DELL N3000 User Manual

Configuring Port and System Security

When a port is enabled for Captive Portal, all the traffic coming onto the port 

from the unverified clients are dropped except for the ARP, DHCP, DNS and 

NETBIOS packets. These packets are allowed to be forwarded by the switch 

so that the unverified clients can get an IP address and are able to resolve the 

hostname or domain names. Data traffic from verified clients goes through as 

expected. If an unverified client opens a web browser and tries to connect to 

the network, the Captive Portal redirects all the HTTP/HTTPS traffic from 

the unverified clients to the authenticating server on the switch. A Captive 

Portal web page is sent back to the unverified client. If the verification mode 

for the Captive Portal associated with the port is Guest, the client can be 

verified without providing authentication information. If the verification 

mode is Local or RADIUS, the client must provide credentials that are 

compared against the information in the Local or RADIUS client database. 

After the user successfully provides the required information, the Captive 

Portal feature grants access to the network.

You can customize the following three Captive Portal pages:

• Authentication Page —This page displays when a client attempts to 

connect to the network. You can customize the images, text, and colors 

that display on this page.