Alcatel-Lucent 7750 - Figure 1: 802.1 X Architecture; Interfaces

Port Features
Page 44 7750 SR Interface Configuration Guide
802.1x Basics
Figure 1: 802.1x Architecture
The IEEE 802.1x standard defines three participants in an authentication conversation (see
Figure 1).
• The supplicant — This is the end-user device that requests access to the network.
• The authenticator — Controls access to the network. Both the supplicant and the
authenticator are referred to as Port Authentication Entities (PAEs).
• The authentication server — Performs the actual processing of the user information.
The authentication exchange is carried out between the supplicant and the authentication server,
the authenticator acts only as a bridge. The communication between the supplicant and the
authenticator is done through the Extended Authentication Protocol (EAP) over LANs (EAPOL).
On the back end, the communication between the authenticator and the authentication server is
done with the RADIUS protocol. The authenticator is thus a RADIUS client, and the
authentication server a RADIUS server.
OSSG038
Client Alcatel 7450 ESS RADIUS
Authentication
Server
Supplicant
EAPOL RADIUS
Authenticator
Authenticator
Server
7x50 SR