18
Port Authentication
18.1 Overview
This chapter describes the IEEE 802.1x authentication method.
Port authentication is a way to validate access to ports on the Switch to clients based on an external server (authentication server). The Switch supports the following method for port authentication:
•IEEE 802.1x2 - An authentication server validates access to a port based on a username and password provided by the user.
18.1.1What You Can Do
•Use the Port Authentication screen (Section 18.2 on page 168) to check if IEEE 802.1x port authentication is activated.
•Use the 802.1x screen (Section 18.3 on page 169) to activate IEEE 802.1x security.
18.1.2What You Need to Know
IEEE 802.1x authentication uses the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) protocol to validate users. See Section on page 210 for more information on configuring your RADIUS server settings.
IEEE 802.1x Authentication
The following figure illustrates how a client connecting to a IEEE 802.1x authentication enabled port goes through a validation process. The Switch prompts the client for login information in the form of a user name and password. When the client provides the login credentials, the Switch sends an authentication
2.At the time of writing, IEEE 802.1x is not supported by all operating systems. See your operating system documentation. If your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client software.
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