3Com WX3000 Series Operation Manual page 257

Compared with RADIUS, HWTACACS provides more reliable transmission and encryption, and
therefore is more suitable for security control.
HWTACACS and RADIUS.
Table 1-3 Differences between HWTACACS and RADIUS
HWTACACS
Adopts TCP, providing more reliable network
transmission.
Encrypts the entire message except the
HWTACACS header.
Separates authentication from authorization. For
example, you can use one TACACS server for
authentication and another TACACS server for
authorization.
Is more suitable for security control.
Supports configuration command authorization.
In a typical HWTACACS application (as shown in
device to perform some operations. As a HWTACACS client, the device sends the username and
password to the TACACS server for authentication. After passing authentication and being authorized,
the user successfully logs into the switching engine to perform operations.
Figure 1-5 Network diagram for a typical HWTACACS application
HWTACACS client
Host
Basic message exchange procedure in HWTACACS
The following text takes telnet user as an example to describe how HWTACACS implements
authentication, authorization, and accounting for a user.
exchange procedure:
Table 1-3
Adopts UDP.
Encrypts only the password field in
authentication message.
Combines authentication and authorization.
Is more suitable for accounting.
Does not support.
Figure
HWTACACS server
HWTACACS server
1-7
lists the primary differences between
RADIUS
1-5), a terminal user needs to log into the
Figure 1-6 illustrates the basic message