Security
Avaya Wireless AP-3 User’s Guide 4-97
802.1x Authentication
IEEE 802.1x is a standard that provides a means to authenticate and
authorize network devices attached to a LAN port. A port in the context of
IEEE 802.1x is a point of attachment to the LAN, either a physical
Ethernet connection or a wireless link to an Access Point. 802.1x requires
a RADIUS server and uses the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
as a standards-based authentication framework, and supports automatic
key distribution for enhanced security. The EAP-based authentication
framework can easily be upgraded to keep pace with future EAP types.
Popular EAP types include:
Type Description
EAP-Message
Digest 5 (MD5)
Username/Password-based authentication;
does not support automatic key distribution
EAP-Transport
Layer Security (TLS)
Certificate-based authentication (a
certificate is required on the server and
each client); supports automatic key
distribution