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Security policy server
A security policy server interacts with authentication clients and access devices for security check and
resource authorization.
The components of a portal system interact in the following procedure:
1.
When an unauthenticated user enters a website address in the browser’s address bar to access the
Internet, an HTTP request is created and sent to the access device, which redirects the HTTP request
to the portal server’s Web authentication homepage. For extended portal functions, authentication
clients must run the portal client software.
2.
On the authentication homepage/authentication dialog box, the user enters and submits the
authentication information, which the portal server then transfers to the access device.
3.
Upon receipt of the authentication information, the access device communicates with the
authentication/accounting server for authentication and accounting.
4.
After successful authentication, the access device checks whether there is a corresponding security
policy for the user. If not, it allows the user to access the Internet. Otherwise, the client
communicates with the access device and the security policy server for security check. If the client
passes security check, the security policy server authorizes the user to access the Internet
resources.
NOTE:
To implement security check, the client must be the HP iNode client.
Portal authentication supports NAT traversal whether it is initiated by a Web client or an HP iNode client.
When the portal authentication client is on a private network, but the portal server is on a public network
and the access device is enabled with NAT, network address translations performed on the access
device do not affect portal authentication. However, in such a case, HP recommends using an interface’s
public IP address as the source address of outgoing portal packets.
Portal system using the local portal server
System components
In addition to use a separate device as the portal server, a portal system can also use the local portal
server function of the access device to authenticate Web users directly. A portal system using the local
portal server does not support extended portal functions. No security policy server is needed for local
portal service. In this case, the portal system consists of only three components: authentication client,
access device, and authentication/accounting server, as shown in
Figure 37
Portal system using the local portal server
NOTE:
The local portal server function of the access device implements only some simple portal server functions.
It only allows users to log on and log off through the Web interface. It cannot take the place of an
independent portal server.
