3com 4210 User Manual

MAC authentication provides a way for authenticating users based on ports and 
MAC addresses, without requiring any client software to be installed on the hosts. 
Once detecting a new MAC address, a switch with MAC authentication 
configured will initiate the authentication process. During authentication, the user 
does not need to enter any username and password manually.

MAC authentication can be implemented locally or by a RADIUS server.

After determining the authentication mode, you can select one of the following 
username types as required:

■

MAC address, where the MAC address of a user serves as the username for 
authentication (you can use the mac-authentication authmode 
usernameasmacaddress usernameformat command to set the MAC 
address format).

■

Fixed username, where the same username and password preconfigured on 
the switch are used to authenticate all users. In addition, the number of 
concurrent users is limited with this username type. This username type is not 
recommended.

Figure 48   Network diagram for configuring local MAC authentication

 

As illustrated in Figure 48, a supplicant is connected to the switch through port 
Ethernet 1/0/2.

■

MAC authentication is required on port Ethernet 1/0/2 to control user access to 
the Internet.

■

All users belong to domain aabbcc.net. The authentication is performed 
locally and the MAC address of the PC (00-0d-88-f6-44-c1) is used as both the 
username and password.

IP network

Host
MAC: 00-0d-88-f6-44-c1 

Switch

Eth1/0/2

Switch 5500

Release V03.02.04 

All versions 

Switch 5500G

Release V03.02.04 

All versions 

Switch 4500

Release V03.03.00 

All versions