120 likes | 228 Views
RADIUS. RADIUS. Stands for “Remote Authentication Dial In User Service” Network Protocol for remote user authentication Used by ISPs, Cellular Network Providers and educational networks Three primary functions (AAA) Authenticates user or devices before allowing them access to network
E N D
RADIUS • Stands for “Remote Authentication Dial In User Service” • Network Protocol for remote user authentication • Used by ISPs, Cellular Network Providers and educational networks • Three primary functions (AAA) • Authenticates user or devices before allowing them access to network • Authorizes those users/devices for specific network services • Accounts for and tracks usage of these services
AAA – Authentication, Authorization & Accounting • Authentication: Validating the identity of a user by matching the credentials supplied by user to those found in user directory • Authorization: Determine what permissions are granted to the user, eg. specific VLAN, bandwidth limit,… • Authentication vs. Authorization example: Police road check, you can authenticate yourself with ID, but only show that you are authorized to drive a car with your drivers license • Accounting not relevant in eduroam context, as it is a free service
RADIUS – Components Supplicant Authenticator User Directory Registry
FreeRADIUS • Most widely used open source RADIUS server, but there are others • Created and maintained by Alan DeKok, a no-nonsense type • Benefits • Features usually only seen in commercial servers: EAP, Virtual Servers • Modular - Easy to enable/disable functionalities • Scalable – Thousands of requests handled by a single instance
Support • FreeRADIUS • Online Documentation • Mailing List (Don’t be put off by the tone) • eduroam • Your NRO (National Roaming Operator): NgREN • African eduroam confederation operated by AfREN (UA & WACREN) • eduroam Wiki, OT (Operations Team) and Slack channel
RADIUS – Session Process • User connects to NAS using PPP or other Data Layer link protocol • NAS send an Access-Request message to the RADIUS server, contains user credentials and additional attributes (MAC address, host name) using either PAP, CHAP or EAP protocol • RADIUS server verifies request against user directory • RADIUS server sends back Access Reject, Access Challenge, or Access Accept
RADIUS – Internal Packet Processing pre-auth