ZyXEL Communications IES-1248-51A, User Manual

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IES-1248-51V User’s Guide
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H A P T E R
2 6
Port Authentication
This chapter describes the 802.1x authentication method and RADIUS server
connection setup.
26.1 Introduction to Authentication
IEEE 802.1x is an extended authentication protocol
2
that allows support of
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for
centralized user profile management on a network RADIUS server.
26.1.1 RADIUS
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) authentication is a popular
protocol used to authenticate users by means of an external server instead of (or
in addition to) an internal device user database that is limited to the memory
capacity of the device. In essence, RADIUS authentication allows you to validate
an unlimited number of users from a central location.
Figure 97 RADIUS Server
26.1.2 Introduction to Local User Database
By storing user profiles locally on the IES-1248-51V, your IES-1248-51V is able to
authenticate users without interacting
2. At the time of writing, Windows XP of the Microsoft operating systems supports 802.1x. See the Microsoft web
site for information on other Windows operating system support. For other operating systems, see its
documentation. If your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client
software.
Client
RADIUS
Server