Interlogix NS3702-24P-4S User Manual - Manual (Page 248)

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Figure 4-11-1
 Client —the device (workstation) that requests access to the LAN and switch services and responds to requests from the
switch. The workstation must be running 802.1X-compliant client software such as that offered in the Microsoft Windows XP
operating system. (The client is the supplicant in the IEEE 802.1X specification.)
 Authentication server —performs the actual authentication of the client. The authentication server validates the identity of
the client and notifies the switch whether or not the client is authorized to access the LAN and switch services. Because the
switch acts as the proxy, the authentication service is transparent to the client. In this release, the Remote Authentication
Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) security system with Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) extensions is the only
supported authentication server; it is available in Cisco Secure Access Control Server version 3.0. RADIUS operates in a
client/server model in which secure authentication information is exchanged between the RADIUS server and one or more
RADIUS clients.
 Switch (802.1X device) —controls the physical access to the network based on the authentication status of the client. The
switch acts as an intermediary (proxy) between the client and the authentication server, requesting identity information from
the client, verifying that information with the authentication server, and relaying a response to the client. The switch includes
the RADIUS client, which is responsible for encapsulating and decapsulating the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP)
frames and interacting with the authentication server. When the switch receives EAPOL frames and relays them to the
authentication server, the Ethernet header is stripped and the remaining EAP frame is re-encapsulated in the RADIUS
format. The EAP frames are not modified or examined during encapsulation, and the authentication server must support
EAP within the native frame format. When the switch receives frames from the authentication server, the server's frame