Nokia A032, User Manual

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142 Nokia A032 Advanced User Guide
General RADIUS operation
The primary purpose of the RADIUS server is to
authenticate a user. The basic mode of
operation is as follows:
1 A RADIUS request is made including a
username and password.
2 The password is encrypted using a secret
known by the requestor and the server (the
shared secret).
3 The Server looks up the username in its
database and then checks the password for
a match. If the match is made an “accept”
message is returned. If the match is bad a
“reject” message is returned.
Nokia-specific implementation of RADIUS
operation
The above mode of operation doesn’t quite suit
the requirements of the access point. The access
point does not want the
server to make the
decision to accept or reject the wireless client.
Indeed, at the time the RADIUS request is made
no challenge has yet been issued to the client.
The access point wants the RADIUS server to
return the value of the WEP key corresponding
to the username.
RADIUS has a provision for the server to return
a value with the accept message. We utilize that
value to store and return the WEP key for the
user.
A032-Adv.book Page 142 Monday, November 13, 2000 10:47 AM