Cisco Catalyst 3750-X User Manual

11-21
Catalyst 3750-X and 3560-X Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-21521-01
Chapter 11 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Understanding IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
When a new host tries to connect to the critical port, that host is moved to a user-specified access VLAN,
the critical VLAN. The administrator gives limited authentication to the hosts.
When the switch tries to authenticate a hos
t connected to a critical port, the switch checks the status of
the configured RADIUS server. If a server is available, the switch can authenticate the host. However, if
all the RADIUS servers are unavailable, the switch grants network access to the host and puts the port
in the critical-authentication state, which is a special case of the authentication state.
Support on Multiple-Authentication Ports
To support inaccessible bypass on multiple-authentication (multiauth) ports, you can use the
authentication event server dead action reinitialize vlan vlan-id. When a new host tries to connect to
the critical port, that port is reinitialized and all the connected hosts are moved to the user-specified
access VLAN.
The authentication e
vent server dead action reinitialize vlan vlan-id interface configuration
command is supported on all host modes.
Authentication Results
The behavior of the inaccessible authentication bypass feature depends on the authorization state of the
port:
• If the port is unauthorized when a host connected to a critical port tries to authenticate and all servers
are unavailable, the switch puts the port in the critical-authentication state in the
RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN.
• If the port is already authorized and reauthentication occurs, the switch puts the critical port in the
critical-authentication state in the current VLAN, which might be the one previously assigned by
the RADIUS server.
• If the RADIUS server becomes unavailable during an authentication exchange, the current exchange
times out, and the switch puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state during the next
authentication attempt.
You can configure the critical port to reinitialize hosts and move them out of the critical VLAN when
the R
ADIUS server is again available. When this is configured, all critical ports in the
critical-authentication state are automatically re-authenticated. For more information, see the command
reference for this release and the “Configuring the Inaccessible Authentic
ation Bypass Feature” on page
-53.
Feature Interactions
Inaccessible authentication bypass interacts with these features:
• Guest VLAN—Inaccessible authentication bypass is compatible with guest VLAN. When a guest
VLAN is enabled on 8021.x port, the features interact as follows:
– If at least one RADIUS server is available, the switch assigns a client to a guest VLAN when
the switch does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame or when EAPOL
packets are not sent by the client.
– If all the RADIUS servers are not available and the client is connected to a critical port, the
switch authenticates the client and puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state in the
RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN.

Cisco Catalyst 3750-X Specifications

General

Switching Capacity	160 Gbps
Stacking Bandwidth	64 Gbps
Max Stacking Units	9
Layer Support	Layer 2 and Layer 3
Form Factor	Rack-mountable
DRAM	256 MB
Flash Memory	64 MB
Model	Cisco Catalyst 3750-X Series
Ports	24 or 48 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports
Uplink Interfaces	4 SFP or 2 SFP+
Features	StackWise Plus, EnergyWise
Image	IP Base or IP Services
Operating Temperature	0 to 40°C
Operating Humidity	10 to 85% noncondensing