Cisco Systems OL-6415-04 manual Guidelines for Local Authenticators, Configuration Overview

Chapter 4 Configuring an Access Point as a Local Authenticator

Configure a Local Authenticator

Guidelines for Local Authenticators

Follow these guidelines when configuring an access point as a local authenticator:

•Use an access point that does not serve a large number of client devices. When the access point acts as an authenticator, performance might degrade for associated client devices.

•Secure the access point physically to protect its configuration.

Configuration Overview

You complete four major steps when you set up a local authenticator:

1.On the local authenticator, create a list of access points authorized to use the authenticator to authenticate client devices. Each access point that uses the local authenticator is a network access server (NAS).

Note If your local authenticator access point also serves client devices, you must enter the local authenticator access point as a NAS. When a client associates to the local authenticator access point, the access point uses itself to authenticate the client.

2.On the local authenticator, create user groups and configure parameters to be applied to each group (optional).

3.On the local authenticator, create a list of up to 50 LEAP users, EAP-FAST users, or MAC addresses that the local authenticator is authorized to authenticate.

Note You do not have to specify which type of authentication that you want the local authenticator to perform. It automatically performs LEAP, EAP-FAST, or MAC-address authentication for the users in its user database.

4.On the access points that use the local authenticator, enter the local authenticator as a RADIUS server.

Note If your local authenticator access point also serves client devices, you must enter the local authenticator as a RADIUS server in the local authenticator’s configuration. When a client associates to the local authenticator access point, the access point uses itself to authenticate the client.

Configuring the Local Authenticator Access Point

Beginning in Privileged Exec mode, follow these steps to configure the access point as a local authenticator:

	Command	Purpose
Step 1
	configure terminal	Enter global configuration mode.
Step 2
	aaa new-model	Enable AAA.
		Cisco Wireless ISR and HWIC Access Point Configuration Guide
OL-6415-04			4-3