802.1X Authentication Initiation; 802.1X Client As The Initiator; Access Device As The Initiator - HP FlexFabric 5700 Series Security Configuration Manual

EAP-Message
RADIUS encapsulates EAP packets in the EAP-Message attribute, as shown in
takes 79, and the Value field can be up to 253 bytes. If an EAP packet is longer than 253 bytes, RADIUS
encapsulates it in multiple EAP-Message attributes.
Figure 24 EAP-Message attribute format
Message-Authenticator
RADIUS includes the Message-Authenticator attribute in all packets that have an EAP-Message attribute
to check their integrity. The packet receiver drops the packet if the calculated packet integrity checksum
is different from the Message-Authenticator attribute value. The Message-Authenticator prevents EAP
authentication packets from being tampered with during EAP authentication.
Figure 25 Message-Authenticator attribute format

802.1X authentication initiation

Both the 802.1X client and the access device can initiate 802.1X authentication.

802.1X client as the initiator

The client sends an EAPOL-Start packet to the access device to initiate 802.1X authentication. The
destination MAC address of the packet is the IEEE 802.1X specified multicast address
01-80-C2-00-00-03 or the broadcast MAC address. If any intermediate device between the client and
the authentication server does not support the multicast address, you must use an 802.1X client that can
send broadcast EAPOL-Start packets. For example, you can use the HP iNode 802.1X client.

Access device as the initiator

The access device initiates authentication, if a client cannot send EAPOL-Start packets. One example is
the 802.1X client available with Windows XP.
The access device supports the following modes:
Multicast trigger mode—The access device multicasts Identity EAP-Request packets to initiate
•
802.1X authentication at the identity request interval.
Unicast trigger mode—Upon receiving a frame from an unknown MAC address, the access device
•
sends an Identity EAP-Request packet out of the receiving port to the MAC address. The device
retransmits the packet if no response has been received within the identity request timeout interval.
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Figure 24. The Type field