Juniper Networks EX2500 Radius Authentication and Authorization, How Radius Authentication Works

Chapter 1: Accessing the Switch

RADIUS Authentication and Authorization

The EX2500 switch supports the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service) 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 UDP over IP (based on RFC 2138 and RFC 2866)

„A centralized server that stores all the user authorization information

„A client, in this case, the switch

The EX2500 switch—acting as the RADIUS client—communicates to the RADIUS server to authenticate and authorize a remote administrator using the protocol definitions specified in RFCs 2138 and 2866. Transactions between the client and the RADIUS server are authenticated by 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

1.The remote administrator connects to the switch and provides username and password.

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

Configuring RADIUS on the Switch

Use the following procedure to configure RADIUS authentication on your switch:

1.Configure the Primary and Secondary RADIUS servers, and enable RADIUS authentication.

ex2500(config)# radius-server primary-host 10.10.1.1 ex2500(config)# radius-server secondary-host 10.10.1.2 ex2500(config)# radius-server enable

2.Configure the RADIUS secret.

ex2500(config)# radius-serverprimary-host 10.10.1.1 key <1-32 character secret>

ex2500(config)# radius-serversecondary-host 10.10.1.2 key <1-32 character secret>

Securing Access to the Switch „ 11