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Security
802.1X
The IEEE 802.1X standard authentication uses the
Radius (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service)
protocol to validate users and provide a security standard
for network access control. The user that wishes to be
authenticated is called a supplicant. The actual server
doing the authentication, typically a Radius server, is
called the authentication server. The mediating device,
such as a Switch, is called the authenticator. Clients
connected to a port on the Switch must be authenticated
by the Authentication Server (Radius) before accessing
any services offered by the Switch on the LAN. Use a
RADIUS server to authenticate users trying to access a
network by relaying Extensible Authentication Protocol
over LAN (EAPOL) packets between the Client and
Server. This establishes the requirements needed for
a protocol between the authenticator (the system that
passes an authentication request to the authentication
server) and the supplicant (the system that requests
authentication), as well as between the authenticator
and the authentication server.
