Scenario 3: Centralized Authentication; How It Works - Colubris Networks CN3000 Administrator's Manual

Chapter 4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Scenarios - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chapter 4

Scenario 3: Centralized authentication

This scenario illustrates how to use GRE tunnels to move management of the public
access network to a centralized location that can be shared by multiple geographically
distributed access points.

How it works

In this scenario, the CN3000 forwards all user traffic to a remote NOC. The NOC is
responsible for managing customer logins to the public access network and granting
access to the Internet.
This scenario supports two types of customers:
• Customers who login via an HTML session: Traffic for these customers is routed
• Customer who are using 802.1x: Login for these customers is handled by the
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 81 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
through GRE tunnel 1, which is configured to handle all unauthenticated wireless
traffic. The CN3000 does no processing of this traffic.
CN3000, which terminates the 802.1x session. The CN3000 uses the services of the
RADIUS server at the NOC to validate the logins. Once authenticated, all customer
traffic is sent in GRE tunnel 2.
Private Broadband
Access Network
GRE Tunnel 1
SSID=Standard
NOC
GRE Tunnel 2
SSID=8021x