IEEE 802.1X Basic Setup HowTo

Introduction

This document describes a basic setup of port access control using 802.1X. For an overview of all available configuration settings for Port Access Control, refer to the configuration section in the Port Access Control Guide.

Overview

Below is the topology of the devices in this setup.

                                        |
                                      .--.-. 
              Authentication        ( (    )__
                 Server            (_,  \ ) ,_)
                .------.             '-'--`--'
                |RADIUS|                | GW 10.0.2.1
                '--+---'                |    VLAN 2
                   | 10.0.1.2           |    10.0.2.0/24
                   |                    | 10.0.2.2
                .--+------+------+------+--.
 Authenticator  |  5      6      7      8  | 
(Switch/Router) |           WeOS           | 
   10.0.1.1     |  1      2      3      4  | 
                '--+------+------+------+--'
                   X      X      X      X  <== Controlled Ports
                   |    VLAN 1              (All Blocked by
                   |    10.0.1.0/24          Authenticator)
                .--+-.
                | H1 | (Supplicant)
                '----' IP 10.0.1.43/24
                       GW 10.0.1.1

Figure 1: A basic setup of port access control using 802.1X. Ports eth1-eth4 are controlled. Here ports eth1-eth7 are on VLAN 1 and eth8 is on VLAN 2, but they could be on the same VLAN.

Configuration

First VLANs and IP addresses of the WeOS router is configured, see Figure 1 above. It is assumed that all ports are assigned (untagged) to VLAN 1 from start. For more information, see VLAN configuration.

example:/#> config
example:/config/#> vlan 2
example:/config/vlan-2/#> untagged eth8
example:/config/vlan-2/#> end
example:/config/#> iface vlan1
example:/config/iface-vlan1/#> no inet
example:/config/iface-vlan1/#> inet static 10.0.1.1/24
example:/config/iface-vlan1/inet-static-10.0.1.1/#> end
example:/config/iface-vlan1/#> end
example:/config/#> iface vlan2
example:/config/iface-vlan2/#> inet static 10.0.2.2/24
example:/config/iface-vlan2/inet-static-10.0.2.2/#> end
example:/config/iface-vlan2/#> end
example:/config/#> ip
example:/config/ip/#> route default 10.0.2.1
example:/config/ip/#> leave
example:/#> 

It is assumed that an external RADIUS server is already setup with appropriate settings for 802.1X. In this example, the RADIUS server is located at IP address 10.0.1.2, and is listening to the default UDP port (1812). In WeOS, a (RADIUS) remote server instance configured. This is done in the AAA context.

example:/config/#> aaa
example:/config/aaa/#> remote-server 1
example:/config/aaa/remote-server-1/#> description MyRADIUS
example:/config/aaa/remote-server-1/#> address 10.0.1.2
example:/config/aaa/remote-server-1/#> password TopS3cret
example:/config/aaa/remote-server-1/#> leave
example:/#> 

See Remote Server Settings for more information on how to configure a RADIUS remote server instance.

Note

For best performance, it is recommended to use IP address (rather than domain name) when defining the RADIUS server.

With an authentication server instance created, enabling 802.1X access control on ports eth1-eth4 can be done as follows.

example:/config/#> port-access
example:/config/port-access/#> port eth1..eth4
example:/config/port-access/#> description "Site A"
example:/config/port-access/#> dot1x
Authentication server not set.
example:/config/port-access/dot1x/#> authentication-server 1
example:/config/port-access/dot1x/#> leave
example:/#> 

Status

Port access status can be shown by issuing show port-access in the admin context.

example:/#> show port-access 
PORT ACCESS                                                               
Status                  : Enabled
Description             : Site A
Ports                   : eth1..eth4 
802.1X                                                                    
  Status                : Enabled
  Authentication server : 1
  Active authentication : 30
  Re-authenticate       : Disabled
MAC AUTHENTICATION                                                        
Not configured.

MAC (802.1X)        STATUS          AUTH METHOD      PORT                 
00:80:c8:3c:25:b8   authorized      RADIUS           eth1

RECENT EVENTS (AUTH.LOG)                                                  
Nov 22 14:13:29 example hostapd: Auth successful for 00:80:c8:3c:25:b8 on eth1

example:/#>