Quick Reference Guide

994 PowerConnect B-Series TI24X Configuration Guide
53-1002269-02
Configuring multi-device port authentication
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• Non-authenticated MAC addresses that are blocked by the device are aged out if no traffic is
received from the address over a fixed hardware aging period (70 seconds), plus a
configurable software aging period. (Refer to the next section for more information on
configuring the software aging period).
You can optionally disable aging for MAC addresses subject to authentication, either for all MAC
addresses or for those learned on a specified interface.
Globally disabling aging of MAC addresses
On most devices, you can disable aging for all MAC addresses on all interfaces where multi-device
port authentication has been enabled by entering the following command.
PowerConnect(config)# mac-authentication disable-aging
Syntax: mac-authentication disable-aging
Enter the command at the global or interface configuration level.
The denied-only parameter prevents denied sessions from being aged out, but ages out permitted
sessions.
The permitted-only parameter prevents permitted (authenticated and restricted) sessions from
being aged out and ages denied sessions.
Disabling the aging of MAC addresses on interfaces
To disable aging for all MAC addresses subject to authentication on a specific interface where
multi-device port authentication has been enabled, enter the command at the interface level.
Example
PowerConnect(config)# interface e 1
PowerConnect(config-if-e10000-1)# mac-authentication disable-aging
Syntax: [no] mac-authentication disable-aging
Changing the hardware aging period for blocked
MAC addresses
When the Dell device is configured to drop traffic from non-authenticated MAC addresses, traffic
from the blocked MAC addresses is dropped in hardware, without being sent to the CPU. A Layer 2
hardware entry is created that drops traffic from the MAC address in hardware. If no traffic is
received from the MAC address for a certain amount of time, this Layer 2 hardware entry is aged
out. If traffic is subsequently received from the MAC address, then an attempt can be made to
authenticate the MAC address again.
Aging of the Layer 2 hardware entry for a blocked MAC address occurs in two phases, known as
hardware aging and software aging.
The software aging period for blocked MAC addresses is configurable through the CLI, with the
mac-authentication max-age command. Once the hardware aging period ends, the software aging
period begins. When the software aging period ends, the blocked MAC address ages out, and can
be authenticated again if the device receives traffic from the MAC address.
To change the hardware aging period for blocked MAC addresses, enter a command such as the
following.