HP 445946-001 manual Radius authentication and authorization, How Radius authentication works

Accessing the switch

Configuring an IP address range for the management network

Configure the management network IP address and mask from the System Menu in the CLI. For example:

>> Main# /cfg/sys/access/mgmt/add

Enter Management Network Address: 192.192.192.0

Enter Management Network Mask: 255.255.255.128

In this example, the management network is set to 192.192.192.0 and management mask is set to 255.255.255.128. This defines the following range of allowed IP addresses:

192.192.192.1 to 192.192.192.127

The following source IP addresses are granted or not granted access to the switch:

•A host with a source IP address of 192.192.192.21 falls within the defined range and would be allowed to access the switch.

•A host with a source IP address of 192.192.192.192 falls outside the defined range and is not granted access. To make this source IP address valid, you would need to shift the host to an IP address within the valid range specified by the mnet and mmask or modify the mnet to be 192.192.192.128 and the mmask to be 255.255.255.128. This would put the 192.192.192.192 host within the valid range allowed by the mnet and mmask (192.192.192.128-255).

RADIUS authentication and authorization

The switch supports the Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service (RADIUS) method to authenticate and authorize remote administrators for managing the switch. This method is based on a client/server model. The Remote Access Server (RAS)—the switch—is a client to the back-end database server. A remote user (the remote administrator) interacts only with the RAS, not the back-end server and database.

RADIUS authentication consists of the following components:

•A protocol with a frame format that utilizes User Datagram Protocol (UDP) over IP, based on Request For Comments (RFC) 2138 and 2866

•A centralized server that stores all the user authorization information

•A client, in this case, the switch

The switch, acting as the RADIUS client, communicates to the RADIUS server to authenticate and authorize a remote administrator using the protocol definitions specified in RFC 2138 and 2866. Transactions between the client and the RADIUS server are authenticated using a shared key that is not sent over the network. In addition, the remote administrator passwords are sent encrypted between the RADIUS client (the switch) and the back-end RADIUS server.

How RADIUS authentication works

RADIUS authentication works as follows:

1.A remote administrator connects to the switch and provides the user name and password.

2.Using Authentication/Authorization protocol, the switch sends the request to the authentication server.

3.The authentication server checks the request against the user ID database.

4.Using RADIUS protocol, the authentication server instructs the switch to grant or deny administrative access.

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