Reference Guide

802.1X

802.1X is a method of port security. A device connected to a port that is enabled with 802.1X is disallowed from sending or

receiving packets on the network until its identity can be verified (through a username and password, for example). This feature

is named for its IEEE specification.

802.1X employs extensible authentication protocol (EAP) to transfer a device’s credentials to an authentication server (typically

RADIUS) using a mandatory intermediary network access device, in this case, a Dell Networking switch. The network access

device mediates all communication between the end-user device and the authentication server so that the network remains

secure. The network access device uses EAP-over-Ethernet (EAPOL) to communicate with the end-user device and EAP-over-

RADIUS to communicate with the server.

NOTE: The Dell Networking OS supports 802.1X with EAP-MD5, EAP-OTP, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAPv0, PEAPv1, and

MS-CHAPv2 with PEAP.

The following figures show how the EAP frames are encapsulated in Ethernet and RADIUS frames.

Figure 2. EAP Frames Encapsulated in Ethernet and RADUIS

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