3Com Switch 4200G Configuration Guide

Introduction to 802.1x 157
■ Handshake timer (handshake-period): This timer sets the handshake-period and is
triggered after a supplicant system passes the authentication. It sets the interval to
for a switch to send handshake request packets to online users. If you set the
number of retries to N by using the dot1x retry command, an online user is
considered offline when the switch does not receive response packets from it in a
period N times of the handshake-period.
■ Quiet-period timer: This timer sets the quiet-period. When a supplicant system fails
to pass the authentication, the switch quiets for the set period before it processes
another authentication request re-initiated by the supplicant system.
802.1x Implementation
on an S4200G Series
Switch
In addition to the earlier mentioned 802.1x features, an S4200G series switch is also
capable of the following:
■ Cooperating with a CAMS server to check supplicant systems for dual-network
adapters, and so on.
■ Checking client version
■ Implementing the Guest VLAN function
CAMS server is a service management system developed by 3Com. It can cooperate
with network devices to carry out functions such as AAA and permission
management. It enables a network to operate in the desired way and enables you to
manage a network in a easy way. It also ensures network security.
Checking the supplicant system
An S4200G series switch checks:
■ Whether or not a supplicant system logs in through more than one network cards
(that is, whether or not more than one network adapters are active in a supplicant
system when the supplicant system logs in).
Chekcing the client version
With the 802.1x client-version-checking function enabled, a switch will check the
version and validity of an 802.1x client to prevent unauthorized users or users with
earlier versions of 802.1x from logging in.
This function makes the switch to send version-requesting packets again if the 802.1x
client fails to send version-reply packet to the switch before the version-checking
timer times out.
The client-version-checking function needs the support of 3Com’s 802.1x client
program.
The Guest VLAN function
The Guest VLAN function enables supplicant systems that do not pass the
authentication to access a LAN in a restrained way.
With the Guest VLAN function enabled, supplicant systems that do not have 802.1x
client installed can access specific network resources. They can also upgrade their
802.1x clients without being authenticated.
With this function enabled:
■ The switch broadcasts active authentication packets to all 802.1x-enabled ports.