ZyXEL Communications XS1920 Series, User Manual

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XS1920 Series User’s Guide
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H A P T E R
1 8
Port Authentication
18.1 Port Authentication Overview
This chapter describes the IEEE 802.1x authentication method. Port authentication is a way to
validate access to ports on the Switch to clients based on an external server (authentication
server). The Switch supports the following methods for port authentication:
• IEEE 802.1x
1
- An authentication server validates access to a port based on a username and
password provided by the user.
• MAC - An authentication server validates access to a port based on the MAC address and
password of the client.
Both types of authentication use the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC
2138, 2139) protocol to validate users.
If you enable IEEE 802.1x authentication and MAC authentication on the same port, the Switch
performs IEEE 802.1x authentication first. If a user fails to authenticate via the IEEE 802.1x
method, then access to the port is denied.
18.1.1 What You Need to Know
IEEE 802.1x authentication uses the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC
2138, 2139) protocol to validate users. See
RADIUS and for more information on
configuring your RADIUS server settings.
IEEE 802.1x Authentication
The following figure illustrates how a client connecting to a IEEE 802.1x authentication enabled port
goes through a validation process. The Switch prompts the client for login information in the form of
a user name and password. When the client provides the login credentials, the Switch sends an
authentication request to a RADIUS server. The RADIUS server validates whether this client is
allowed access to the port.
1. At the time of writing, IEEE 802.1x is not supported by all operating systems. See your operating system documentation. If
your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client software.