231
Parameter
Description
Mode
: Indicates if the NAS is globally enabled or disabled on the switch. If the NAS
is globally disabled, all ports are allowed to forward frames.
Reauthentication Enabled:
If checked, successfully authenticated supplicants/clients
are reauthenticated after the interval specified by the reauthentication period.
Reauthentication for 802.1X-enabled ports can be used to detect if a new device is
plugged into a switch port or if a supplicant is no longer attached.
For MAC-based ports, reauthentication is only useful if the RADIUS server
configuration has changed. If it does not involve communication between the switch
and the client, therefore it doesn't imply that a client is still present on a port (see
Aging Period below).
Reauthentication Period:
Determines the period, in seconds, after which a
connected client must be reauthenticated. This is only active if “Reauthentication
Enabled” is checked. The valid values are in the range 1 to 3600 seconds.
EAPOL Timeout:
Determines the time for retransmission of request identity EAPOL
frames. The valid values are in the range 1 to 255 seconds. This has no effect for
MAC-based ports.
Aging Period:
This setting applies to the following modes (e.g. modes using the port
security functionality to secure MAC addresses):
Single 802.1X
Multi 802.1X
MAC-Based Auth.
When the NAS module uses the port security module to secure the MAC addresses,
the port security module needs to check for activity on the MAC address in question
at regular intervals and free resources if no activity is seen within a given period of
time. This parameter controls exactly this period and can be set to a number
between 10 and 1000000 seconds.
If the reauthentication is enabled and the port is in an 802.1X-based mode, this is
not so critical since the supplicants that are no longer attached to the port will get
removed upon the next reauthentication, which will fail. But if reauthentication is
not enabled, the only way to free resources is by aging the entries.
For ports in MAC-based Auth. mode, reauthentication doesn't cause direct
communication between the switch and the client, so this will not detect whether
the client is still attached or not, and the only way to free any resources is to age the
entry.
Hold Time:
This setting applies to the following modes (e.g. modes using the Port
Security functionality to secure MAC addresses):
Single 802.1X
Multi 802.1X
MAC-Based Auth.
If a client is denied access - either because the RADIUS server denies the client
access or because the RADIUS server request times out (according to the timeout
specified on the "Configuration→Security→AAA" page) - the client is put on hold in
the unauthorized state. The hold timer does not count during an on-going
authentication.
In MAC-based Auth. mode, the switch will ignore new frames coming from the client
during the hold time.
