6
Configuring Port-Based Access Control
(802.1x)
Contents
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
How 802.1x Operates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
General Operating Rules and Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9
General Setup Procedure for Port-Based Access Control (802.1x)
Do These Steps Before You Configure 802.1x Operation . . . . . . . . . 6-11
Overview: Configuring 802.1x Authentication on the Switch . . . . . . 6-12
Configuring Switch Ports as 802.1x Authenticators . . . . . . . . . . 6-15
802.1x Open VLAN Mode
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-20
Operating Rules for Authorized-Client and
Unauthorized-Client VLANs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-24
Setting Up and Configuring 802.1x Open VLAN Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-26
802.1x Open VLAN Operating Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-30
Option For Authenticator Ports: Configure Port-Security To Allow
Only 802.1x Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-31
Configuring Switch Ports To Operate As Supplicants for 802.1x
Connections to Other Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-33
Displaying 802.1x Configuration, Statistics, and Counters . . . . . . 6-37
Show Commands for Port-Access Authenticator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-37
Viewing 802.1x Open VLAN Mode Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-38
Show Commands for Port-Access Supplicant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-42
How RADIUS/802.1x Authentication Affects VLAN Operation . . 6-43
Messages Related to 802.1x Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-47
6-1
