Horizons 1500WR Wireless 4-Port Router
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ParkerVision
7.5
802.1 x Overview
The IEEE 802. lx standard outlines enhanced security methods for both the authentication of wireless
stations and encryption key management. Authentication can be done using the local user database
internal to the 1500WR Wireless Router (authenticate up to 32 users) or an external RADIUS server for
an unlimited number of users.
7.6
Introduction to RADIUS
RADIUS is based on a client-sever model that supports authentication and accounting, where Wireless
Router is the client and the server is the RADIUS server. The RADIUS server handles the following
tasks among others:
•
Authentication
- Determines the identity of the users.
•
Accounting
- Keeps track of the client’s network activity.
RADIUS user is a simple package exchange in which your 1500WR Wireless Router acts as a message
relay between the wireless station and the network RADIUS server.
Types of RADIUS Messages
The following types of RADIUS messages are exchanged between the Wireless Router and the
RADIUS server for user authentication:
•
Access-Request
- Sent by an Wireless Router requesting authentication.
•
Access-Reject
- Sent by a RADIUS server rejecting access.
•
Access-Accept
- Sent by a RADIUS server allowing access.
•
Access-Challenge
- Sent by a RADIUS server requesting more information in order to allow access.
The Wireless Router sends a proper response from the user and then sends another Access-
Request message.
The following types of RADIUS messages are exchanged between the Wireless Router and the
RADIUS server for user accounting:
•
Accounting-Request
- Sent by the Wireless Router requesting accounting.
•
Accounting-Response
- Sent by the RADIUS server to indicate that it has started or stopped
accounting.
In order to ensure network security, the Wireless Router and the RADIUS server use a shared secret
key, which is a password, they both know. The key is not sent over the network. In addition to the shared
key, password information exchanged is also encrypted to protect the wired network from unauthorized
access.
7.6.1 EAP Authentication Overview
EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is an authentication protocol that runs on top of the
IEEE802.1x transport mechanism in order to support multiple types of user authentication. By using
EAP to interact with an EAP-compatible RADIUS server, the Wireless Router helps a wireless station
and a RADIUS server perform authentication.
The type of authentication you use depends on the RADIUS server or the AP. The 1500WR
Wireless Router supports EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS and DEAP with RADIUS. Refer to the Types of EAP
Authentication appendix for descriptions on the four common types.
Your 1500WR Wireless Router supports EAP-MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5) with the local user
database and RADIUS. The following figure shows an overview of authentication when you specify a
RADIUS server on your Wireless Router.
