ZyXEL MES-3528 User Guide - Page 157

CHAPTER 18 Port Authentication This chapter describes the IEEE 802.1x authentication method. 18.1 Port Authentication Overview Port authentication is a way to validate access to ports on the Switch to clients based on an external server (authentication server). The Switch supports the following method for port authentication: • IEEE 802.1x2 - An authentication server validates access to a port based on a username and password provided by the user. IEEE 802.1x authentication uses the RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service, RFC 2138, 2139) protocol to validate users. See Section 24.1.2 on page 198 for more information on configuring your RADIUS server settings. 18.1.1 IEEE 802.1x Authentication The following figure illustrates how a client connecting to a IEEE 802.1x authentication enabled port goes through a validation process. The Switch prompts the client for login information in the form of a user name and password. When the client provides the login credentials, the Switch sends an authentication 2. At the time of writing, IEEE 802.1x is not supported by all operating systems. See your operating system documentation. If your operating system does not support 802.1x, then you may need to install 802.1x client software. MES-3528 User's Guide 157