Catalyst 6500 Release 12.2SX Software Configuration Guide

Understanding 802.1X Device Roles

With 802.1X port-based authentication, the devices in the network have specific roles as shown in Figure 60-1.

Figure 60-1 802.1X Device Roles

The specific roles shown in Figure 60-1 are as follows:

• 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.)

Note To resolve Windows XP network connectivity and 802.1X port-based authentication issues, read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at this URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q303597/

• 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. 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 (ACS), version 3.0. RADIUS uses a client-server model in which secure authentication information is exchanged between the RADIUS server and one or more RADIUS clients.
• Switch (also called the authenticator and back-end authenticator)—With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, 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 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 reencapsulated 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 header is removed, leaving the EAP frame, which is then encapsulated for Ethernet and sent to the client.

Understanding the Port-based Authentication Process

When 802.1X port-based authentication is enabled, these events occur:

• If the client supports 802.1X-compliant client software and the client’s identity is valid, the 802.1X authentication succeeds and the switch grants the client access to the network.
• If 802.1X authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL message exchange, the switch can use a fallback authentication method, such as MAC authentication bypass (MAB) or web-based authentication (webauth), if either or both are enabled:

– If MAC authentication bypass is enabled, the switch relays the client’s MAC address to the AAA server for authorization. If the client’s MAC address is valid, the authorization succeeds and the switch grants the client access to the network.

– If web-based authentication is enabled, the switch sends an HTTP login page to the client. The switch relays the client’s username and password to the AAA server for authorization. If the login succeeds, the switch grants the client access to the network.

Note The default order for authentication methods is 802.1X, and then MAB, then web-based authentication. You can change the order, and you can disable any of these methods.

• If fallback authentication methods are not enabled or are not successful, and if a guest VLAN is configured, the switch assigns the client to a guest VLAN that provides limited services.
• If the switch receives an invalid identity from an 802.1X-capable client and a restricted VLAN is specified, the switch can assign the client to a restricted VLAN that provides limited services.
• If the RADIUS authentication server is unavailable (down) and inaccessible authentication bypass is enabled, the switch grants the client access to the network by putting the port in the critical-authentication state in the user-specified critical VLAN. Release 12.2(33)SXJ1 and later releases support configuration of critical voice and data VLANs.

Note Inaccessible authentication bypass is also referred to as critical authentication or the AAA fail policy.

Figure 60-2 shows the authentication process.

Figure 60-2 Authentication Flowchart

The switch reauthenticates a client when one of these situations occurs:

• Periodic reauthentication is enabled, and the reauthentication timer expires.

You can configure the reauthentication timer to use a switch-specific value or to be based on values from the RADIUS server.

After 802.1X authentication using a RADIUS server is configured, the switch uses timers based on the Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) and the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute [29]).

The Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) specifies the time after which reauthentication occurs.

The Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute [29]) specifies the action to take during reauthentication. The actions are Initialize and ReAuthenticate. When the Initialize action is set (the attribute value is DEFAULT), the 802.1X session ends, and connectivity is lost during reauthentication. When the ReAuthenticate action is set (the attribute value is RADIUS-Request), the session is not affected during reauthentication.

• You manually reauthenticate the client by entering the dot1x re-authenticate interface type slot/port privileged EXEC command (Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and earlier releases).

Authentication Initiation and Message Exchange

The switch or the client can initiate authentication. If you enable authentication on a port by using the dot1x pae authenticator and authentication port-control auto interface configuration commands (dot1x port-control auto command in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and earlier releases), the switch must initiate authentication when it determines that the port link state transitions from down to up. The switch then sends an EAP-request/identity frame to the client to request its identity (typically, the switch sends an initial identity/request frame followed by one or more requests for authentication information). When the client receives the frame, it responds with an EAP-response/identity frame.

If the client does not receive an EAP-request/identity frame from the switch during bootup, the client can initiate authentication by sending an EAPOL-start frame, which prompts the switch to request the client’s identity.

Note If 802.1X is not enabled or supported on the network access device, any EAPOL frames from the client are dropped. If the client does not receive an EAP-request/identity frame after three attempts to start authentication, the client transmits frames as if the port is in the authorized state. A port in the authorized state effectively means that the client has been successfully authenticated. For more information, see the “Ports in Authorized and Unauthorized States” section.

When the client supplies its identity, the switch begins its role as the intermediary, passing EAP frames between the client and the authentication server until authentication succeeds or fails. If the authentication succeeds, the port becomes authorized. If the authentication fails, authentication can be retried, the port might be assigned to a VLAN that provides limited services, or network access is not granted. For more information, see the “Ports in Authorized and Unauthorized States” section.

The specific exchange of EAP frames depends on the authentication method being used. Figure 60-3 shows a message exchange initiated by the client using the One-Time-Password (OTP) authentication method with a RADIUS server.

Figure 60-3 Message Exchange

If 802.1X authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL message exchange, and MAC authentication bypass is enabled, the switch can authorize the client when the switch detects an Ethernet packet from the client. The switch uses the MAC address of the client as its identity and includes this information in the RADIUS-access/request frame that is sent to the RADIUS server. After the server sends the switch the RADIUS-access/accept frame (authorization is successful), the port becomes authorized. If MAB authorization fails and a guest VLAN is specified, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN. If the switch detects an EAPOL packet while waiting for an Ethernet packet, the switch stops the MAC authentication bypass process and starts 802.1X authentication.

Figure 60-4 shows the message exchange during MAC authentication bypass.

Figure 60-4 Message Exchange During MAC Authentication Bypass

Ports in Authorized and Unauthorized States

The switch port state determines whether or not the client is granted access to the network. The port starts in the unauthorized state. While in this state, the port disallows all ingress and egress traffic except for 802.1X protocol packets. When a client is successfully authenticated, the port transitions to the authorized state, allowing all traffic for the client to flow normally.

If a client that does not support 802.1X authentication connects to an unauthorized 802.1X port, the switch requests the client’s identity. In this situation, the client does not respond to the request, the port remains in the unauthorized state, and the client is not granted access to the network.

In contrast, when an 802.1X-enabled client connects to a port that is not running the 802.1X protocol, the client initiates the authentication process by sending the EAPOL-start frame. When no response is received, the client sends the request for a fixed number of times. Because no response is received, the client begins sending frames as if the port is in the authorized state.

You control the port authorization state by using the authentication port-control interface configuration command (dot1x port-control auto command in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and earlier releases) and these keywords:

• force-authorized —Disables 802.1X port-based authentication and causes the port to transition to the authorized state without any authentication exchange required. The port transmits and receives normal traffic without 802.1X-based authentication of the client. This is the default setting.
• force-unauthorized —Causes the port to remain in the unauthorized state, ignoring all attempts by the client to authenticate. The switch cannot provide authentication services to the client through the interface.
• auto —Enables 802.1X port-based authentication and causes the port to begin in the unauthorized state, allowing only EAPOL frames to be sent and received through the port. The authentication process begins when the link state of the port transitions from down to up or when an EAPOL-start frame is received. The switch requests the identity of the client and begins relaying authentication messages between the client and the authentication server. Each client attempting to access the network is uniquely identified by the switch by using the client’s MAC address.

If the client is successfully authenticated (receives an Accept frame from the authentication server), the port state changes to authorized, and all frames from the authenticated client are allowed through the port. If the authentication fails, the port remains in the unauthorized state, but authentication can be retried. If the authentication server cannot be reached, the switch can retransmit the request. If no response is received from the server after the specified number of attempts, authentication fails, and network access is not granted.

When a client logs off, it sends an EAPOL-logoff message, causing the switch port to transition to the unauthorized state.

If the link state of a port transitions from up to down, or if an EAPOL-logoff frame is received, the port returns to the unauthorized state.

802.1X Host Modes

The 802.1X port’s host mode determines whether more than one client can be authenticated on the port and how authentication will be enforced. You can configure an 802.1X port to use any of the four host modes described in the following sections. In addition, each mode may be modified to allow pre-authentication open access.

• Single-Host Mode
• Multiple-Hosts Mode
• Multidomain Authentication Mode
• Multiauthentication Mode
• Pre-Authentication Open Access

Single-Host Mode

In single-host mode (see Figure 60-1), only one client can be connected to the 802.1X-enabled port. The switch detects the client by sending an EAPOL frame when the port link state changes to the up state. If a client leaves or is replaced with another client, the switch changes the port link state to down, and the port returns to the unauthorized state.

Multiple-Hosts Mode

In multiple-hosts mode, you can attach multiple hosts to a single 802.1X-enabled port. Figure 60-5 shows 802.1X port-based authentication in a wireless LAN. In this mode, only one of the attached clients must be authorized for all clients to be granted network access. If the port becomes unauthorized (reauthentication fails or an EAPOL-logoff message is received), the switch denies network access to all of the attached clients. In this topology, the wireless access point is responsible for authenticating the clients attached to it, and it also acts as a client to the switch.

With the multiple-hosts mode enabled, you can use 802.1X authentication to authenticate the port and you can use port security to manage network access for all MAC addresses, including the client’s MAC address.

Figure 60-5 Multiple Host Mode Example

Multidomain Authentication Mode

Supported in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, multidomain authentication (MDA) mode allows an IP phone (Cisco or third-party) and a single host behind the IP phone to authenticate independently, using 802.1X, MAC authentication bypass (MAB), or (for the host only) web-based authentication. In this application, multidomain refers to two domains, data and voice, and only two MAC addresses are allowed per port. The switch can place the host in the data VLAN and the IP phone in the voice VLAN, though they appear on the same switch port. The data VLAN assignment can be obtained from the vendor-specific attributes (VSAs) received from the authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server during authentication.

Figure 60-6 shows a typical MDA application with a single host behind an IP phone connected to the 802.1X-enabled port. Because the client is not directly connected to the switch, the switch cannot detect a loss of port link if the client is disconnected. To prevent the possibility of another device using the established authentication of the disconnected client, later Cisco IP phones send a Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) host presence type length value (TLV) to notify the switch of changes in the attached client’s port link state.

Figure 60-6 Multidomain Authentication Mode Example

Multiauthentication Mode

Available in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, multiauthentication (multiauth) mode allows one 802.1X/MAB client on the voice VLAN and multiple authenticated 802.1X/MAB/webauth clients on the data VLAN. When a hub or access point is connected to an 802.1X port (as shown in Figure 60-5), multiauth mode provides enhanced security over the multiple-hosts mode by requiring authentication of each connected client. For non-802.1X devices, MAB or web-based authentication can be used as the fallback method for individual host authentications, which allows different hosts to be authenticated through different methods on a single port.

Multiauth also supports MDA functionality on the voice VLAN by assigning authenticated devices to either a data or voice VLAN depending on the data that the VSAs received from the authentication server.

Release 12.2(33)SXJ and later releases support the assignment of a RADIUS server-supplied VLAN in multiauth mode, by using the existing commands and when these conditions occur:

• The host is the first host authorized on the port, and the RADIUS server supplies VLAN information.
• Subsequent hosts are authorized with a VLAN that matches the operational VLAN.
• A host is authorized on the port with no VLAN assignment, and subsequent hosts either have no VLAN assignment, or their VLAN information matches the operational VLAN.
• The first host authorized on the port has a group VLAN assignment, and subsequent hosts either have no VLAN assignment, or their group VLAN matches the group VLAN on the port. Subsequent hosts must use the same VLAN from the VLAN group as the first host. If a VLAN list is used, all hosts are subject to the conditions specified in the VLAN list.
• After a VLAN is assigned to a host on the port, subsequent hosts must have matching VLAN information or be denied access to the port.
• The behavior of the critical-auth VLAN is not changed for multiauth mode. When a host tries to authenticate and the server is not reachable, all authorized hosts are reinitialized in the configured VLAN.

Note ● Only one voice VLAN is supported on a multiauth port.

• You cannot configure a guest VLAN or an auth-fail VLAN in multiauth mode.

Pre-Authentication Open Access

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, any of the four host modes may be additionally configured to allow a device to gain network access before authentication. This pre-authentication open access is useful in an application such as the Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE), where a device must access the network to download a bootable image containing an authentication client.

Pre-authentication open access is enabled by entering the authentication open command after host mode configuration, and acts as an extension to the configured host mode. For example, if pre-authentication open access is enabled with single-host mode, then the port will allow only one MAC address. When pre-authentication open access is enabled, initial traffic on the port is restricted only by whatever other access restriction, independent of 802.1X, is configured on the port. If no access restriction other than 802.1X is configured on the port, then a client device will have full access on the configured VLAN.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with DHCP Snooping

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, when the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) snooping option-82 with data insertion feature is enabled, the switch can insert a client’s 802.1X authenticated user identity information into the DHCP discovery process, allowing the DHCP server to assign IP addresses from different IP address pools to different classes of end users. This feature allows you to secure the IP addresses given to the end users for accounting purposes and to allow services based on Layer 3 criteria.

After a successful 802.1X authentication between a supplicant and the RADIUS server, the switch puts the port in the forwarding state and stores the attributes that it receives from the RADIUS server. While performing DHCP snooping, the switch acts as a DHCP relay agent, receiving DHCP messages and regenerating those messages for transmission on another interface. When a client, after 802.1X authentication, sends a DHCP discovery message, the switch receives the packet. The switch adds to the packet a RADIUS attributes suboption section containing the stored RADIUS attributes of the client. The switch then submits the discovery broadcast again. The DHCP server receives the modified DHCP discovery packet and can, if configured to do so, use the authenticated user identity information when creating the IP address lease. The mapping of user-to-IP address can be on a one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many basis. The one-to-many mapping allows the same user to authenticate through the 802.1X hosts on multiple ports.

The switch will automatically insert the authenticated user identity information when 802.1X authentication and DHCP snooping option-82 with data insertion features are enabled. To configure DHCP snooping option-82 with data insertion, see the “DHCP Snooping Option-82 Data Insertion” section.

For information about the data inserted in the RADIUS attributes suboption, see RFC 4014, “Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) Attributes Suboption for the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Relay Agent Information Option.”

Understanding 802.1X Accounting

The IEEE 802.1X standard defines how users are authorized and authenticated for network access but does not keep track of network usage. IEEE 802.1X accounting is disabled by default. With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can enable 802.1X accounting to monitor the following activities on 802.1X-enabled ports:

• User successfully authenticates.
• User logs off.
• Link-down occurs.
• Reauthentication successfully occurs.
• Reauthentication fails.

The switch does not log IEEE 802.1X accounting information. Instead, it sends this information to the RADIUS server, which must be configured to log accounting messages.

The information sent to the RADIUS server is represented in the form of 802.1X Accounting Attribute-Value (AV) pairs. These AV pairs provide data for different applications. (For example, a billing application might require information that is in the Acct-Input-Octets or the Acct-Output-Octets attributes of a RADIUS packet.)

AV pairs are automatically sent by a switch that is configured for 802.1X accounting. Three types of RADIUS accounting packets are sent by a switch:

• START–Sent when a new user session starts.
• INTERIM–Sent during an existing session for updates.
• STOP–Sent when a session terminates.

Table 60-1 lists the AV pairs and indicates when they are sent are sent by the switch.

You can view the AV pairs that are being sent by the switch by entering the debug radius accounting privileged EXEC command. For more information about this command, see the Cisco IOS Debug Command Reference, Release 12.2 at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/debug/command/reference/122debug.html

For more information about AV pairs, see RFC 3580, “IEEE 802.1X Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) Usage Guidelines.”

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with VLAN Assignment

After successful 802.1X authentication of a port, the RADIUS server sends the VLAN assignment to configure the port. The RADIUS server database maintains the username-to-VLAN mappings, assigning the VLAN based on the username of the client connected to the port. You can use this feature to limit network access for certain users.

When configured on the switch and the RADIUS server, 802.1X authentication with VLAN assignment has these characteristics:

• If 802.1X authentication is enabled on a port, and if all information from the RADIUS server is valid, the port is placed in the RADIUS server-assigned VLAN after authentication.
• If the multiple-hosts mode is enabled on an 802.1X port, all hosts on the port are placed in the same RADIUS server-assigned VLAN as the first authenticated host.
• If the multiauth mode is enabled on an 802.1X port, the VLAN assignment will be ignored.
• If no VLAN number is supplied by the RADIUS server, the port is configured in its access VLAN after successful authentication. An access VLAN is a VLAN assigned to an access port. All packets sent from or received on this port belong to this VLAN.
• If 802.1X authentication is enabled but the VLAN information from the RADIUS server is not valid, the port returns to the unauthorized state and remains in the configured access VLAN. This prevents ports from appearing unexpectedly in an inappropriate VLAN because of a configuration error.

Configuration errors could include specifying a VLAN for a routed port, a malformed VLAN ID, a nonexistent or internal (routed port) VLAN ID, or an attempted assignment to a voice VLAN ID.

• If 802.1X authentication is disabled on the port, the port is returned to the configured access VLAN.

When the port is in the force-authorized, force-unauthorized, unauthorized, or shutdown state, the port is put into the configured access VLAN.

If an 802.1X port is authenticated and put in the RADIUS server-assigned VLAN, any change to the port access VLAN configuration does not take effect.

The 802.1X authentication with VLAN assignment feature is not supported on trunk ports, dynamic ports, or with dynamic-access port assignment through a VLAN Membership Policy Server (VMPS).

To configure VLAN assignment, perform this task:

Step 1 Enable AAA authorization by using the network keyword to allow interface configuration from the RADIUS server.

Step 2 Enable 802.1X authentication.

Step 3 The VLAN assignment feature is automatically enabled when you configure 802.1X authentication on an access port.

Step 4 Assign vendor-specific tunnel attributes in the RADIUS server. The RADIUS server must return these attributes to the switch:

• [64] Tunnel-Type = VLAN
• [65] Tunnel-Medium-Type = 802
• [81] Tunnel-Private-Group-ID = VLAN name or VLAN ID

Attribute [64] must contain the value VLAN (type 13). Attribute [65] must contain the value 802 (type 6). Attribute [81] specifies the VLAN name or VLAN ID assigned to the 802.1X-authenticated user.

Understanding Multiple VLANs and VLAN User Distribution with VLAN Assignment

In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI1 and later releases, the RADIUS-supplied VLAN assignment can provide load balancing by distributing 802.1X-authenticated users among multiple VLANs.

In earlier releases, the RADIUS server can supply a single VLAN name or ID for the assignment of an authenticating user. In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI1 and later releases, the RADIUS server can supply multiple VLAN names and IDs or the name of a VLAN group that contains multiple VLANs. Use either of the following two methods to load balance the users between the different VLANs:

• Configure the RADIUS server to send more than one VLAN ID or VLAN name as part of the response to the authenticating user. The 802.1X VLAN user group feature tracks the users in a particular VLAN and achieves load balancing by placing newly authenticated users in the least populated VLAN of the RADIUS-supplied VLAN IDs.

Perform the steps shown in the “Understanding 802.1X Authentication with VLAN Assignment” section with the following exception:

Attribute [81] Tunnel-Private-Group-ID specifies multiple VLAN names or VLAN IDs

• Define a VLAN group that contains multiple VLANs. Configure the RADIUS server to supply the VLAN group name instead of a VLAN ID as part of the response to the authenticating user. If the supplied VLAN group name is found among the VLAN group names that you have defined, the newly authenticated user is placed in the least populated VLAN within the VLAN group.

Perform the steps shown in the “Understanding 802.1X Authentication with VLAN Assignment” section with the following exception:

Attribute [81] Tunnel-Private-Group-ID specifies a defined VLAN group name

For more information, see the “Configuring VLAN User Distribution” section.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Guest VLAN

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can configure a guest VLAN for each 802.1X port on the switch to provide limited services to non-802.1X-compliant clients, such as for downloading the 802.1X client software. These clients might be upgrading their system for 802.1X authentication, and some hosts, such as Windows 98 systems, might not be 802.1X-capable.

When you enable a guest VLAN on an 802.1X port, the switch assigns clients to a guest VLAN when the switch does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame or when EAPOL packets are not sent by the client and no fallback authentication methods are enabled.

In addition, the switch maintains the EAPOL packet history. If an EAPOL packet is detected on the interface during the lifetime of the link, the switch determines that the device connected to that interface is an 802.1X-capable supplicant, and the interface will not change to the guest VLAN state. The EAPOL packet history is cleared if the interface link status goes down.

Use the dot1x guest-vlan supplicant global configuration command to allow an interface to change to the guest VLAN state regardless of the EAPOL packet history. That is, a host that is not 802.1X-capable will be assigned to the guest VLAN even if a previous host on that interface was 802.1X-capable.

Note If an EAPOL packet is detected after the interface has changed to the guest VLAN, the interface reverts to an unauthorized state, and 802.1X authentication restarts.

Any number of 802.1X-incapable clients are allowed access when the port is moved to the guest VLAN. If an 802.1X-capable client joins the same port on which the guest VLAN is configured, the port is put into the unauthorized state in the user-configured access VLAN, and authentication is restarted.

When operating as an 802.1X guest VLAN, a port functions in multiple-hosts mode regardless of the configured host mode of the port.

You can configure any active VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN, a private primary PVLAN, or a voice VLAN as an 802.1X guest VLAN. The guest VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed ports) or trunk ports; it is supported only on access ports.

The switch supports MAC authentication bypass in Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases. When MAC authentication bypass is enabled on an 802.1X port, the switch can authorize clients based on the client MAC address when 802.1X authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL message exchange. After detecting a client on an 802.1X port, the switch waits for an Ethernet packet from the client. The switch sends the authentication server a RADIUS-access/request frame with a username and password based on the MAC address. If authorization succeeds, the switch grants the client access to the network. If authorization fails, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN if one is specified.

For more information, see the “Understanding 802.1X Authentication with MAC Authentication Bypass” section and the “Configuring a Guest VLAN” section.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Restricted VLAN

You can configure a restricted VLAN (also referred to as an authentication failed VLAN ) for each 802.1X port on a switch to provide limited services to clients that failed authentication and cannot access the guest VLAN. These clients are 802.1X-compliant and cannot access another VLAN because they fail the authentication process. A restricted VLAN allows users without valid credentials in an authentication server (typically, visitors to an enterprise) to access a limited set of services. The administrator can control the services available to the restricted VLAN.

Note You can configure a VLAN to be both the guest VLAN and the restricted VLAN if you want to provide the same services to both types of users.

Without this feature, the client attempts and fails authentication indefinitely, and the port remains in the spanning-tree blocking state. With this feature, you can configure the port to be in the restricted VLAN after a specified number of authentication attempts.

The authenticator counts the failed authentication attempts for the client. The failed attempt count increments when the RADIUS server replies with either an Access-Reject EAP failure or an empty response without an EAP packet. When this count exceeds the configured maximum number of authentication attempts, the port moves to the restricted VLAN, the failed attempt counter resets, and subsequent EAPOL-start messages from the failed client are ignored.

Users who fail authentication remain in the restricted VLAN until the next switch-initiated reauthentication attempt. A port in the restricted VLAN tries to reauthenticate at configured intervals (the default is 60 seconds). If reauthentication fails, the port remains in the restricted VLAN. If reauthentication is successful, the port moves either to the configured VLAN or to a VLAN sent by the RADIUS server. You can disable reauthentication. If you do this, the only way to restart the authentication process is for the port to receive a link down or EAP logoff event. We recommend that you keep reauthentication enabled if a client might connect through a hub. When a client disconnects from the hub, the port might not receive the link down or EAP logoff event.

When operating as an 802.1X restricted VLAN, a port functions in single-host mode regardless of the configured host mode of the port. Only the client that failed authentication is allowed access on the port. An exception is that a port configured in MDA mode can still authenticate a voice supplicant from the restricted VLAN.

You can configure any active VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN as an 802.1X restricted VLAN. The restricted VLAN feature is not supported on routed or trunk ports; it is supported only on access ports.

This feature works with port security. As soon as the port is authorized, a MAC address is provided to port security. If port security does not permit the MAC address or if the maximum secure address count is reached, the port becomes unauthorized and error disabled.

Other port security features such as dynamic ARP Inspection, DHCP snooping, and IP source guard can be configured independently on a restricted VLAN.

For more information, see the “Configuring a Restricted VLAN” section.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Inaccessible Authentication Bypass

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, when the switch cannot reach the configured RADIUS servers and hosts cannot be authenticated, you can configure the switch to allow network access to the hosts connected to critical ports. A critical port is enabled for the inaccessible authentication bypass feature, also referred to as critical authentication or the AAA fail policy.

When this feature is enabled, the switch checks the status of the configured RADIUS servers whenever the switch tries to authenticate a host connected to a critical port. If a server is available, the switch can authenticate the host. However, if all the RADIUS servers are unavailable, the switch grants network access to the host and puts the port in the critical-authentication state, which is a special case of the authentication state.

The behavior of the inaccessible authentication bypass feature depends on the authorization state of the port:

• If the port is unauthorized when a host connected to a critical port tries to authenticate and all servers are unavailable, the switch puts the port in the critical-authentication state in the user-specified critical VLAN.
• If the port is already authorized and reauthentication occurs, the switch puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state in the current VLAN, which might be the one previously assigned by the RADIUS server.
• If the RADIUS server becomes unavailable during an authentication exchange, the current exchanges times out, and the switch puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state during the next authentication attempt.

When a RADIUS server that can authenticate the host is available, all critical ports in the critical-authentication state are automatically reauthenticated.

Inaccessible authentication bypass interacts with these features:

• Guest VLAN—Inaccessible authentication bypass is compatible with guest VLAN. When a guest VLAN is enabled on 8021.x port, the features interact as follows:

– If at least one RADIUS server is available, the switch assigns a client to a guest VLAN when the switch does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame or when EAPOL packets are not sent by the client.

– If all the RADIUS servers are not available and the client is connected to a critical port, the switch authenticates the client and puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state in the user-specified critical VLAN.

– If all the RADIUS servers are not available and the client is not connected to a critical port, the switch might not assign clients to the guest VLAN if one is configured.

– If all the RADIUS servers are not available and if a client is connected to a critical port and was previously assigned to a guest VLAN, the switch keeps the port in the guest VLAN.

• Restricted VLAN—If the port is already authorized in a restricted VLAN and the RADIUS servers are unavailable, the switch puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state in the restricted VLAN.
• 802.1X accounting—Accounting is not affected if the RADIUS servers are unavailable.
• Private VLAN—You can configure inaccessible authentication bypass on a private VLAN host port. The access VLAN must be a secondary private VLAN.
• Voice VLAN—Inaccessible authentication bypass is compatible with voice VLAN, but the RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN and the voice VLAN must be different.
• Remote Switched Port Analyzer (RSPAN)—Do not configure an RSPAN VLAN as the RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN for inaccessible authentication bypass.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Voice VLAN Ports

A Multi-VLAN Access Port (MVAP) is a port that belong to two VLANs. A voice VLAN port is an MVAP that allows separating a port’s voice traffic and data traffic on different VLANs. A voice VLAN port is associated with two VLAN identifiers:

• Voice VLAN identifier (VVID) to carry voice traffic to and from the IP phone. The VVID is used to configure the IP phone connected to the port.
• Port VLAN identifier (PVID) to carry the data traffic to and from the workstation connected to the switch through the IP phone. The PVID is the native VLAN of the port.

In releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXH, a switch in single-host mode accepted traffic from a single host, and voice traffic was not allowed. In multiple-hosts mode, the switch did not accept voice traffic until the client was authenticated on the primary VLAN, which makes the IP phone inoperable until the user logged in.

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, the IP phone uses the VVID for its voice traffic, regardless of the authorization state of the port. This allows the phone to work independently of 802.1X authentication.

In single-host mode, only the IP phone is allowed on the voice VLAN. In multiple-hosts mode, additional clients can send traffic on the voice VLAN after a supplicant is authenticated on the PVID. When multiple-hosts mode is enabled, the supplicant authentication affects both the PVID and the VVID.

In order to recognize an IP phone, the switch will allow CDP traffic on a port regardless of the authorization state of the port. A voice VLAN port becomes active when there is a link, and the device MAC address appears after the first CDP message from the IP phone. Cisco IP phones do not relay CDP messages from other devices. As a result, if several IP phones are connected in series, the switch recognizes only the one directly connected to it. When 802.1X authentication is enabled on a voice VLAN port, the switch drops packets from unrecognized IP phones more than one hop away.

When 802.1X authentication is enabled on a port, you cannot configure a port VLAN that is equal to a voice VLAN.

Note If you enable 802.1X authentication on an access port on which a voice VLAN is configured and to which a Cisco IP phone is connected, the Cisco IP phone loses connectivity to the switch for up to 30 seconds.

For voice VLAN configuration information, see Chapter15, “Configuring Cisco IP Phone Support”

Understanding 802.1X Authentication Critical Voice VLAN Support

With normal network connectivity, when an IP phone successfully authenticates on a port, the authentication server puts the phone into the voice domain. If the authentication server becomes unreachable, IP phones cannot authenticate. In multidomain authentication (MDA) mode or multiauthentication mode, you can configure the critical voice VLAN support feature to put phone traffic into the configured voice VLAN of the port (see the “Enabling Critical Voice VLAN Support” section).

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Port Security

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can configure an 802.1X port with port security in either single-host or multiple-hosts mode. (You also must configure port security on the port by using the switchport port-security interface configuration command.) When you enable port security and 802.1X authentication on a port, 802.1X authentication authenticates the port, and port security manages network access for all MAC addresses, including that of the client. You can then limit the number or group of clients that can access the network through an 802.1X port.

These are some examples of the interaction between 802.1X authentication and port security on the switch:

• When a client is authenticated, and the port security table is not full, the client MAC address is added to the port security list of secure hosts. The port then proceeds to come up normally.

When a client is authenticated and manually configured for port security, it is guaranteed an entry in the secure host table.

A security violation occurs if the client is authenticated, but the port security table is full. This can happen if the maximum number of secure hosts has been statically configured or if the client ages out of the secure host table. If the client address is aged, its place in the secure host table can be taken by another host.

If a security violation is caused by any host, the port becomes error-disabled and immediately shuts down.

The port security violation modes determine the action for security violations. For more information, see the “Configuring the Port Security Violation Mode on a Port” section.

• When you manually remove an 802.1X client address from the port security table by using the no switchport port-security mac-address mac-address interface configuration command, you should reauthenticate the 802.1X client by using the dot1x re-authenticate interface type slot/port privileged EXEC command.
• When an 802.1X client logs off, the port changes to an unauthenticated state, and all dynamic entries in the secure host table are cleared, including the entry for the client. Normal authentication then takes place.
• If the port is administratively shut down, the port becomes unauthenticated, and all dynamic entries are removed from the secure host table.
• Port security and a voice VLAN can be configured simultaneously on an 802.1X port that is in either single-host or multiple-hosts mode. Port security applies to both the voice VLAN identifier (VVID) and the port VLAN identifier (PVID).

For more information about enabling port security on your switch, see the “Configuring Port Security” section.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with ACL Assignments and Redirect URLs

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, per-host policies such as ACLs and redirect URLs can be downloaded to the switch from the authentication server (AS) in a RADIUS Access-Accept packet at the end of an 802.1X, MAB, or web-based authentication exchange.

Per-host policies are activated during authentication as follows:

• Downloadable ACLs (DACLs) are defined in the Cisco Secure ACS and downloaded from the ACS to the switch using VSAs.
• Filter-ID ACLs are defined on the switch, and only the ACL name is downloaded from the AS to the switch using the RADIUS Filter-ID attribute. Filter-ID ACLs are supported in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI2 and later releases.
• A redirection URL and an ACL name are downloaded from the ACS to the switch using VSAs. The redirection ACL is defined on the switch.

For information about configuring per-host policies, see the “Configuring the Switch for DACLs or Redirect URLs” section.

Downloadable ACLs Using the Cisco Secure ACS

Following a successful host authentication, the Cisco Secure ACS can use a VSA to download an ACL to the switch. The switch combines the DACL with the default ACL on the port to which the host has connected. Because the DACL definition resides on the authentication server, this feature allows for centralized policy management.

Two methods are provided in the Cisco Secure ACS for configuring DACLs:

• Downloadable IP ACL

Downloading of the DACL is enabled by selecting Assign IP ACL in the ACS configuration, and the DACL is defined in the Downloadable IP ACL Content menu of the ACS. There is no restriction on the size of the DACL.

• Per-user ACL

In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI2 and later releases, the ACS can use the CiscoSecure-Defined-ACL [009\001 cisco-av-pair] VSAs to deliver the DACL. Because the entire DACL is delivered in a single RADIUS packet, the maximum size is limited by the 4096-byte maximum size for a RADIUS packet. The DACL must be defined on the ACS using the following format:

protocol :inacl# sequence_number = ace

as shown in this example:

These guidelines apply when using DACLs:

• The source address for all ACEs must be defined as ANY.
• When the 802.1X host mode of the port is MDA or multiauth, the DACL will be modified to use the authenticated host’s IP address as the source address. When the host mode is either single-host or multiple-host, the source address will be configured as ANY, and the downloaded ACLs or redirects will apply to all devices on the port.
• If no DACLs are provided during the authentication of a host, the static default ACL configured on the port will be applied to the host. On a voice VLAN port, only the static default ACL of the port will be applied to the phone.

Filter-ID ACLs

In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI2 and later releases, following a successful host authentication, the authentication server can use the RADIUS Filter-ID attribute (Attribute[11]) rather than a VSA to deliver only the name of an extended ACL to the switch in the following format:

acl_name.in

The suffix “.in” indicates that the ACL should be applied in the inbound direction.

In this method, the ACL must be already defined on the switch. The switch matches the Filter-ID attribute value to a locally configured ACL that has the same name or number as the Filter-ID (for example, Filter-ID=101.in will match the extended numbered ACL 101, and Filter-ID= guest.in will match the extended named ACL “guest”). The specified ACL is then applied to the port. Because the ACL definition resides on the switch, this feature allows for local variation in a policy.

These guidelines apply when using Filter-ID ACLs:

• The guidelines for using DACLs also apply to Filter-ID ACLs.
• The Filter-ID attribute may be a number (100 to 199, or 2000 to 2699) or a name.

Redirect URLs

Following a successful host authentication, the Cisco Secure ACS can use a VSA to download information to the switch for intercepting and redirecting HTTP or HTTPS requests from the authenticated host. The ACS downloads a redirection ACL and URL. When an HTTP or HTTPS request from the host matches the downloaded ACL, the host’s web browser is redirected to the downloaded redirection URL.

The ACS uses these cisco-av-pair VSAs to configure the redirection:

• url-redirect-acl

This AV pair contains the name or number of an ACL that specifies the HTTP or HTTPS traffic to be redirected. The ACL must be defined on the switch, and the source address must be defined as ANY. Traffic that matches a permit entry in the redirect ACL will be redirected.

• url-redirect

This AV pair contains the HTTP or HTTPS URL to which the web browser will be redirected.

Static Sharing of ACLs

When a number of interfaces have the same PACL and VLAN-based features, you can use the mls acl tcam share-acl global configuration command to enable the static sharing feature. With static sharing, only one copy of the PACL and inherited VLAN-based feature ACLs is stored in the TCAM for all ports using the same ACL set, freeing TCAM space for more ACLs. With static sharing enabled, the switch will automatically evaluate all configured or enabled interfaces for static sharing when any of these events occur:

• When the mls acl tcam share-acl command is entered.
• When an interface is configured.
• When a state change occurs on an interface.

When enabling static sharing, consider the following guidelines and restrictions:

• Static sharing is not supported for interfaces enabled with IPv6.
• Static sharing is not supported with PFC3A-based supervisor engines or earlier, or in systems running in PFC3A mode or lower.
• Static sharing is supported only on switch ports in access mode with NAC or 802.1X DACL features configured.
• Static sharing is not supported on switch ports enabled with QOS, with the exception of VLAN-based QoS.
• When 802.1X is used with DACL, we recommend entering the platform hardware acl downloadable setup static command to avoid triggering a static sharing evaluation when the port is dynamically configured by the authentication server response. The static sharing evaluation may adversely affect the port/host linkup time.
• 802.1X interfaces with fallback authentication as active cannot form a static sharing group with interfaces on which fallback is not enabled or is not active.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Port Descriptors

With Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, you can associate descriptive text with an 802.1X client’s authentication information by configuring the Cisco vendor-specific attribute (VSA) aaa:supplicant-name on the RADIUS server. During a successful 802.1X authentication of the client on the port, the switch will receive the descriptive information from the RADIUS server as part of the Access-Accept packet and will display the information when the show interface users command is entered for the port. If the port is in a mode supporting multiple authenticated hosts, identity information for all the authenticated hosts will be displayed with the port description.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with MAC Authentication Bypass

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can configure the switch to authorize clients based on the client MAC address (see Figure 60-4) by using the MAC authentication bypass feature. For example, you can enable this feature on 802.1X ports connected to devices such as printers.

If 802.1X authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL response from the client, the switch tries to authorize the client by using MAC authentication bypass.

When the MAC authentication bypass feature is enabled on an 802.1X port, the switch uses the MAC address as the client identity. The authentication server has a database of client MAC addresses that are allowed network access. After detecting a client on an 802.1X port, the switch waits for an Ethernet packet from the client. The switch sends the authentication server a RADIUS-access/request frame with a username and password based on the MAC address. If authorization succeeds, the switch grants the client access to the network. If authorization fails, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN if one is configured.

If an EAPOL packet is detected on the interface during the lifetime of the link, the switch determines that the device connected to that interface is an 802.1X-capable supplicant and uses 802.1X authentication (not MAC authentication bypass) to authorize the interface. EAPOL history is cleared if the interface link status goes down.

If the switch already authorized a port by using MAC authentication bypass and detects an 802.1X supplicant, the switch does not unauthorize the client connected to the port. When reauthentication occurs, the switch uses 802.1X authentication as the preferred reauthentication process if the previous session ended because the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute value is DEFAULT.

Clients that were authorized with MAC authentication bypass can be reauthenticated. The reauthentication process is the same as that for clients that were authenticated with 802.1X. During reauthentication, the port remains in the previously assigned VLAN. If reauthentication is successful, the switch keeps the port in the same VLAN. If reauthentication fails, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN, if one is configured.

If reauthentication is based on the Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) and the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute [29]) and if the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute [29]) action is Initialize, (the attribute value is DEFAULT), the MAC authentication bypass session ends, and connectivity is lost during reauthentication. If MAC authentication bypass is enabled and the 802.1X authentication times out, the switch uses the MAC authentication bypass feature to initiate reauthorization. For more information about these AV pairs, see RFC 3580, “IEEE 802.1X Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) Usage Guidelines.”

MAC authentication bypass interacts with the features:

• 802.1X authentication—You can enable MAC authentication bypass only if 802.1X authentication is enabled on the port.
• Guest VLAN—If a client has an invalid MAC address identity, the switch assigns the client to a guest VLAN if one is configured.
• Restricted VLAN—This feature is not supported when the client connected to an 802.lx port is authenticated with MAC authentication bypass.
• Port security—See the “Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Port Security” section.
• Voice VLAN—See the “Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Voice VLAN Ports” section.
• VLAN Membership Policy Server (VMPS)— 802.1X and VMPS are mutually exclusive.
• Private VLAN—You can assign a client to a private VLAN.
• Network admission control (NAC) Layer 2 IP validation—This feature takes effect after an 802.1X port is authenticated with MAC authentication bypass, including hosts in the exception list.

Understanding Network Admission Control Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X Validation

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases support Network Admission Control (NAC) Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation, which checks the antivirus condition or posture of endpoint systems or clients before granting the devices network access. NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation performs policy enforcement by assigning the authenticated port into a specified VLAN, which provides segmentation and quarantine of poorly postured hosts at Layer 2.

Configuring NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation is similar to configuring 802.1X port-based authentication except that you must configure a posture token on the RADIUS server. You can view the NAC posture token, which shows the posture of the client, by using the show dot1x privileged EXEC command. For information about configuring NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation, see the “Configuring NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X Validation” section.

For more information about NAC, see the Network Admission Control Software Configuration Guide.

NAC Agentless Audit Support

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, MAB support is added for the Cisco NAC Audit Architecture, which uses an external audit server to check the antivirus posture of clients that do not run a Cisco Trust Agent (CTA) and cannot respond to NAC queries. To audit and report an agentless client’s antivirus posture, the NAC audit server must possess the client’s IP address and a unique session identifier for the client’s connection to the switch. To support the NAC audit architecture for agentless clients, the switch must snoop the client’s IP address, create and assign a unique session identifier for the agentless client, and pass this information to the RADIUS server for sharing with the NAC audit server.

Because MAB operates at Layer 2, the MAB authenticator does not normally know the IP address of the supplicant, and the supplicant might not have an IP address when it first contacts the authenticator. A supplicant that requires a DHCP-assigned IP address must be allowed access to a DHCP server before authentication. You must enable ARP and DHCP snooping on the switch to allow the MAB authenticator to learn the IP address of the supplicant. To allow the IP address and unique session identifier information to be shared with the NAC audit server, you must enable the sending of certain RADIUS attributes. See the “Configuring NAC Agentless Audit Support” section.

The client IP address and unique session identifier are shared in RADIUS Access-Requests and Access-Accepts using the following RADIUS cisco-av-pair vendor-specific attributes (VSAs):

• Cisco-AVPair=“identity-request= ip-address ”

ip-address is the client IP address obtained by the switch through ARP or DHCP snooping.

• Cisco-AVPair=“audit-session-id= audit session id string ”

audit session id string is a UTF-8 encoding of a unique 96-bit identifier derived by the switch from the network access server (NAS) IP address, a session count, and the session start timestamp.

Understanding RADIUS Change of Authorization

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI4 and later releases, the switch can accept and execute unsolicited Change of Authorization (CoA) messages from the authentication server (AS). CoA is an extension to the RADIUS protocol that allows the AS to make dynamic and unsolicited changes to the authorization information of an active session hosted by a network access device, such as a switch. For more information about CoA, see RFC 5176.

The Catalyst 6500 series switch supports per-session and per-policy CoA commands relating to 802.1X, MAB, and web-based authentication sessions.

Per-Session CoA

Using per-session CoA commands, the AS can cause the switch to terminate a session or to force a reauthentication of the session. To terminate a session, the AS can instruct the switch to perform one of the following actions:

• End the session—The AS sends a CoA Disconnect-Request (see RFC 5176), causing the switch to delete all state information about the session.
• Shut down the port—The AS sends the following VSA to force an administrative shutdown of the port:

Cisco-AVPair=“subscriber:command= disable-host-port ”

• Bounce the port—The AS sends the following VSA to force the switch link to be taken down, then up again:

Cisco-AVPair=“subscriber:command= bounce-host-port ”

By default, the switch accepts and executes per-session CoA commands, but you can configure the switch to ignore CoA shutdown or bounce commands directed at specific ports.

The AS sends the following VSA to force a reauthentication of the session:

Cisco-AVPair=“subscriber:command= re-authenticate ”

Per-Policy CoA

Using per-policy CoA commands, the AS can instruct the switch to update the contents of a DACL or a Filter-ID ACL, and apply the updated policy information to all sessions that currently have the affected ACL applied.

Understanding 802.1X Authentication with Wake-on-LAN

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, the 802.1X authentication with wake-on-LAN (WoL) feature allows dormant PCs to be powered up when the switch receives a specific Ethernet frame, known as the magic packet. You can use this feature in environments where administrators need to connect to systems that have been powered down.

When a host that uses WoL is attached through an 802.1X port and the host powers off, the 802.1X port becomes unauthorized. The port can only receive and send EAPOL packets, and WoL magic packets cannot reach the host. When the PC is powered off, it is not authorized, and the switch port is not opened.

When the switch uses 802.1X authentication with WoL, the switch forwards traffic to unauthorized 802.1X ports, including magic packets. While the port is unauthorized, the switch continues to block ingress traffic other than EAPOL packets. The host can receive packets but cannot send packets to other devices in the network.

Note If PortFast is not enabled on the port, the port is forced to the bidirectional state.

When you configure a port as unidirectional by using the authentication control-direction in interface configuration command (dot1x control-direction in command in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and earlier releases), the port changes to the spanning-tree forwarding state. The port can send packets to the host but cannot receive packets from the host.

When you configure a port as bidirectional by using the authentication control-direction both interface configuration command (dot1x control-direction both command in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and earlier releases), the port is access-controlled in both directions. The port does not receive packets from or send packets to the host.

Understanding MAC Move

Release 12.2(33)SXI4 and later releases support the Mac move feature. When a MAC address is authenticated on one switch port, that address is not allowed on another authentication manager-enabled port of the switch. If the switch detects that same MAC address on another authentication manager-enabled port, the address is not allowed.

There are situations where a MAC address might need to move from one port to another on the same switch. For example, when there is another device (for example a hub or an IP phone) between an authenticated host and a switch port, you might want to disconnect the host from the device and connect it directly to another port on the same switch.

You can globally enable MAC move so the device is reauthenticated on the new port. When a host moves to a second port, the session on the first port is deleted, and the host is reauthenticated on the new port.

When a MAC address moves from one port to another, the switch terminates the authenticated session on the original port and initiates a new authentication sequence on the new port. Port security behavior remains the same when you configure MAC move.

Note ● MAC move is supported in all host modes. (The authenticated host can move to any port on the switch, no matter which host mode is enabled on the that port.)

• MAC move is supported with port security.
• The MAC move feature applies to both voice and data hosts.
• In open authentication mode, a MAC address is immediately moved from the original port to the new port, with no requirement for authorization on the new port.

For more information see the “Enabling MAC Move” section.

Understanding MAC Replace

Release 12.2(33)SXI4 and later releases support the Mac replace feature. The MAC replace feature can be configured to address the violation that occurs when a host attempts to connect to a port where another host was previously authenticated.

Note ● The Mac replace feature is not supported on ports in multiauth mode, because violations are not triggered in that mode.

• The Mac replace feature is not supported on ports in multiple host mode, because in that mode, only the first host requires authentication.

If you configure the authentication violation interface configuration command with the replace keyword, the authentication process on a port in multi-domain mode is:

• A new MAC address is received on a port with an existing authenticated MAC address.
• The authentication manager replaces the MAC address of the current data host on the port with the new MAC address.
• The authentication manager initiates the authentication process for the new MAC address.
• If the authentication manager determines that the new host is a voice host, the original voice host is removed.

If a port is in open authentication mode, any new MAC address is immediately added to the MAC address table.

For more information see the “Enabling MAC Replace” section.

Understanding 802.1x Supplicant and Authenticator Switches with Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT)

Release 12.2(33)SXJ and later releases support the Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT) feature. NEAT extends identity to areas outside the wiring closet (such as conference rooms). This allows any type of device to authenticate on the port.

• 802.1x switch supplicant: You can configure a switch to act as a supplicant to another switch by using the 802.1x supplicant feature. This configuration is helpful in a scenario, where, for example, a switch is outside a wiring closet and is connected to an upstream switch through a trunk port. A switch configured with the 802.1x switch supplicant feature authenticates with the upstream switch for secure connectivity.

Once the supplicant switch authenticates successfully the port mode changes from access to trunk.

• If the access VLAN is configured on the authenticator switch, it becomes the native VLAN for the trunk port after successful authentication.

You can enable MDA or multiauth mode on the authenticator switch interface that connects to one more supplicant switches. On the authenticator switch interface, multihost mode is not supported and in MDA mode voice client is not supported.

Use the dot1x supplicant force-multicast global configuration command on the supplicant switch for Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT) to work in all host modes.

• Host Authorization: Ensures that only traffic from authorized hosts (connecting to the switch with supplicant) is allowed on the network. The switches use Client Information Signalling Protocol (CISP) to send the MAC addresses connecting to the supplicant switch to the authenticator switch, as shown in Figure 60-7.
• Auto enablement: Automatically enables trunk configuration on the authenticator switch, allowing user traffic from multiple VLANs coming from supplicant switches. Configure the cisco-av-pair as device-traffic-class=switch at the ACS. (You can configure this under the group or the user settings.)

Figure 60-7 Authenticator and Supplicant Switch using CISP

When configuring NEAT and CISP, follow these guidelines and restrictions:

• You can configure NEAT ports with the same configurations as the other authentication ports. When the supplicant switch authenticates, the port mode is changed from access to trunk based on the switch vendor-specific attributes (VSAs). (device-traffic-class=switch).
• The VSA changes the authenticator switch port mode from access to trunk and enables 802.1x trunk encapsulation and the access VLAN if any would be converted to a native trunk VLAN. VSA does not change any of the port configurations on the supplicant

For more information, see the “Configuring an Authenticator and a Supplicant Switch with NEAT” section.

802.1X Authentication

When configuring 802.1X authentication, note the following guidelines:

• In releases where CSCtg01609 is not resolved, on ports with the authentication port-control auto command or the dot1x pae supplicant command configured, you cannot successfully enter the no switchport command. In releases where CSCtg01609 is resolved, on ports with any authentication, dot1x, or mab command configured, you cannot successfully enter the no switchport command.

Note Enter the default interface type slot/port command to revert to the default port configuration.

• When 802.1X authentication is enabled, ports are authenticated before any other Layer 2 or Layer 3 features are enabled.
• If you try to change the mode of an 802.1X-enabled port (for example, from access to trunk), an error message appears, and the port mode is not changed.
• With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can configure port security and 802.1X port-based authentication on the same port. We do not recommend configuring both together.
• If the VLAN to which an 802.1X-enabled port is assigned changes, this change is transparent and does not affect the switch. For example, this change occurs if a port is assigned to a RADIUS server-assigned VLAN and is then assigned to a different VLAN after reauthentication.

If the VLAN to which an 802.1X port is assigned to shut down, disabled, or removed, the port becomes unauthorized. For example, the port is unauthorized after the access VLAN to which a port is assigned shuts down or is removed.

• The 802.1X protocol is supported on Layer 2 static-access ports, voice VLAN ports, and Layer 3 routed ports, but it is not supported on these port types:

– Trunk ports:

With Release 12.2(33)SXJ and later releases, you can enter the commands to enable 802.1X authentication on a trunk port or change the mode of an 802.1X-enabled port to trunk, but 802.1X authentication works only on trunk ports configured to support a switch supplicant (SSw). Configure 802.1X authentication on trunk ports only to support NEAT ( CSCtx16322).

With releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXJ, if you try to enable 802.1X authentication on a trunk port, an error message appears, and 802.1X authentication is not enabled. If you try to change the mode of an 802.1X-enabled port to trunk, an error message appears, and the port mode is not changed.

– Dynamic ports—A port in dynamic mode can negotiate with its neighbor to become a trunk port. If you try to enable 802.1X authentication on a dynamic port, an error message appears, and 802.1X authentication is not enabled. If you try to change the mode of an 802.1X-enabled port to dynamic, an error message appears, and the port mode is not changed.

– Dynamic-access ports—If you try to enable 802.1X authentication on a dynamic-access (VLAN Query Protocol [VQP]) port, an error message appears, and 802.1X authentication is not enabled. If you try to change an 802.1X-enabled port to dynamic VLAN assignment, an error message appears, and the VLAN configuration is not changed.

– EtherChannel port—Do not configure a port that is an active or a not-yet-active member of an EtherChannel as an 802.1X port. If you try to enable 802.1X authentication on an EtherChannel port, an error message appears, and 802.1X authentication is not enabled.

Note In software releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXH, if 802.1X authentication is enabled on a not-yet active port of an EtherChannel, the port does not join the EtherChannel.

– Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) and Remote SPAN (RSPAN) destination ports—You can enable 802.1X authentication on a port that is a SPAN or RSPAN destination port. However, 802.1X authentication is disabled until the port is removed as a SPAN or RSPAN destination port. You can enable 802.1X authentication on a SPAN or RSPAN source port.

Note In software releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXH, 802.1X authentication is not supported on voice VLAN ports.

• Before globally enabling 802.1X authentication on a switch by entering the dot1x system-auth-control global configuration command, remove the EtherChannel configuration from the interfaces on which 802.1X authentication and EtherChannel are configured.
• Because all traffic from unauthenticated hosts is forwarded to the switch processor, we recommend that you apply rate limiting to this traffic.

Note If you use dot1x with DHCP snooping, you must either enable DHCP snooping for both the data and voice VLANS, or neither. If data is only configured, due to a hardware limitation with the TCAM and multiple features interacting, the voice vlan will never broadcast the DHCP discover across the VLAN.

802.1X Host Mode

When configuring any host mode, note the following guidelines:

• In most cases when the host mode is changed on a port, any existing 802.1X authentications on that port are deleted. Exceptions are when changing from the single-host mode to any other mode, and when changing from multidomain mode to multiauth mode. In these two cases, existing 802.1X authentications are retained.
• If you enter the authentication open interface configuration command in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, any new MAC address detected on the port will be allowed unrestricted Layer 2 access to the network even before any authentication has succeeded. If you use this command, you should use static default ACLs to restrict Layer 3 traffic. For additional details, see the “Pre-Authentication Open Access” section.

When configuring multiple-hosts mode, note the following guideline:

• If the multiple-hosts port becomes unauthorized (reauthentication fails or an EAPOL-logoff message is received), all attached clients are denied access to the network.

When configuring MDA host mode, note the following guideline:

• A third-party IP phone’s MAC address will initially be assigned to the data VLAN. When tagged voice packets are observed, the device will be removed from the data VLAN and placed on the voice VLAN.

When configuring multiauth host mode, note the following guidelines:

• If one client on a multiauth port becomes unauthorized (reauthentication fails or an EAPOL-logoff message is received from that client), the authorization status of the other attached clients is not changed.
• RADIUS-assigned VLANs are not supported on multiauth ports, which can have only one data VLAN. If the authentication server sends VLAN-related attributes, the authentication will succeed but the VLAN assignment will be ignored.
• Although multiple hosts are allowed on the data VLAN, only one host is allowed on the voice VLAN. When one IP phone has been authenticated, further IP phones on the same port will be denied authentication.
• A multiauth port does not support a guest VLAN, authentication-fail VLAN, or with releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXJ1, a critical VLAN.

VLAN Assignment, Guest VLAN, Restricted VLAN, and Inaccessible Authentication Bypass

When configuring VLAN assignment, guest VLAN, restricted VLAN, and inaccessible authentication bypass, note the following guidelines:

• When 802.1X authentication is enabled on a port, you cannot configure a port VLAN that is equal to a voice VLAN.
• The 802.1X authentication with VLAN assignment feature is not supported on trunk ports, dynamic ports, or with dynamic-access port assignment through a VMPS.
• You can configure any VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN, a private primary PVLAN, or a voice VLAN as an 802.1X guest VLAN. The guest VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed ports) or trunk ports; it is supported only on access ports.
• After you configure a guest VLAN for an 802.1X port to which a DHCP client is connected, you might need to get a host IP address from a DHCP server. You can change the settings for restarting the 802.1X authentication process on the switch before the DHCP process on the client times out and tries to get a host IP address from the DHCP server. Decrease the settings for the 802.1X authentication process (dot1x timeout quiet-period and dot1x timeout tx-period interface configuration commands). The amount to decrease the settings depends on the connected 802.1X client type.
• When configuring the 802.1X VLAN user distribution feature, follow these guidelines:

– A maximum of 100 VLAN groups can be configured, and a maximum of 4094 VLANs can be mapped to a VLAN group.

– A VLAN can be mapped to more than one VLAN group.

– A guest VLAN, a critical VLAN, or a restricted VLAN can be mapped to a VLAN group.

– A VLAN group name cannot be specified as a guest VLAN, a critical VLAN, or a restricted VLAN.

– You can modify a VLAN group by adding or removing a VLAN, but at least one VLAN must be mapped to the VLAN group. If you remove the last VLAN from the VLAN group, the VLAN group is deleted.

– Removing an existing VLAN from the VLAN group name does not revoke the authentication status of the ports in the VLAN, but the mappings are removed from the existing VLAN group.

– Deleting an existing VLAN group name does not revoke the authentication status of the ports in any VLAN within the group, but the VLAN mappings to the VLAN group are removed.

• When configuring the inaccessible authentication bypass feature, follow these guidelines:

– The inaccessible authentication bypass feature is supported on 802.1X ports in single-host mode, multiple-hosts mode, and MDA mode.

– If the client is running Windows XP and the port to which the client is connected is in the critical-authentication state, Windows XP might report that the interface is not authenticated.

– If the Windows XP client is configured for DHCP and has an IP address from the DHCP server, receiving an EAP-Success message on a critical port might not reinitiate the DHCP configuration process.

– You can configure the inaccessible authentication bypass feature and the critical VLAN on an 802.1X port. If the switch tries to reauthenticate a critical port in a critical VLAN and all the RADIUS servers are unavailable, the switch changes the port state to the critical authentication state and the port remains in the critical VLAN.

– You can configure the inaccessible bypass feature and port security on the same port.

• You can configure any VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN as an 802.1X restricted VLAN. The restricted VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed ports) or trunk ports; it is supported only on access ports.

MAC Authentication Bypass

When configuring MAC authentication bypass, note the following guidelines:

• Unless otherwise stated, the MAC authentication bypass guidelines are the same as the 802.1X authentication guidelines. For more information, see the “802.1X Authentication” section.
• If you disable MAC authentication bypass from a port after the port has been authorized with its MAC address, the session will be removed.
• When MAC authentication bypass with EAP has been enabled on an interface, it is not disabled by a subsequent default interface command on the interface.
• If the port is in the unauthorized state and the client MAC address is not the authentication-server database, the port remains in the unauthorized state. However, if the client MAC address is added to the database, the switch can use MAC authentication bypass to reauthorize the port.
• If the port is in the authorized state, the port remains in this state until reauthorization occurs.
• To use MAC authentication bypass on a routed port, make sure that MAC address learning is enabled on the port.
• In Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can optionally configure a timeout period for hosts that are connected by MAC authentication bypass but are inactive. The range is 1 to 65535 seconds, but should be set to a value less than the reauthentication timeout. You must enable port security before configuring a timeout value. For more information, see the “Configuring Port Security” section.

Web-Based Authentication

When configuring web-based authentication, note the following guidelines:

• Fallback to web-based authentication is configured on switch ports in access mode. Ports in trunk mode are not supported.
• Fallback to web-based authentication is not supported on EtherChannels or EtherChannel members.
• Although fallback to web-based authentication is an interface-specific configuration, the web-based authentication fallback behavior is defined in a global fallback profile. If the global fallback configuration changes, the new profile will not be used until the next instance of authentication fallback.

For detailed information on configuring web-based authentication, see Chapter61, “Configuring Web-Based Authentication”

Default 802.1X Port-Based Authentication Configuration

Table 60-2 shows the default 802.1X configuration.

Enabling 802.1X Authentication

To enable 802.1X port-based authentication, you must enable AAA and specify the authentication method list.

A method list describes the sequence and authentication methods to be queried to authenticate a user. The software uses the first method listed to authenticate users; if that method fails to respond, the software selects the next authentication method in the method list. This process continues until there is successful communication with a listed authentication method or until all defined methods are exhausted. If authentication fails at any point in this cycle, the authentication process stops, and no other authentication methods are attempted.

To allow VLAN assignment, you must enable AAA authorization to configure the switch for all network-related service requests.

The 802.1X AAA process is as follows:

1. A user connects to a port on the switch.

2. Authentication is performed.

3. VLAN assignment is enabled, as appropriate, based on the RADIUS server configuration.

4. The switch sends a start message to an accounting server.

5. Reauthentication is performed, as necessary.

6. The switch sends an interim accounting update to the accounting server that is based on the result of reauthentication.

7. The user disconnects from the port.

8. The switch sends a stop message to the accounting server.

To configure 802.1X port-based authentication, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable AAA and 802.1X on Fast Ethernet port 5/1:

This example shows how to verify the configuration:

Configuring Switch-to-RADIUS-Server Communication

RADIUS security servers are identified by any of the following:

• Host name
• Host IP address
• Host name and specific UDP port numbers
• IP address and specific UDP port numbers

The combination of the IP address and UDP port number creates a unique identifier, which enables RADIUS requests to be sent to multiple UDP ports on a server at the same IP address. If two different host entries on the same RADIUS server are configured for the same service (for example, authentication) the second host entry configured acts as the failover backup to the first one. The RADIUS host entries are tried in the order that they were configured.

To configure the RADIUS server parameters, perform this task:

When you configure the RADIUS server parameters, note the following information:

• For hostname or ip_address, specify the host name or IP address of the remote RADIUS server.
• Specify the key string on a separate command line.
• For key string, specify the authentication and encryption key used between the switch and the RADIUS daemon running on the RADIUS server. The key is a text string that must match the encryption key used on the RADIUS server.
• When you specify the key string, spaces within and at the end of the key are used. If you use spaces in the key, do not enclose the key in quotation marks unless the quotation marks are part of the key. This key must match the encryption used on the RADIUS daemon.
• You can globally configure the timeout, retransmission, and encryption key values for all RADIUS servers by using the radius-server host global configuration command. If you want to configure these options on a per-server basis, use the radius-server timeout, radius-server retransmit, and the radius-server key global configuration commands. For more information, see the Cisco IOS Security Configuration Guide, Release 12.2, publication at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/security/configuration/guide/fsecur_c.html

and the Cisco IOS Security Command Reference, Release 12.2, publication at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/security/command/reference/fsecur_r.html

Note You also need to configure some settings on the RADIUS server. These settings include the IP address of the switch and the key string to be shared by both the server and the switch. For more information, see the RADIUS server documentation.

This example shows how to configure the RADIUS server parameters on the switch:

Configuring 802.1X Authenticator Host Mode

An 802.1X-enabled port can grant access to a single client or multiple clients as described in the “802.1X Host Modes” section.

To configure the host mode of an 802.1X-authorized port, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable 802.1X on Fast Ethernet interface 5/1 and to allow multiple hosts:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Enabling Fallback Authentication

On a port in multiauth mode, either or both of MAB and web-based authentication can be configured as fallback authentication methods for non-802.1X hosts (those that do not respond to EAPOL). You can configure the order and priority of the authentication methods.

For detailed configuration information for MAB, see the “Configuring MAC Authentication Bypass” section.

For detailed configuration information for web-based authentication, see Chapter61, “Configuring Web-Based Authentication”

In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, to enable fallback authentication, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable 802.1X fallback to MAB, and then to enable web-based authentication, on an 802.1X-enabled port:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Enabling Periodic Reauthentication

With Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can enable periodic 802.1X client reauthentication and specify how often it occurs. You can specify the reauthentication period manually or you can use the session-timeout period specified by the RADIUS server. If you enable reauthentication without specifying a time period, the number of seconds between reauthentication attempts is 3600.

To enable periodic reauthentication of the client and to configure the number of seconds between reauthentication attempts, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable periodic reauthentication and set the number of seconds between reauthentication attempts to 4000:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Manually Reauthenticating the Client Connected to a Port

Note Reauthentication does not disturb the status of an already authorized port.

To manually reauthenticate the client connected to a port, perform this task:

This example shows how to manually reauthenticate the client connected to Fast Ethernet port 5/1:

Initializing Authentication for the Client Connected to a Port

Note Initializing authentication disables any existing authentication before authenticating the client connected to the port.

To initialize the authentication for the client connected to a port, perform this task:

This example shows how to initialize the authentication for the client connected to Fast Ethernet port 5/1:

Removing 802.1X Client Information

To completely delete all existing supplicants from an interface or from all the interfaces on the switch, perform this task:

This example shows how to remove 802.1X client information for the client connected to Fast Ethernet port 5/1:

Clearing Authentication Sessions

To clear all or selected authentication sessions, perform this task:

This example shows how to clear all MAB authentication sessions connected to Fast Ethernet port 5/1:

Changing 802.1X Timeouts

You can change several 802.1X timeout attributes using the dot1x timeout {attribute} seconds command form in the interface configuration mode. This section shows in detail how to change the quiet period timeout, followed by descriptions of how to change other 802.1X timeouts using the same command form.

Setting the Quiet Period

When the switch cannot authenticate the client, the switch remains idle for a set period of time and then tries again. The dot1x timeout quiet-period interface configuration command controls the idle period. A failed authentication of the client might occur because the client provided an invalid password. You can provide a faster response time to the user by entering a number smaller than the default.

To change the quiet period, perform this task:

This example shows how to set the quiet period on the switch to 30 seconds:

This example shows how to restore the default quiet period on the switch:

Setting the Switch-to-Client Retransmission Time

The client responds to the EAP-request/identity frame from the switch with an EAP-response/identity frame. If the switch does not receive this response, it waits a set period of time (known as the retransmission time), and then retransmits the frame.

Note You should change the default value of this command only to adjust for unusual circumstances such as unreliable links or specific operational problems with certain clients and authentication servers.

To change the amount of time that the switch switch waits for a response to an EAP-request/identity frame from the client before retransmitting the request, use the dot1x timeout tx-period seconds command in the interface configuration mode. The range is 1 to 65535 seconds; the default is 30. To return to the default retransmission time, use the no dot1x timeout tx-period command.

This example shows how to set 60 as the number of seconds that the switch waits for a response to an EAP-request/identity frame from the client before retransmitting the request:

Setting the Switch-to-Client Retransmission Time for EAP-Request Frames

The client notifies the switch that it received the EAP-request frame. If the switch does not receive this notification, the switch waits a set period of time, and then retransmits the frame.

To set the amount of time that the switch waits for notification, use the dot1x timeout supp-timeout seconds command in the interface configuration mode. The range is 1 to 65535 seconds; the default is 30. To return to the default retransmission time, use the no dot1x supp-timeout command.

This example shows how to set the switch-to-client retransmission time for the EAP-request frame to 25 seconds:

Setting the Switch-to-Authentication-Server Retransmission Time for Layer 4 Packets

The authentication server notifies the switch each time it receives a Layer 4 packet. If the switch does not receive a notification after sending a packet, the switch waits a set period of time and then retransmits the packet.

To set the value for the retransmission of Layer 4 packets from the switch to the authentication server, use the dot1x timeout server-timeout seconds command in the interface configuration mode. The range is 1 to 65535 seconds; the default is 30. To return to the default retransmission time, use the no dot1x server-timeout command.

This example shows how to set the switch-to-authentication-server retransmission time for Layer 4 packets to 25 seconds:

Setting the Switch-to-Client Frame Retransmission Number

In addition to changing the switch-to-client retransmission time, you can change the number of times that the switch sends an EAP-request/identity frame (assuming no response is received) to the client before restarting the authentication process.

Note You should change the default value of this command only to adjust for unusual circumstances such as unreliable links or specific operational problems with certain clients and authentication servers.

To set the switch-to-client frame retransmission number, perform this task:

This example shows how to set 5 as the number of times that the switch sends an EAP-request/identity request before restarting the authentication process:

Setting the Reauthentication Number

You can also change the number of times that the switch restarts the authentication process before the port changes to the unauthorized state.

Note You should change the default value of this command only to adjust for unusual circumstances such as unreliable links or specific operational problems with certain clients and authentication servers.

To set the reauthentication number, perform this task:

This example shows how to set 4 as the number of times that the switch restarts the authentication process before the port changes to the unauthorized state:

Configuring IEEE 802.1X Accounting

Enabling AAA system accounting with 802.1X accounting allows system reload events to be sent to the accounting RADIUS server for logging. The server then can determine that all active 802.1X sessions are closed.

Because RADIUS uses the unreliable UDP transport protocol, accounting messages might be lost due to poor network conditions. If the switch does not receive the accounting response message from the RADIUS server after a configurable number of retransmissions of an accounting request, this system message appears:

When the stop message is not sent successfully, this message appears:

Note You must configure the RADIUS server to perform accounting tasks, such as logging start, stop, and interim-update messages and time stamps. To turn on these functions, enable logging of “Update/Watchdog packets from this AAA client” in your RADIUS server Network Configuration tab. Next, enable “CVS RADIUS Accounting” in your RADIUS server System Configuration tab.

To configure 802.1X accounting after AAA is enabled on your switch, perform this task:

Use the show radius statistics privileged EXEC command to display the number of RADIUS messages that do not receive the accounting response message.

This example shows how to configure 802.1X accounting. The first command configures the RADIUS server, specifying 1813 as the UDP port for accounting:

Configuring VLAN User Distribution

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI1 and later releases, you can define a VLAN group that contains multiple VLANs. For VLAN load balancing, you can then configure the RADIUS server to supply a VLAN group name as part of the response to a user during 802.1X authentication. If the supplied VLAN group name is found among the VLAN group names that you have defined, the newly authenticated user is placed in the least populated VLAN within the VLAN group.

To configure a VLAN group, perform this task:

This example shows how to map VLANs 7 through 9 and 11 to a VLAN group:

This example shows how to remove VLAN 7 from a VLAN group:

Configuring a Guest VLAN

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, when you configure a guest VLAN, clients that are not 802.1X-capable are put into the guest VLAN when the server does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame. Clients that are 802.1X-capable but that fail authentication are not granted network access. When operating as a guest VLAN, a port functions in multiple-hosts mode regardless of the configured host mode of the port.

To configure a guest VLAN, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable VLAN 2 as an 802.1X guest VLAN:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

This example shows how to set 3 seconds as the client notification timeout on the switch, to set 15 as the number of seconds that the switch waits for a response to an EAP-request/identity frame from the client before resending the request, and to enable VLAN 2 as an 802.1X guest VLAN when an 802.1X port is connected to a DHCP client:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Configuring a Restricted VLAN

When you configure a restricted VLAN on a switch, clients that are 802.1X-compliant are moved into the restricted VLAN when the authentication server does not receive a valid username and password. When operating as a restricted VLAN, a port functions in single-host mode regardless of the configured host mode of the port.

To configure a restricted VLAN, perform this task:

To disable and remove the restricted VLAN, use the no form of the authentication event fail command or the dot1x auth-fail command. The port returns to the unauthorized state.

You can configure the maximum number of authentication attempts allowed before a user is assigned to the restricted VLAN.

• In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI and later releases, you can set the number of attempts by using the retry keyword in the authentication event fail [ retry retries ] action authorize vlan command. The range of retries (allowable authentication attempts) is 1 to 5. The default is 2 attempts.
• In Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH, you can set the number of attempts by using the dot1x auth-fail max-attempts max-attempts interface configuration command. The range of max-attempts (allowable authentication attempts) is 1 to 3. The default is 3 attempts.

This example shows how to enable VLAN 2 as a restricted VLAN, with assignment of a host after 3 failed attempts:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Configuring the Inaccessible Authentication Bypass Feature

You can configure the inaccessible bypass feature, also referred to as critical authentication or the AAA fail policy.

To configure the port as a critical port and enable the inaccessible authentication bypass feature, perform this task:

To return to the RADIUS server default settings, use the no radius-server dead-criteria, the no radius-server deadtime, and the no radius-server host global configuration commands. To return to the default settings of inaccessible authentication bypass, use the no dot1x critical eapol global configuration command. To disable inaccessible authentication bypass, use the no authentication event server dead action authorize (or no dot1x critical) interface configuration command.

This example shows how to configure the inaccessible authentication bypass feature:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Enabling Critical Voice VLAN Support

Release 12.2(33)SXJ1 and later releases support the critical voice VLAN support feature (see the “Understanding 802.1X Authentication Critical Voice VLAN Support” section).

• Enabling Critical Voice VLAN Support in Multidomain Authentication Mode
• Enabling Critical Voice VLAN Support in Multiauthentication Mode

Note When enabling critical voice VLAN support, follow these guidelines and restrictions:

• Use different VLANs for voice and data.
• The voice VLAN must be configured on the switch (see “Configuring Voice Traffic Support” section).

Enabling Critical Voice VLAN Support in Multidomain Authentication Mode

To enable critical voice VLAN support in multidomain authentication (MDA) mode, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable the critical voice VLAN support feature in MDA mode when the authentication event server dead action authorize vlan critical_data_vlan_id command is also configured on the port as part of the inaccessible authentication bypass feature:

This example shows how to enable the critical voice VLAN support feature in MDA mode when inaccessible authentication bypass is not configured on the port:

Enabling Critical Voice VLAN Support in Multiauthentication Mode

To enable critical voice VLAN support in multiauthentication mode, perform this task:

This example shows how to enable the critical voice VLAN support feature in multiauthentication mode:

Configuring MAC Authentication Bypass

To configure MAC authentication bypass on an interface, perform this task:

Note To use MAC authentication bypass on a routed port, ensure that MAC address learning is enabled on the port.

This example shows how to enable MAC authentication bypass on a port:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Configuring NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X Validation

With Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXH and later releases, you can configure NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation, which is also referred to as 802.1X authentication with a RADIUS server. NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X configuration is the same as 802.1X configuration with the additional step of configuring the RADIUS server with a posture token and VLAN assignment.

To configure NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation, perform this task:

This example shows how to configure NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1X validation:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Configuring NAC Agentless Audit Support

To support the NAC audit architecture for agentless clients, the switch must snoop an authenticating 802.1X client’s IP address, create and assign a unique session identifier for the agentless client, and pass this information to the RADIUS server for sharing with the NAC audit server. To allow the switch to obtain and share this information, you must enable ARP and DHCP snooping on the switch and you must enable the sending of certain RADIUS attributes.

To configure the RADIUS and tracking settings to support NAC agentless audit, perform this task:

Configuring the Switch for DACLs or Redirect URLs

To configure switch ports to accept DACLs or redirect URLs from the RADIUS server during authentication of an attached host, perform this task:

This example shows how to configure a switch for a downloadable policy:

Configuring a Port to Ignore CoA Commands

To configure the switch to disregard a CoA command to shut down or bounce a specific port, perform this task:

Configuring 802.1X Authentication with WoL

Note Wake-on-LAN (WoL) is supported in multiauthentication (multiauth) mode only in releases where CSCti92970 is resolved.

To enable 802.1X authentication with WoL, perform this task:

To disable 802.1X authentication with WoL, use the no authentication control-direction (or the no dot1x control-direction) interface configuration command.

This example shows how to enable 802.1X authentication with WoL and set the port as bidirectional:

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SXI or later releases:

Releases earlier than Release 12.2(33)SXI:

Disabling 802.1X Authentication on the Port

You can disable 802.1X authentication on the port by using the no dot1x pae interface configuration command.

To disable 802.1X authentication on the port, perform this task:

To configure the port as an 802.1X port access entity (PAE) authenticator, which enables 802.1X on the port but does not allow clients connected to the port to be authorized, use the dot1x pae authenticator interface configuration command.

This example shows how to disable 802.1X authentication on the port:

Resetting the 802.1X Configuration to the Default Values

To reset the 802.1X configuration to the default values, perform this task:

This example shows how to reset a port’s 802.1X authentication settings to the default values:

Configuring an Authenticator and a Supplicant Switch with NEAT

Release 12.2(33)SXJ and later releases support Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT), which requires one switch to be configured as a supplicant and to be connected to an authenticator switch.

For overview information, see the “Understanding 802.1x Supplicant and Authenticator Switches with Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT)” section.

Note The cisco-av-pairs value must be configured as “device-traffic-class=switch” on the ACS, which sets the interface as a trunk after the supplicant is successfully authenticated.

To configure a switch as an authenticator, perform this task:

This example shows how to configure a switch as an 802.1x authenticator:

To configure a switch as a supplicant, perform this task:

This example shows how to configure a switch as a supplicant:

Displaying 802.1X Status

To display the global 802.1X administrative and operational status for the switch or the 802.1X settings for individual ports, perform this task:

This example shows how to view only the global 802.1X status:

This example shows how to view the global 802.1X status and the 802.1X settings for all interfaces using 802.1X authentication:

Displaying Authentication Methods and Status

To display the authentication methods and status, perform any of these tasks:

Table 60-3 shows the possible states of the authentication session.

Table 60-4 shows the possible states of the authentication methods.

This example shows how to display the registered authentication methods:

This example shows how to display the authentication details for a given interface:

This example shows how to display all authentication sessions on the switch:

This example shows how to display sessions authorized using a specified authentication method:

This example shows how to display all authentication sessions on an interface:

This example shows how to display the authentication session for a specified session ID:

This example shows how to display all clients authorized by the specified authentication method: