Chapter 25 AAA
XGS2210 Series User’s Guide
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CHAPTER 25
AAA
25.1  AAA Overview 
This chapter describes how to configure authentication, authorization and accounting settings on the 
Switch.
Authentication is the process of determining who a user is and validating access to the Switch. The 
Switch can authenticate users who try to log in based on user accounts configured on the Switch itself. 
The Switch can also use an external authentication server to authenticate a large number of users.
Authorization is the process of determining what a user is allowed to do. Different user accounts may 
have higher or lower privilege levels associated with them. For example, user A may have the right to 
create new login accounts on the Switch but user B cannot. The Switch can authorize users based on 
user accounts configured on the Switch itself or it can use an external server to authorize a large number 
of users.
Accounting is the process of recording what a user is doing. The Switch can use an external server to 
track when users log in, log out, execute commands and so on. Accounting can also record system 
related actions such as boot up and shut down times of the Switch. 
The external servers that perform authentication, authorization and accounting functions are known as 
AAA servers. The Switch supports RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service, see RADIUS and 
TACACS+ on page 251) and TACACS+ (Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus, see 
RADIUS and TACACS+ on page 251) as external authentication and authorization servers. 
Figure 190   AAA Server 
25.1.1  What You Can Do
• Use the AAA screen (Section 25.2 on page 251) to display the links to the screens where you can 
enable authentication and authorization or both of them on the Switch.
• use the RADIUS Server Setup screen (Section 25.3 on page 252) to configure your RADIUS server 
settings.
• Use the TACACS+ Server Setup screen (Section 25.4 on page 253) to configure your TACACS+ 
authentication settings.