Portal; Portal Overview - 3Com 8807 Configuration Manual

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Portal Overview

Introduction
Portal Structure
P C
ORTAL ONFIGURATION
Portal is also known as portal website, and Portal authentication is also known as
the Web authentication. Its major advantages are:
Users need not install any client software;
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It is powerful in its ability to support new services. With the help of Portal
■
authentication, the operators can provide services such as information query,
online shopping based on Portal.
The principle of Portal is: Unauthenticated users can access only specified website
servers, and any other access is redirected to the Portal server unconditionally.
Users can access the Internet only after they are successfully authenticated.
The basic network diagram of Portal is shown in Figure 65. It is composed of four
elements: authentication client, access device, Portal server, and
authentication/accounting server.
Figure 65 Portal structure
Authentication client Authentication server Authentication server Authentication client
Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client
Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client Authentication client
Authentication client is the Internet Web Browser where the HTTP/HTTPS
■
protocols run. All the HTTP requests are submitted to the Portal server before
the user passes the authentication.
Access device unconditionally forces the HTTP requests of authentication client
■
to the Portal server before the user passes the authentication. The access
device interacts with the authentication/accounting server to implement the
authentication and accounting function. Access devices refer to 3Com Switch
8800 Family series switches in this book.
Access devices Access devices Access devices Access devices Access devices Access devices Access devices
Authentication/Accounting server Authentication/Accounting server Authentication/Accounting server Authentication/Accounting server
Portal server Portal server Portal server Portal server Portal server Portal server Portal server