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Portal configuration
Introduction to portal
Portal authentication, as its name implies, helps control access to the Internet. Portal authentication
is also called web authentication and a website implementing portal authentication is called a
portal website.
With portal authentication, an access device redirects all users to the portal authentication page.
All users can access the free services provided on the portal website; but to access the Internet, a
user must pass portal authentication.
A user can access a known portal website and enter username and password for authentication.
This authentication mode is called active authentication. There is still another authentication mode,
forced authentication, in which the access device forces a user trying to access the Internet through
HTTP to log in to a portal website for authentication.
The portal feature provides the flexibility for Internet service providers (ISPs) to manage services. A
portal website can, for example, present advertisements and deliver community and personalized
services. In this way, broadband network providers, equipment providers, and content service
providers form an industrial ecological system.
Introduction to extended portal functions
By forcing users to implement patching and anti-virus policies, extended portal functions help users
to defend against viruses. The main extended functions are described as follows:
•
Security checking mechanism: The security checking mechanism works after the identity
authentication process to check that the required anti-virus software, virus definition updates
and OS patches are installed, and no unauthorized software is installed on the terminal of a
user.
•
Resource access limit: A user passing identity authentication can access only network
resources in the quarantined area, such as the anti-virus server and patch server. Only users
passing both identity authentication and security checking can access restricted network
resources.
Portal system components
A typical portal system consists of five basic components: authentication client, access device,
portal server, authentication/accounting server, and security policy server. See Figure 29.
