ZyXEL Communications IES-612-51A Modem User Manual


 
IES-612-51A User’s Guide
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CHAPTER 23
Port Authentication
This chapter describes the 802.1x authentication method and RADIUS server connection
setup.
23.1 Introduction to Authentication
IEEE 802.1x is an extended authentication protocol
2
that allows support of RADIUS (Remote
Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) for centralized user profile
management on a network RADIUS server.
23.1.1 RADIUS
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) authentication is a popular protocol
used to authenticate users by means of an external server instead of (or in addition to) an
internal device user database that is limited to the memory capacity of the device. In essence,
RADIUS authentication allows you to validate an unlimited number of users from a central
location.
Figure 85 RADIUS Server
23.1.2 Introduction to Local User Database
By storing user profiles locally on the IES-612-51A, your IES-612-51A is able to authenticate
users without interacting
2. At the time of writing, Windows XP of the Microsoft operating systems supports 802.1x. See the Microsoft web
site for information on other Windows operating system support. For other operating systems, see its
documentation. If your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client
software.