29 CENTRALIZED MAC ADDRESSAUTHENTICATION C ONFIGURATIONn Currently, 3C16860, 3C16861, LS81FS24A, 3C16859, and 3C16858 I/O Modulesof 3Com Switch 7750 Ethernet switches do not support the centralized MACaddress authentication.Centralized MACAddressAuthenticationOverviewCentralized MAC address authentication is port- and MAC address-basedauthentication used to control user permissions to access a network. CentralizedMAC address authentication can be performed without client-side software. Withthis type of authentication employed, a switch authenticates a user upondetecting the MAC address of the user for the first time.Centralized MAC address authentication can be implemented in the following twomodes:■ MAC address mode, where user MAC serves as both the user name and thepassword.■ Fixed mode, where user names and passwords are configured on a switch inadvance.As for Switch 7750 Ethernet switches, authentication can be performed locally orthrough a RADIUS server.1 When a RADIUS server is used for authentication, the switch serves as a RADIUSclient. Authentication is carried out through the cooperation of switches and theRADIUS server.■ In MAC address mode, a switch sends user MAC addresses detected to theRADIUS server as both user names and passwords. The rest handlingprocedures are the same as that of the common RADIUS authentication.■ In fixed mode, a switch sends the user name and password previouslyconfigured for the user to be authenticated to the RADIUS server and replacesthe calling-station-id field of the RADIUS packet with the MAC address of theuser. The rest handling procedures are the same as that of the commonRADIUS authentication.■ A user can access a network upon passing the authentication performed by theRADIUS server.2 When authentications are performed locally, users are authenticated by switches.In this case,■ For fixed mode, configure the local user names and passwords as those forfixed mode.■ The service type of a local user needs to be configured as lan-access.
