Chapter 15 Port Authentication; Introduction To Authentication; Configuring Port Authentication; Figure 15-1 Radius Server - ZyXEL Communications Dimension ES-3024 User Manual

Dimension ES-3024 Ethernet Switch
Chapter 15
Port Authentication
This chapter describes the 802.1x authentication method and RADIUS server connection setup.

15.1 Introduction to Authentication

2
IEEE 802.1x is an extended authentication protocol that allows support of RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial
In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for centralized user profile management on a network RADIUS server.
15.1.1 RADIUS
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) authentication is a popular protocol used to authenticate
users by means of an external server instead of (or in addition to) an internal device user database that is limited to
the memory capacity of the device. In essence, RADIUS authentication allows you to validate an unlimited
number of users from a central location.

Figure 15-1 RADIUS Server

15.2 Configuring Port Authentication

To enable port authentication, first activate IEEE802.1x security (both on the ES-3024 and the port(s)) then
configure the RADIUS server settings.
Click Port Authentication under Advanced Application in the navigation panel to display the screen as shown.
2
At the time of writing, Windows XP of the Microsoft operating systems supports 802.1x. See the Microsoft web site for
information on other Windows operating system support. For other operating systems, see its documentation. If your
operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client software.
Port Authentication 15-1