Timers Used In 802.1X - H3C S3100 Series Operation Manual

Figure 1-9 802.1x authentication procedure (in EAP terminating mode)
Supplicant
system
PAE
EAPOL-Start
EAP-Request/Identity
EAP-Response/Identity
EAP-Request/MD5 Challenge
EAP-Response/MD5 Challenge
EAP-Success
Handshake request
[EAP-Request/Identity]
Handshake response
[EAP-Response/Identity]
EAPOL-Logoff
The authentication procedure in EAP terminating mode is the same as that in the EAP relay mode
except that the randomly-generated key in the EAP terminating mode is generated by the switch, and
that it is the switch that sends the user name, the randomly-generated key, and the supplicant
system-encrypted password to the RADIUS server for further authentication.

Timers Used in 802.1x

In 802.1 x authentication, the following timers are used to ensure that the supplicant system, the switch,
and the RADIUS server interact in an orderly way.
Handshake timer (handshake-period). This timer sets the handshake-period and is triggered after
a supplicant system passes the authentication. It sets the interval for a switch to send handshake
request packets to online users. You can set the number of retries by using the dot1x retry
command. An online user will be considered offline when the switch has not received any response
packets after a certain number of handshake request transmission retries.
Quiet-period timer (quiet-period). This timer sets the quiet-period. When a supplicant system fails
to pass the authentication, the switch quiets for the set period (set by the quiet-period timer) before
it processes another authentication request re-initiated by the supplicant system. During this quiet
period, the switch does not perform any 802.1x authentication-related actions for the supplicant
system.
Re-authentication timer (reauth-period). The switch will initiate 802.1x re-authentication at the
interval set by the re-authentication timer.
RADIUS server timer (server-timeout). This timer sets the server-timeout period. After sending an
authentication request packet to the RADIUS server, the switch sends another authentication
EAPOL
Authenticator
system PAE
RADIUS Access-Request
(CHAP-Response/MD5 Challenge)
RADIUS Access-Accept
Port
authorized
Handshake timer
......
Port
unauthorized
RADIUS
RADIUS server
(CHAP-Success)
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