H3C Technologies H3C WX3000E Series Wireless Switches - Manual (Page 15)

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Configuring AAA
AAA overview
Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) provides a uniform framework for implementing
network access management. It provides the following security functions:
• Authentication—Identifies users and determines whether a user is valid.
• Authorization—Grants different users different rights and controls their access to resources and
services. For example, a user who has successfully logged in to the device can be granted read and
print permissions to the files on the device.
• Accounting—Records all network service usage information of users, including the service type,
start time, and traffic. The accounting function not only provides the information required for
charging, but also allows for network security surveillance.
AAA usually uses a client/server model. The client runs on the network access server (NAS), which is
also referred to as the access device. The server maintains user information centrally. In an AAA network,
a NAS is a server for users but a client for the AAA servers, as shown in Figure 1 .
Figure 1 AAA application scenario
When a user tries to log in to the NAS, use network resources, or access other networks, the NAS
authenticates the user. The NAS can transparently pass the user's authentication, authorization, and
accounting information to the servers. The RADIUS and HWTACACS protocols define how a NAS and
a remote server exchange user information between them.
In the network shown in
Figure 1 , there is a RADIUS server and an HWTACACS server. You can choose
different servers for different security functions. For example, you can use the HWTACACS server for
authentication and authorization, and the RADIUS server for accounting.
You can use AAA to provide only one or two security functions, if desired. For example, if your company
only wants employees to be authenticated before they access specific resources, you only need to
configure an authentication server. If network usage information is expected to be recorded, you also
need to configure an accounting server.
AAA can be implemented through multiple protocols. The device supports using RADIUS, HWTACACS,
and LDAP. RADIUS is often used in practice.