ZyXEL Communications ES-2108 User Manual

Page of 224
ES-2108 Series User’s Guide
Chapter 16 Port Authentication
103
C
H A P T E R
16
Port Authentication
This chapter describes the 802.1x authentication method and RADIUS server connection 
setup. 
16.1  Overview 
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 and 
accounting management on a network RADIUS server. 
16.1.1  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 48   RADIUS Server  
16.2  Port Authentication Configuration 
To enable port authentication, first activate IEEE802.1x security (both on the switch and the 
port(s)) then configure the RADIUS server settings. 
Click Advanced ApplicationPort Authentication in the navigation panel to display the 
screen as shown. 
2.  At the time of writing, only Windows XP of the Microsoft operating systems supports it. 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.