VigorSwitch P2260 User’s Guide
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In the following figure, this is the typical configuration, a single supplicant, an
authenticator and an authentication server. B and C is in the internal network, D is
Authentication server running RADIUS, switch at the central location acts Authenticator
connecting to PC A and A is a PC outside the controlled port, running Supplicant PAE. In
this case, PC A wants to access the services on device B and C, first, it must exchange the
authentication message with the authenticator on the port it connected via EAPOL packet.
The authenticator transfers the supplicant’s credentials to Authentication server for
verification. If success, the authentication server will notice the authenticator the grant. PC
A, then, is allowed to access B and C via the switch. If there are two switches directly
connected together instead of single one, for the link connecting two switches, it may have
to act two port roles at the end of the link: authenticator and supplicant, because the traffic
is bi-directional.