15

Port Authentication

This chapter describes the 802.1x authentication method and RADIUS server connection setup.

15.1 Port Authentication Overview

IEEE 802.1x is an extended authentication protocol2 that allows support of RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for centralized user profile and accounting management on a network RADIUS server.

15.1.1 RADIUS

RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) authentication is a popular protocol used to authenticate users by means of an external server instead of (or in addition to) an internal device user database that is limited to the memory capacity of the device. In essence, RADIUS authentication allows you to validate an unlimited number of users from a central location.

Figure 44 RADIUS Server

15.2 Configure Port Authentication

To enable port authentication, first activate IEEE802.1x security (both on the switch and the port(s)) then configure the RADIUS server settings.

Click Advanced Application > Port Authentication in the navigation panel to display the screen as shown.

2.At the time of writing, only Windows XP of the Microsoft operating systems supports it. See the Microsoft web site for information on other Windows operating system support. For other operating systems, see its documentation. If your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client software.

 

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VES-1616F-3x Series User’s Guide