OPTICAL SYSTEMS DESIGN
DOC ID: 10118101
OSD2512 OPERATOR MANUAL
PAGE 97
When authentication is complete, the RADIUS server sends a success or failure indication,
which in turn causes the switch to open up or block traffic for that particular client, using the
Port Security module. Only then will frames from the client be forwarded on the switch. There
are no EAPOL frames involved in this authentication, and therefore, MAC-based
Authentication has nothing to do with the 802.1X standard.
The advantage of MAC-based authentication over 802.1X-based authentication is that the
clients don't need special supplicant software to authenticate. The disadvantage is that MAC
addresses can be spoofed by malicious users - equipment whose MAC address is a valid
RADIUS user can be used by anyone. Also, only the MD5-Challenge method is supported.
The maximum number of clients that can be attached to a port can be limited using the Port
Security Limit Control functionality.
RADIUS-Assigned QoS Enabled
When RADIUS-Assigned QoS is both globally enabled and enabled (checked) on a given
port, the switch reacts to QoS Class information carried in the RADIUS Access-Accept packet
transmitted by the RADIUS server when a supplicant is successfully authenticated. If present
and valid, traffic received on the supplicant's port will be classified to the given QoS Class. If
(re-)authentication fails or the RADIUS Access-Accept packet no longer carries a QoS Class
or it's invalid, or the supplicant is otherwise no longer present on the port, the port's QoS Class
is immediately reverted to the original QoS Class (which may be changed by the administrator
in the meanwhile without affecting the RADIUS-assigned).
This option is only available for single-client modes, i.e.
• Port-based 802.1X
• Single 802.1X
RADIUS attributes used in identifying a QoS Class:
The
User-Priority-Table
attribute defined in RFC4675 forms the basis for identifying
the QoS Class in an Access-Accept packet.
Only the first occurrence of the attribute in the packet will be considered, and to be valid, it
must follow this rule:
• All 8 octets in the attribute's value must be identical and consist of ASCII characters in the
range '0' - '7', which translates into the desired QoS Class in the range [0; 7].
RADIUS-Assigned VLAN Enabled
When RADIUS-Assigned VLAN is both globally enabled and enabled (checked) for a given
port, the switch reacts to VLAN ID information carried in the RADIUS Access-Accept packet
transmitted by the RADIUS server when a supplicant is successfully authenticated. If present
and valid, the port's Port VLAN ID will be changed to this VLAN ID, the port will be set to be
a member of that VLAN ID, and the port will be forced into VLAN unaware mode. Once
assigned, all traffic arriving on the port will be classified and switched on the RADIUS-
assigned VLAN ID.
If (re-)authentication fails or the RADIUS Access-Accept packet no longer carries a VLAN ID
or it's invalid, or the supplicant is otherwise no longer present on the port, the port's VLAN ID
is immediately reverted to the original VLAN ID (which may be changed by the administrator
in the meanwhile without affecting the RADIUS-assigned).
This option is only available for single-client modes, i.e.
• Port-based 802.1X
• Single 802.1X
For trouble-shooting VLAN assignments, use the "Monitor→VLANs→VLAN Membership
and VLAN Port" pages. These pages show which modules have (temporarily) overridden the
current Port VLAN configuration.
RADIUS attributes used in identifying a VLAN ID:
RFC2868 and RFC3580 form the basis for the attributes used in identifying a VLAN ID in an
Access-Accept packet. The following criteria are used:
