Interlogix NS3702-24P-4S User Manual - Manual (Page 259)

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supplicants that might be on the port.
The maximum number of supplicants that can be attached to a port can be
limited using the Port Security Limit Control functionality.
MAC-based Auth.
Unlike port-based 802.1X, MAC-based authentication is not a standard, but
merely a best-practices method adopted by the industry. In MAC-based
authentication, users are called clients, and the switch acts as the supplicant on
behalf of clients. The initial frame (any kind of frame) sent by a client is snooped
by the switch, which in turn uses the client's MAC address as both username and
password in the subsequent EAP exchange with the RADIUS server. The 6-byte
MAC address is converted to a string on the following form "xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx",
that is, a dash (-) is used as separator between the lower-cased hexadecimal
digits. The switch only supports the MD5-Challenge authentication method, so
the RADIUS server must be configured accordingly.
When authentication is complete, the RADIUS server sends a success or failure
indication, which in turn causes the switch to open up or block traffic for that
particular client, using the Port Security module. Only then will frames from the
client be forwarded on the switch. There are no EAPOL frames involved in this
authentication, and therefore, MAC-based Authentication has nothing to do with
the 802.1X standard.
The advantage of MAC-based authentication over port-based 802.1X is that
several clients can be connected to the same port (e.g. through a 3rd party
switch or a hub) and still require individual authentication, and that the clients
don't need special supplicant software to authenticate. The advantage of
MAC-based authentication over 802.1X-based authentication is that the clients
don't need special supplicant software to authenticate. The disadvantage is that
MAC addresses can be spoofed by malicious users - equipment whose MAC
address is a valid RADIUS user can be used by anyone. Also, only the
MD5-Challenge method is supported. The maximum number of clients that can
be attached to a port can be limited using the Port Security Limit Control
functionality.
 RADIUS-Assigned QoS
Enabled
When RADIUS-Assigned QoS is both globally enabled and enabled (checked)
for a given port, the switch reacts to QoS Class information carried in the
RADIUS Access-Accept packet transmitted by the RADIUS server when a