AAA Services (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting)

AAA Services

RADIUS: Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service

• Port 1812 UDP for authentication
• Port 1813 TCP for accounting
• WPA Enterprise / WPA2 Enterprise both require a RADIUS server.
• RADIUS clients are also referred to as 802.1x clients.
• RADIUS is a client/server protocol.
• Communication between the client and the RADIUS server uses UDP
• RADIUS is vendor-neutral
• Only encrypts the passwords

Diameter

• Uses TCP for communication between client and server.
• Considered to be an improvement over RADIUS.
• Diameter also works with VoIP
• Used for both local and remote access

TACACS+: Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus

• TACACS+ provides a more advanced AAA
• Three different servers, Authentication, Authorization, Accounting
• Communicates over TCP
• Uses Port 49 TCP
• Manages routers and switches (Network infrastructure devices)
• Encrypts the entire packet
• TACACS+ is a proprietary protocol