Nortel Networks 2300 manual Configuring Communication with Radius

478Configuring Communication with RADIUS

Figure 20. Wireless Client, AP access port, WSS Switch, and RADIUS Servers

Client (with PDA)

3

2

1

Client (with laptop)

Wired connection(s)

Wireless connection

AP 1 AP 2

WSS
with local
database	4

Client (with laptop)

RADIUS Server 1
RADIUS Server 2	-9502-0021
	840

In the example shown in Figure 20, the following events occur:

1The wireless user (client) requests an IEEE 802.11 association from the AP access port.

2After the AP access point creates the association, the WSS switch sends an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) identity request to the client.

3The client sends an EAP identity response.

4From the EAP response, the WSS switch gets the client’s username. The WSS switch then searches its AAA configuration, attempting to match the client's username against the user wildcards in the AAA configuration.

When a match is found, the methods specified by the matching AAA command in the WSS configuration file indicate how the client is to be authenticated, either locally on the WSS switch, or through a RADIUS server group.

5If the client does not support 802.1X, WSS Software attempts to perform MAC authentication for the client instead. In this case, if the switch’s configuration contains a set authentication mac command that matches the client’s MAC address, WSS Software uses the method specified by the command. Otherwise, WSS Software uses local MAC authentication by default.

(For information about MAC client authentication, see “Configuring MAC Authentication and Authorization” on page 427.)

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