Nortel Networks 2300 manual Ieee 802.1X Extensible Authentication Protocol Types, EAP-MD5

Configuring AAA for Network Users 415

IEEE 802.1X Extensible Authentication Protocol Types

Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) is a generic point-to-point protocol that supports multiple authenti- cation mechanisms. EAP has been adopted as a standard by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). IEEE 802.1X is an encapsulated form for carrying authentication messages in a standard message exchange between a user (client) and an authenticator.

Table 28 on page 415 summarizes the EAP protocols (also called types or methods) supported by WSS Software.

Table 28: EAP Authentication Protocols for Local Processing

EAP Type	Description	Use	Considerations
EAP-MD5	Authentication algorithm	Wired authentication only1	This protocol
(EAP with Message	that uses a		provides no
Digest Algorithm 5)	challenge-response		encryption or key
	mechanism to compare		establishment.
	hashes
EAP-TLS	Protocol that provides	Wireless and wired	This protocol
(EAP with Transport	mutual authentication,	authentication.	requires X.509
Layer Security)	integrity-protected	All authentication is	public key
	encryption algorithm	processed on the WSS	certificates on both
	negotiation, and key	switch.	sides of the
	exchange. EAP-TLS		connection.
	provides encryption and data
	integrity checking for the
	connection.

PEAP-MS-

CHAP-V2

(Protected EAP with Microsoft Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol version 2)

The wireless client authenticates the server (either the WSS switch or a RADIUS server) using TLS to set up an encrypted session. Mutual authentication is performed by MS-CHAP-V2.

Wireless and wired authentication:

•The PEAP portion is processed on the WSS switch.

•The MS-CHAP-V2 portion is processed on the RADIUS server or locally, depending on the configuration.

Only the server side of the connection requires a certificate.

The client needs only a username and password.

1. EAP-MD5 does not work with Microsoft wired authentication clients.

Nortel WLAN Security Switch 2300 Series Configuration Guide