Allied Telesis AlliedWare Plus Operating System Version 5.4.4C (x310-26FT,x310-26FP,x310-50FT,x310-50FP) - Manual (Page 1100)

Authentication Introduction and Configuration
Software Reference for x310 Series Switches
42.4 AlliedWare Plus TM Operating System - Version 5.4.4C C613-50046-01 REV A
Web-Authentication
What is Web-Authentication?
Web-authentication is a convenient alternative to 802.1X authentication. It’s commonly
used to authenticate users in educational institutions, where regular users’ workstations
are not managed by the network administrator. Web-authentication enables the switch to
detect an unauthenticated workstation web browsing into the network, then redirect the
user’s web browser to its own authentication web page.
Web-authentication works like this:
■ The user enters their username and password into the web page, which the switch
then sends to a RADIUS server for checking.
■ If the RADIUS server accepts the user’s credentials, the switch then allows their traffic
into the network.
The Web-authenticating switch interacts with a RADIUS server in the same way as an
802.1X authenticator. The two methods can be used together in the same network, using
the same RADIUS server.
Web-Authentication Basics
The operation of Web-authentication is explained as below:
1. The authenticating switch receives HTTP or HTTPS traffic from an unauthenticated
supplicant. It intercepts the supplicant’s web session and redirects it to its own
internal web server.
Authenticator
RADIUS Server
Network
Supplicant
Supplicant initiates a
web session to a site
the user wishes to
access
Authenticator
RADIUS Server
Network
Supplicant
Authenticator intercepts the web
session, and redirects it to its own
authentication page