Alteon Application Switch Operating System Application Guide
Securing Alteon
Document ID: RDWR-ALOS-V2900_AG1302
63
How RADIUS Authentication Works
Figure 1 - RADIUS Authentication Process, page 63
illustrates the RADIUS Authentication process.
In the figure, Alteon acts as the RADIUS client, and communicates to the RADIUS server to
authenticate and authorize a remote administrator using the protocol definitions specified in RFC
2138 and RFC 2866. Transactions between the client and the RADIUS server are authenticated using
a shared key that is not sent over the network. In addition, the remote administrator passwords are
sent encrypted between the RADIUS client (Alteon) and the back-end RADIUS server.
Figure 1: RADIUS Authentication Process
Configuring RADIUS Authentication in Alteon
The following is an example RADIUS authentication configuration.
1. Turn RADIUS authentication on, then configure the primary and secondary RADIUS servers. You
can configure IPv4 or IPv6 addresses for the RADIUS servers.
2. Configure the RADIUS secret.
Caution:
If you configure the RADIUS secret using any method other than a direct console
connection, the secret may be transmitted over the network as clear text.3.Optionally, you can
change the default TCP port number used to listen to RADIUS.
The well-known port for RADIUS is 1812.
>> Main# /cfg/sys/radius
>> RADIUS Server# on
Current status: OFF
New status: ON
(Select the RADIUS Server menu)
(Turn RADIUS on)
>> RADIUS Server# prisrv 10.10.1.1
(Enter the primary server IP)
Current primary RADIUS server: 0.0.0.0
New pending primary RADIUS server: 10.10.1.1
>> RADIUS Server# secsrv 10.10.1.2
(Enter the secondary server IP)
Current secondary RADIUS server: 0.0.0.0
New pending secondary RADIUS server:
10.10.1.2
>> RADIUS Server# secret
Enter new RADIUS secret: <1-32 character secret>