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User Guide for Cisco Secure Access Control Server
OL-9971-01
Chapter3 Network Configuration
About ACS in Distributed Systems
•Remote Agents (ACS Solution Engine)—This table lists each remote agent that is configured
together with its IP address and available services. For more information about remote agents, see
About Remote Agents, page 3-19.
Note The Remote Agents table does not appear unless you have enabled the Distributed System
Settings feature in Interface Configuration.If you are using NDGs, this table does not appear on
the initial page, butis accessed through the Network Device Groups table. For more information
about this interface configuration, see Displaying Advanced Options, page 2-5.
•Network Device Groups—Thistable lists the name of each NDG that has been configured, and the
number of AAA clients and AAA servers that are assigned to each NDG. If you are using NDGs,
the AAA Clients table and AAA Serverstable do not appear on the opening page. To configure AAA
clients or AAA servers, you must click the name of the NDG to which the device is assigned. If the
newly configured device is not assigned to an NDG, it belongs to the (Not Assigned) group.
This table appears only when you haveconfigured the interface to use NDGs. For more information
about this interface configuration, see Displaying Advanced Options, page 2-5.
•Proxy Distribution Table—You can use the Proxy Distribution Table to configure proxy
capabilities including domain stripping. For more information, see ConfiguringProxy Distribution
Tables, page 3-27.
This table appears only when you have configured the interface to enable Distributed Systems
Settings. For more information about this interface configuration, seeDisplaying Advanced
Options, page 2-5.
About ACS in Distributed Systems
These topics describe how ACS can be used in a distributed system.
•AAA Servers in Distributed Systems, page 3-2
•Default Distributed System Settings, page 3-3

AAA Servers in Distributed Systems

AAA server is the generic term for an access-control server (ACS), and the two terms are often used
interchangeably.Multiple AAA servers can be configured to communicate with one another as primary,
backup, client, or peer systems. You can, therefore, use powerful features such as:
•Proxy
•Fallback on failed connection
•ACS internal database replication
•Remote and centralized logging
You can configure AAAservers to determine who can access the network and what services are
authorized for each user. The AAA server stores a profile containing authentication and authorization
information for each user. Authentication information validates user identity, and authorization
information determines what network services a user can to use. A single AAA server can provide
concurrentAAA services to many dial-up access servers, routers, and firewalls. Each network device can
be configured to communicate with a AAA server.You can, therefore, centrally control dial-up access,
and secure network devices from unauthorized access.