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Portal system using the local portal Web server
The access device supports the local portal Web server feature. Using this feature, the access
device also acts as the portal Web server and the portal authentication server to perform local portal
authentication on portal users. In this case, the portal system consists of only three components:
authentication client, access device, and authentication/accounting server, as shown in
Figure 39 Portal system using the local portal Web server
The authentication client cannot be an HPE iNode client. Local portal authentication only supports
authenticating Web clients.
No security policy server is needed because local portal authentication does not support extended
portal functions.
The local portal Web server feature implements only some simple portal server functions. It only
allows users to log on and log off through the Web interface. It cannot take the place of an
independent portal Web and authentication servers.
Client and local portal Web server interaction protocols
HTTP and HTTPS can be used for interaction between an authentication client and a local portal
Web server. If HTTP is used, there are potential security problems because HTTP packets are
transferred in plain text. If HTTPS is used, secure data transmission is ensured because HTTP
packets are secured by SSL.
Portal page customization
To perform local portal authentication, you must customize a set of authentication pages that the
device will push to users. You can customize multiple sets of authentication pages, compress each
set of the pages to a .zip file, and upload the compressed files to the storage medium of the device.
On the device, you must specify one of the files as the default authentication page file by using the
default-logon-page
command.
For more information about authentication page customization, see "
." For more information about the
default-logon-page
command, see
Security Command
Reference
.
Interaction between portal system components
The components of a portal system interact as follows:
1.
An unauthenticated user initiates authentication by accessing an Internet website through a
Web browser. When receiving the HTTP request, the access device redirects it to the Web
authentication page provided by the portal Web server. The user can also visit the
authentication website to log in. The user must log in through the HPE iNode client for extended
portal functions.
2.
The user enters the authentication information on the authentication page/dialog box and
submits the information. The portal Web server forwards the information to the portal
authentication server. Then the portal authentication server processes the information and
forwards it to the access device.
3.
The access device interacts with the AAA server to implement authentication, authorization,
accounting for the user.
