Cisco 1120 Installation Manual page 19

Cisco 1120 Secure Access Control
Server Overview
This chapter gives a functional overview of the Cisco 1120 Secure Access Control Server, hereafter
referred to as CSACS 1120. This chapter covers the appliance hardware, major components, controls,
connectors, and front- and rear-panel LED indicators.
This chapter contains:
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System Description
The Cisco 1120 Secure Access Control Server (CSACS 1120) is a highly scalable, rack-mounted,
dedicated platform that serves as a high-performance access control server supporting centralized
Remote Access Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) and Terminal Access Controller Access Control System
(TACACS+). CSACS 1120 controls the authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) of users
accessing corporate resources through the network.
You use CSACS 1120 to control who can access the network, to authorize what types of network services
are available for particular users or groups of users, and to keep an accounting record of all user actions
in the network. The appliance supports access control and accounting for dial-up access servers,
firewalls and VPNs, Voice-over-IP solutions, content networking, and switched and wireless local area
networks (LANs and WLANs). In addition, you can use the same AAA framework, via TACACS+, to
manage administrative roles and groups and to control how network administrators change, access, and
configure the network internally.
CSACS 1120 provides almost the same set of features and functions as in the Cisco Secure ACS for
Windows Server (the software product) in a dedicated, security hardened, application-specific, appliance
packaging. CSACS 1120 includes additional features specific to operating and managing the
ACS appliance.
To ensure a highly secure posture, CSACS 1120:
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System Description
Product Overview
Hardware Features
Environmental Monitoring
Regulatory Compliance
Runs only the necessary services of the underlying hardened Windows operating system. (See
Appendix C, "Windows Service Advisement,"
C H A P T E R
for details on the hardening.)
Installation Guide for the Cisco 1120 Secure Access Control Server 4.2
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