Allied Telesis AlliedWare Plus Operating System Version 5.4.4C (x310-26FT,x310-26FP,x310-50FT,x310-50FP) - Manual (Page 1061)

802.1X Introduction and Configuration
Software Reference for x310 Series Switches
C613-50046-01 REV A AlliedWare Plus TM Operating System - Version 5.4.4C 40.3
802.1X component protocols
There are two protocols involved in the authentication conversation:
■ EAPoL exchanged between the supplicant and authenticator.
« EAPoL—Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN— is the protocol defined in
IEEE802.1X.
■ RADIUS exchanged between the authenticator and authentication server.
« RADIUS has received specific extensions to interoperate with EAPoL.
The diagram below illustrates where EAPoL and RADIUS protocols are used in the
authentication conversation:
Switch
RADIUS
Server
Supplicants
Authenticator
Authentication Server
RADIUS
EAPoL