Microsens MS453522M - Manual (Page 117)

MICROSENS 8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch User’s Manual
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3-15. 802.1X Configuration
802.1X port-based network access control provides a method to restrict users to access
network resources via authenticating user’s information. This restricts users from gaining access
to the network resources through a 802.1X-enabled port without authentication. If a user
wishes to touch the network through a port under 802.1X control, he (she) must firstly input his
(her) account name for authentication and waits for gaining authorization before sending or
receiving any packets from a 802.1X-enabled port.
Before the devices or end stations can access the network resources through the ports
under 802.1X control, the devices or end stations connected to a controlled port send the
authentication request to the authenticator, the authenticator pass the request to the
authentication server to authenticate and verify, and the server tell the authenticator if the
request get the grant of authorization for the ports.
According to IEEE802.1X, there are three components implemented. They are
Authenticator, Supplicant and Authentication server shown in Fig. 3-52.
Supplicant:
It is an entity being authenticated by an authenticator. It is used to communicate with
the Authenticator PAE (Port Access Entity) by exchanging the authentication message
when the Authenticator PAE request to it.
Authenticator:
An entity facilitates the authentication of the supplicant entity. It controls the state of
the port, authorized or unauthorized, according to the result of authentication
message exchanged between it and a supplicant PAE. The authenticator may request
the supplicant to re-authenticate itself at a configured time period. Once start re-
authenticating the supplicant, the controlled port keeps in the authorized state until
re-authentication fails.
A port acting as an authenticator is thought to be two logical ports, a controlled port
and an uncontrolled port. A controlled port can only pass the packets when the
authenticator PAE is authorized, and otherwise, an uncontrolled port will
unconditionally pass the packets with PAE group MAC address, which has the value of
01-80-c2-00-00-03 and will not be forwarded by MAC bridge, at any time.
Authentication server:
A device provides authentication service, through EAP, to an authenticator by using
authentication credentials supplied by the supplicant to determine if the supplicant is
authorized to access the network resource.