ZyXEL Communications NXC Series - Chapter 25 AAA Server; Overview; What You Can Do in this Chapter; What You Need to Know

NXC Series User’s Guide
302
CHAPTER 25
AAA Server
25.1 Overview
You can use a AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) server to provide access control to your
network. The AAA server can be a Active Directory, LDAP, or RADIUS server. Use the AAA Server screens
to create and manage objects that contain settings for using AAA servers. You use AAA server objects in
configuring ext-group-user user objects and authentication method objects.
25.1.1 What You Can Do in this Chapter
• The Active Directory / LDAP screens (Section 25.2 on page 305) configure Active Directory or LDAP
server objects.
• The RADIUS screen (Section 25.3 on page 309) configures the default external RADIUS server to use for
user authentication.
25.1.2 What You Need To Know
The following terms and concepts may help as you read this chapter.
Directory Service (AD/LDAP)
LDAP/AD allows a client (the NXC) to connect to a server to retrieve information from a directory. A
network example is shown next.
Figure 177 Example: Directory Service Client and Server
The following describes the user authentication procedure via an LDAP/AD server.
1 A user logs in with a user name and password pair.
2 The NXC tries to bind (or log in) to the LDAP/AD server.
3 When the binding process is successful, the NXC checks the user information in the directory against the
user name and password pair.