9
Configuring Port-Based and
User-Based Access Control (802.1X)
Contents
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
Why Use Port-Based or User-Based Access Control? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
General Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
User Authentication Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5
802.1X User-Based Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5
802.1X Port-Based Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
Alternative To Using a RADIUS Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-7
General 802.1X Authenticator Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10
Example of the Authentication Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-10
VLAN Membership Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11
General Operating Rules and Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-13
General Setup Procedure for 802.1X Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . 9-15
Do These Steps Before You Configure 802.1X Operation . . . . . . . . . 9-15
Overview: Configuring 802.1X Authentication on the Switch . . . . . . 9-18
Configuring Switch Ports as 802.1X Authenticators . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-19
1. Enable 802.1X Authentication on Selected Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
A. Enable the Selected Ports as Authenticators and Enable
the (Default) Port-Based Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
B. Specify User-Based Authentication or Return to Port-Based
Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-21
Example: Configuring User-Based 802.1X Authentication . . . . . 9-22
Example: Configuring Port-Based 802.1X Authentication . . . . . 9-22
2. Reconfigure Settings for Port-Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-22
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