HP 2600 Series User Manual

Page 108

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5-8

RADIUS Authentication and Accounting
Configuring the Switch for RADIUS Authentication

Server Dead-Time:

The period during which the switch will not send

new authentication requests to a RADIUS server that has failed to
respond to a previous request. This avoids a wait for a request to time
out on a server that is unavailable. If you want to use this feature,
select a dead-time period of 1 to 1440 minutes. (Default: 0—disabled;
range: 1 - 1440 minutes.) If your first-choice server was initially
unavailable, but then becomes available before the dead-time expires,
you can nullify the dead-time by resetting it to zero and then trying to
log on again. As an alternative, you can reboot the switch, (thus
resetting the dead-time counter to assume the server is available) and
then try to log on again.

Number of Login Attempts:

This is an

aaa authentication command.

It controls how many times in one session a RADIUS client (as well
as clients using other forms of access) can try to log in with the correct
username and password. (Default: Three times per session.)

(For RADIUS accounting features, refer to “Configuring RADIUS Accounting”
on page 5-17.)

1. Configure Authentication for the Access Methods You

Want RADIUS To Protect

This section describes how to configure the switch for RADIUS authentication
through the following access methods:

Console:

Either direct serial-port connection or modem connection.

Telnet:

Inbound Telnet must be enabled (the default).

SSH:

To employ RADIUS for SSH access, you must first configure the

switch for SSH operation. Refer to “Configuring Secure Shell (SSH)”
on page 6-1
.

Web:

Web browser interface (2600, 2600-PWR, and 2800 switches).

You can also use RADIUS for Port-Based Access authentication. Refer to
“Configuring Port-Based Access Control (802.1X)” on page 8-1.

You can configure RADIUS as the primary password authentication method
for the above access methods. You will also need to select either

local or none

as a secondary, or backup, method. Note that for console access, if you
configure

radius (or tacacs) for primary authentication, you must configure

local for the secondary method. This prevents the possibility of being com-
pletely locked out of the switch in the event that all primary access methods
fail.

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