Port Authentication; Chapter 18 Port Authentication; Port Authentication Overview; Ieee 802.1X Authentication - ZyXEL Communications XS3800-28 User Manual

This chapter describes the IEEE 802.1x and MAC authentication methods.

18.1 Port Authentication Overview

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 methods for port authentication:
• IEEE 802.1x - An authentication server validates access to a port based on a username and password
provided by the user. 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.
• MAC - An authentication server validates access to a port based on the MAC address and password
of the client.
Both types of authentication use the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138,
2139) protocol to validate users. See
your RADIUS server settings.
Note: If you enable IEEE 802.1x authentication and MAC authentication on the same port, the
Switch performs IEEE 802.1x authentication first. If a user fails to authenticate via the IEEE
802.1x method, then access to the port is denied.

18.1.1 IEEE 802.1x Authentication

The following figure illustrates how a client connecting to an 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 after the client responds to its identity request. When the client provides the
login credentials, the Switch sends an authentication request to a RADIUS server. The RADIUS server
validates whether this client is allowed access to the port.

Port Authentication

Section 26.1.2 on page 280
XS3800-28 User's Guide
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H A P T E R
for more information on configuring
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