ZyXEL Communications G-162 Ieee, 7 WPA/WPA2 with RADIUS Application Example, EAP Authentication

ZyXEL G-162/G-360 User’s Guide

Figure 2-7 WPA/WPA2 with RADIUS Application Example

2.2.4 IEEE 802.1x

The IEEE 802.1x standard outlines enhanced security methods for both the authentication of wireless stations and encryption key management. Authentication can be done using an external RADIUS server.

EAP Authentication

EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is an authentication protocol that runs on top of the IEEE802.1x transport mechanism in order to support multiple types of user authentication. By using EAP to interact with an EAP-compatible RADIUS server, an access point helps a wireless station and a RADIUS server perform authentication.

The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server and an intermediary AP(s) that supports IEEE802.1x. The ZyXEL G-162/G-360 supports EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS and EAP-PEAP.

For EAP-TLS authentication type, you must first have a wired connection to the network and obtain the certificate(s) from a certificate authority (CA). A certificate (also called digital IDs) can be used to authenticate users and a CA issues certificates and guarantees the identity of each certificate owner.

WLAN Networking 2-21