentication on Layer 2 interfaces.
When you initiate an HTTP session, web-based authentication intercepts ingress HTTP packets from the
host and sends an HTML login page to the users. The users en ter their credentials, which the web-based
authentication feature sends to the authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server for
authentication.
If authentication succeeds, web-based authentication sends a Login-Successful HTML page to the host
and applies the access policies returned by the AAA server.
If authentication fails, web-based authentication forwards a Login-Fail HTML page to the user,
prompting the user to retry the login. If the user exceeds the maximum nu mber of attempts, web-based
authentication forwards a Login-Expired HTML page to the host, and the user i s placed on a watch list
for a waiting period.
These sections describe the role of web-based authentication as part of AAA:
Device Roles, page 14-2
Host Detection, page 14-3
Session Creation, page 14-3
Authentication Process, page 14-4
Web Authentication Customizable Web Pages, page 14-6
Web-Based Authentication Interactions with Other Features, page 14-8

Device Roles

With web-based authentication, the devices in the network have these specific roles:
Client—The device (workstation) that requests access to the LAN and the services and respon ds to
requests from the switch. The workstation must be running an HTML browser with Java Script
enabled.
Authentication server—Authenticates the client. The authentication server validates the identity of
the client and notifies the switch that the client is authorized to access the LAN and the switch
services or that the client is denied.