Consolidated Platform Configuration Guide, Cisco Ios Release 15.2(4)E (Catalyst 2960-X Switches - Cisco Catalyst 2960 series Configuration Manual

Information About TACACS+
The goal of TACACS+ is to provide a method for managing multiple network access points from a single
management service. Your switch can be a network access server along with other Cisco routers and access
servers.
Figure 67: Typical TACACS+ Network Configuration
TACACS+, administered through the AAA security services, can provide these services:
• Authentication—Provides complete control of authentication through login and password dialog, challenge
and response, and messaging support.
The authentication facility can conduct a dialog with the user (for example, after a username and password
are provided, to challenge a user with several questions, such as home address, mother's maiden name,
service type, and social security number). The TACACS+ authentication service can also send messages
to user screens. For example, a message could notify users that their passwords must be changed because
of the company's password aging policy.
• Authorization—Provides fine-grained control over user capabilities for the duration of the user's session,
including but not limited to setting autocommands, access control, session duration, or protocol support.
You can also enforce restrictions on what commands a user can execute with the TACACS+ authorization
feature.
• Accounting—Collects and sends information used for billing, auditing, and reporting to the TACACS+
daemon. Network managers can use the accounting facility to track user activity for a security audit or
to provide information for user billing. Accounting records include user identities, start and stop times,
executed commands (such as PPP), number of packets, and number of bytes.

Consolidated Platform Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS Release 15.2(4)E (Catalyst 2960-X Switches)

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