Configuring IEEE 802.

1x Port-Based
Authentication
This chapter describes how to configure IEEE 802.1x port-based authentication. IEEE 802.1x authentication
prevents unauthorized devices (clients) from gaining access to the network. Unless otherwise noted, the term
switch refers to a standalone switch or a switch stack.
• Restrictions for IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication, on page 1
• Information About 802.1x Port-Based Authentication, on page 1
• How to Configure 802.1x Port-Based Authentication, on page 30
• Monitoring 802.1x Statistics and Status, on page 82
• Feature History for IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication, on page 83

Restrictions for IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

• Switchports are always unauthorized when used with private VLANs. Dynamic VLANs pushed from
the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) server is not supported on private VLAN
ports. The data client session is expected to authorize on the secondary VLAN of the private VLAN
dot1x port.
• Only interface-configured private VLAN-based authorization and dynamic VLAN on a normal access
VLAN port is supported.
• If the dot1q tag vlan native command is configured globally, the dot1x reauthentication will fail on
trunk ports.
• Do not configure the same VLAN ID for both voice VLAN and access VLAN at the same time, because
it may cause authentication failures.
• Port security is not supported with IEEE 802.1x port-based authentication.
• Wake-on-LAN (WoL) feature is not supported.

Information About 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

The 802.1x standard defines a client-server-based access control and authentication protocol that prevents
unauthorized clients from connecting to a LAN through publicly accessible ports unless they are properly

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Port-Based Authentication Process

authenticated. The authentication server authenticates each client connected to a switch port before making
available any services offered by the switch or the LAN.

Note TACACS is not supported with 802.1x authentication.

Until the client is authenticated, 802.1x access control allows only Extensible Authentication Protocol over
LAN (EAPOL), Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) traffic through the port
to which the client is connected. After authentication is successful, normal traffic can pass through the port.

Client session Maximum sessions supported

Maximum dot1x or MAB client sessions 2000

Maximum web-based authentication sessions 2000

Maximum dot1x sessions with critical-auth VLAN 2000

enabled and server re-initialized

Maximum MAB sessions with various session features 2000

applied

Maximum dot1x sessions with service templates or 2000

session features applied

Port-Based Authentication Process

To configure IEEE 802.1X port-based authentication, you must enable authentication, authorization, and
accounting (AAA) and specify the authentication method list. A method list describes the sequence and
authentication method to be queried to authenticate a user.
The AAA process begins with authentication. When 802.1x port-based authentication is enabled and the client
supports 802.1x-compliant client software, these events occur:
• If the client identity is valid and the 802.1x authentication succeeds, the switch grants the client access
to the network.
• If 802.1x authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL message exchange and MAC authentication
bypass is enabled, the switch can use the client MAC address for authorization. If the client MAC address
is valid and the authorization succeeds, the switch grants the client access to the network. If the client
MAC address is invalid and the authorization fails, the switch assigns the client to a guest VLAN that
provides limited services if a guest VLAN is configured.
• If the switch gets an invalid identity from an 802.1x-capable client and a restricted VLAN is specified,
the switch can assign the client to a restricted VLAN that provides limited services.
• If the RADIUS authentication server is unavailable (down) and inaccessible authentication bypass is
enabled, the switch grants the client access to the network by putting the port in the critical-authentication
state in the RADIUS-configured or the user-specified access VLAN.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Port-Based Authentication Process

Note Inaccessible authentication bypass is also referred to as critical authentication or

the AAA fail policy.

If Multi Domain Authentication (MDA) is enabled on a port, this flow can be used with some exceptions that
are applicable to voice authorization.
Figure 1: Authentication Flowchart

This figure shows the authentication process.

The switch re-authenticates a client when one of these situations occurs:

• Periodic re-authentication is enabled, and the re-authentication timer expires.
You can configure the re-authentication timer to use a switch-specific value or to be based on values
from the RADIUS server.
After 802.1x authentication using a RADIUS server is configured, the switch uses timers based on the
Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) and the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute
(Attribute [29]).
The Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) specifies the time after which re-authentication
occurs. The range is 1 to 65535 seconds.
The Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute [29]) specifies the action to take during
re-authentication. The actions are Initialize and ReAuthenticate. When the Initialize action is set (the

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Port-Based Authentication Initiation and Message Exchange

attribute value is DEFAULT), the 802.1x session ends, and connectivity is lost during re-authentication.
When the ReAuthenticate action is set (the attribute value is RADIUS-Request), the session is not affected
during re-authentication.
• You manually re-authenticate the client by entering the dot1x re-authenticate interface interface-id
privileged EXEC command.

Port-Based Authentication Initiation and Message Exchange

During 802.1x authentication, the switch or the client can initiate authentication. If you enable authentication
on a port by using the authentication port-control auto interface configuration command, the switch initiates
authentication when the link state changes from down to up or periodically as long as the port remains up and
unauthenticated. The switch sends an EAP-request/identity frame to the client to request its identity. Upon
receipt of the frame, the client responds with an EAP-response/identity frame.
However, if during bootup, the client does not receive an EAP-request/identity frame from the switch, the
client can initiate authentication by sending an EAPOL-start frame, which prompts the switch to request the
client’s identity.

Note If 802.1x authentication is not enabled or supported on the network access device, any EAPOL frames from
the client are dropped. If the client does not receive an EAP-request/identity frame after three attempts to start
authentication, the client sends frames as if the port is in the authorized state. A port in the authorized state
effectively means that the client has been successfully authenticated.

When the client supplies its identity, the switch begins its role as the intermediary, passing EAP frames between
the client and the authentication server until authentication succeeds or fails. If the authentication succeeds,
the switch port becomes authorized. If the authentication fails, authentication can be retried, the port might
be assigned to a VLAN that provides limited services, or network access is not granted.
The specific exchange of EAP frames depends on the authentication method being used.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Port-Based Authentication Initiation and Message Exchange

Figure 2: Message Exchange

This figure shows a message exchange initiated by the client when the client uses the One-Time-Password
(OTP) authentication method with a RADIUS server.

If 802.1x authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL message exchange and MAC authentication
bypass is enabled, the switch can authorize the client when the switch detects an Ethernet packet from the
client. The switch uses the MAC address of the client as its identity and includes this information in the
RADIUS-access/request frame that is sent to the RADIUS server. After the server sends the switch the
RADIUS-access/accept frame (authorization is successful), the port becomes authorized. If authorization fails
and a guest VLAN is specified, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN. If the switch detects an EAPOL
packet while waiting for an Ethernet packet, the switch stops the MAC authentication bypass process and
starts 802.1x authentication.
Figure 3: Message Exchange During MAC Authentication Bypass

This figure shows the message exchange during MAC authentication bypass.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Authentication Manager for Port-Based Authentication

Authentication Manager for Port-Based Authentication

Port-Based Authentication Methods
Table 1: 802.1x Features

Authentication method Mode

Single host Multiple host MDA Multiple

Authentica

802.1x VLAN assignment VLAN assignment VLAN assignment VLAN assi

Per-user ACL Per-user ACL Per-user AC
Filter-ID attribute Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id att
Downloadable ACL Downloadable ACL Downloada
Redirect URL Redirect URL Redirect UR

MAC authentication bypass VLAN assignment VLAN assignment VLAN assignment VLAN assi
Per-user ACL Per-user ACL Per-user AC
Filter-ID attribute Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id att
Downloadable ACL Downloadable ACL Downloada
Redirect URL Redirect URL Redirect UR

Standalone web authentication Proxy ACL, Filter-Id attribute, downloadable ACL

NAC Layer 2 IP validation Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id att
Downloadable ACL Downloadable ACL Downloadable ACL Downloada
Redirect URL Redirect URL Redirect URL Redirect UR

Web authentication as fallback method Proxy ACL Proxy ACL Proxy ACL Proxy ACL
Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id attribute Filter-Id att
Downloadable ACL Downloadable ACL Downloadable ACL Downloada
1
Supported in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(50)SE and later.
2
For clients that do not support 802.1x authentication.

Per-User ACLs and Filter-Ids

Note Using role-based ACLs as Filter-Id is not recommended.

More than one host can be authenticated on MDA-enabled and multiauth ports. The ACL policy applied for
one host does not effect the traffic of another host. If only one host is authenticated on a multi-host port, and
the other hosts gain network access without authentication, the ACL policy for the first host can be applied
to the other connected hosts by specifying any in the source address.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Port-Based Authentication Manager CLI Commands

Port-Based Authentication Manager CLI Commands

The authentication-manager interface-configuration commands control all the authentication methods, such
as 802.1x, MAC authentication bypass, and web authentication. The authentication manager commands
determine the priority and order of authentication methods applied to a connected host.
The authentication manager commands control generic authentication features, such as host-mode, violation
mode, and the authentication timer. Generic authentication commands include the authentication host-mode,
authentication violation, and authentication timer interface configuration commands.
802.1x-specific commands begin with the dot1x keyword. For example, the authentication port-control
auto interface configuration command enables authentication on an interface.
To disable dot1x on a switch, remove the configuration globally by using the no dot1x system-auth-control
command, and also remove it from all configured interfaces.

Note If 802.1x authentication is globally disabled, other authentication methods are still enabled on that port, such
as web authentication.

The authentication manager commands provide the same functionality as earlier 802.1x commands.
When filtering out verbose system messages generated by the authentication manager, the filtered content
typically relates to authentication success. You can also filter verbose messages for 802.1x authentication and
MAB authentication. There is a separate command for each authentication method:
• The no authentication logging verbose global configuration command filters verbose messages from
the authentication manager.
• The no dot1x logging verbose global configuration command filters 802.1x authentication verbose
messages.
• The no mab logging verbose global configuration command filters MAC authentication bypass (MAB)
verbose messages

Table 2: Authentication Manager Commands and Earlier 802.1x Commands

The authentication manager The equivalent 802.1x commands in Description

commands in Cisco IOS Cisco IOS Release 12.2(46)SE and
Release 12.2(50)SE or later earlier

authentication control-direction dot1x control-direction {both | in} Enable 802.1x authentication with the w
{both | in} (WoL) feature, and configure the port c
unidirectional or bidirectional.

authentication event dot1x auth-fail vlan Enable the restricted VLAN on a port.
dot1x critical (interface Enable the inaccessible-authentication-b
configuration)
Specify an active VLAN as an 802.1x g
dot1x guest-vlan6

authentication fallback dot1x fallback fallback-profile Configure a port to use web authenticat
fallback-profile fallback method for clients that do not su
authentication.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Ports in Authorized and Unauthorized States

The authentication manager The equivalent 802.1x commands in Description

commands in Cisco IOS Cisco IOS Release 12.2(46)SE and
Release 12.2(50)SE or later earlier

authentication host-mode dot1x host-mode {single-host | Allow a single host (client) or multiple hos
[multi-auth | multi-domain | multi-host | multi-domain} an 802.1x-authorized port.
multi-host | single-host]

authentication order mab Provides the flexibility to define the order

authentication methods to be used.

authentication periodic dot1x reauthentication Enable periodic re-authentication of the cli

authentication port-control {auto | dot1x port-control {auto | Enable manual control of the authorization
force-authorized | force-un force-authorized | the port.
authorized} force-unauthorized}

authentication timer dot1x timeout Set the 802.1x timers.

authentication violation {protect | dot1x violation-mode {shutdown | Configure the violation modes that occur w
restrict | shutdown} restrict | protect} device connects to a port or when a new de
connects to a port after the maximum numb
devices are connected to that port.

Ports in Authorized and Unauthorized States

During 802.1x authentication, depending on the switch port state, the switch can grant a client access to the
network. The port starts in the unauthorized state. While in this state, the port that is not configured as a voice
VLAN port disallows all ingress and egress traffic except for 802.1x authentication, CDP, and STP packets.
When a client is successfully authenticated, the port changes to the authorized state, allowing all traffic for
the client to flow normally. If the port is configured as a voice VLAN port, the port allows VoIP traffic and
802.1x protocol packets before the client is successfully authenticated.

Note CDP bypass is not supported and may cause a port to go into err-disabled state.

If a client that does not support 802.1x authentication connects to an unauthorized 802.1x port, the switch
requests the client’s identity. In this situation, the client does not respond to the request, the port remains in
the unauthorized state, and the client is not granted access to the network.
In contrast, when an 802.1x-enabled client connects to a port that is not running the 802.1x standard, the client
initiates the authentication process by sending the EAPOL-start frame. When no response is received, the
client sends the request for a fixed number of times. Because no response is received, the client begins sending
frames as if the port is in the authorized state.
You control the port authorization state by using the authentication port-control interface configuration
command and these keywords:
• force-authorized—disables 802.1x authentication and causes the port to change to the authorized state
without any authentication exchange required. The port sends and receives normal traffic without
802.1x-based authentication of the client. This is the default setting.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Port-Based Authentication and Switch Stacks

• force-unauthorized—causes the port to remain in the unauthorized state, ignoring all attempts by the
client to authenticate. The switch cannot provide authentication services to the client through the port.
• auto—enables 802.1x authentication and causes the port to begin in the unauthorized state, allowing
only EAPOL frames to be sent and received through the port. The authentication process begins when
the link state of the port changes from down to up or when an EAPOL-start frame is received. The switch
requests the identity of the client and begins relaying authentication messages between the client and the
authentication server. Each client attempting to access the network is uniquely identified by the switch
by using the client MAC address.

If the client is successfully authenticated (receives an Accept frame from the authentication server), the port
state changes to authorized, and all frames from the authenticated client are allowed through the port. If the
authentication fails, the port remains in the unauthorized state, but authentication can be retried. If the
authentication server cannot be reached, the switch can resend the request. If no response is received from
the server after the specified number of attempts, authentication fails, and network access is not granted.
When a client logs off, it sends an EAPOL-logoff message, causing the switch port to change to the unauthorized
state.
If the link state of a port changes from up to down, or if an EAPOL-logoff frame is received, the port returns
to the unauthorized state.

Port-Based Authentication and Switch Stacks

If a switch is added to or removed from a switch stack, 802.1x authentication is not affected as long as the IP
connectivity between the RADIUS server and the stack remains intact. This statement also applies if the stack's
active switch is removed from the switch stack. Note that if the active switch fails, a stack member becomes
the new active switch of the stack by using the election process, and the 802.1x authentication process continues
as usual.
If IP connectivity to the RADIUS server is interrupted because the switch that was connected to the server is
removed or fails, these events occur:
• Ports that are already authenticated and that do not have periodic re-authentication enabled remain in the
authenticated state. Communication with the RADIUS server is not required.
• Ports that are already authenticated and that have periodic re-authentication enabled (with the dot1x
re-authentication global configuration command) fail the authentication process when the
re-authentication occurs. Ports return to the unauthenticated state during the re-authentication process.
Communication with the RADIUS server is required.
For an ongoing authentication, the authentication fails immediately because there is no server connectivity.

If the switch that failed comes up and rejoins the switch stack, the authentications might or might not fail
depending on the boot-up time and whether the connectivity to the RADIUS server is re-established by the
time the authentication is attempted.
To avoid loss of connectivity to the RADIUS server, you should ensure that there is a redundant connection
to it. For example, you can have a redundant connection to the stack's active switch and another to a stack
member, and if the active switch fails, the switch stack still has connectivity to the RADIUS server.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Host Mode

802.1x Host Mode

You can configure an 802.1x port for single-host or for multiple-hosts mode. In single-host mode, only one
client can be connected to the 802.1x-enabled switch port. The switch detects the client by sending an EAPOL
frame when the port link state changes to the up state. If a client leaves or is replaced with another client, the
switch changes the port link state to down, and the port returns to the unauthorized state.
In multiple-hosts mode, you can attach multiple hosts to a single 802.1x-enabled port. In this mode, only one
of the attached clients must be authorized for all clients to be granted network access. If the port becomes
unauthorized (re-authentication fails or an EAPOL-logoff message is received), the switch denies network
access to all of the attached clients.
The switch supports multidomain authentication (MDA), which allows both a data device and a voice device,
such as an IP Phone (Cisco or non-Cisco), to connect to the same switch port.

802.1x Multiple Authentication Mode

Multiple-authentication (multiauth) mode allows multiple authenticated clients on the data VLAN and voice
VLAN. Each host is individually authenticated. There is no limit to the number of data or voice device that
can be authenticated on a multiauthport.
You can assign a RADIUS-server-supplied VLAN in multi-auth mode, under the following conditions:
• The host is the first host authorized on the port, and the RADIUS server supplies VLAN information
• Subsequent hosts are authorized with a VLAN that matches the operational VLAN.
• A host is authorized on the port with no VLAN assignment, and subsequent hosts either have no VLAN
assignment, or their VLAN information matches the operational VLAN.
• The first host authorized on the port has a group VLAN assignment, and subsequent hosts either have
no VLAN assignment, or their group VLAN matches the group VLAN on the port. Subsequent hosts
must use the same VLAN from the VLAN group as the first host. If a VLAN list is used, all hosts are
subject to the conditions specified in the VLAN list.
• After a VLAN is assigned to a host on the port, subsequent hosts must have matching VLAN information
or be denied access to the port.
• The behavior of the critical-auth VLAN is not changed for multi-auth mode. When a host tries to
authenticate and the server is not reachable, all authorized hosts are reinitialized in the configured VLAN.

Multi-auth Per User VLAN assignment

The Multi-auth Per User VLAN assignment feature allows you to create multiple operational access VLANs
based on VLANs assigned to the clients on the port that has a single configured access VLAN. The port
configured as an access port where the traffic for all the VLANs associated with data domain is not dot1q
tagged, and these VLANs are treated as native VLANs.
The number of hosts per multi-auth port is 8, however there can be more hosts.
The following scenarios are associated with the multi-auth Per User VLAN assignments:
Scenario one
When a hub is connected to an access port, and the port is configured with an access VLAN (V0).

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Limitation in Multi-auth Per User VLAN assignment

The host (H1) is assigned to VLAN (V1) through the hub. The operational VLAN of the port is changed to
V1. This behaviour is similar on a single-host or multi-domain-auth port.
When a second host (H2) is connected and gets assigned to VLAN ( V2), the port will have two operational
VLANs (V1 and V2). If H1 and H2 sends untagged ingress traffic, H1 traffic is mapped to VLAN (V1) and
H2 traffic to VLAN (V2), all egress traffic going out of the port on VLAN (V1) and VLAN (V2) are untagged.
If both the hosts, H1 and H2 are logged out or the sessions are removed due to some reason then VLAN (V1)
and VLAN (V2) are removed from the port, and the configured VLAN (V0) is restored on the port.
Scenario two
When a hub is connected to an access port, and the port is configured with an access VLAN (V0). The host
(H1) is assigned to VLAN (V1) through the hub. The operational VLAN of the port is changed to V1.
When a second host (H2) is connected and gets authorized without explicit vlan policy, H2 is expected to use
the configured VLAN (V0) that is restored on the port. A ll egress traffic going out of two operational VLANs,
VLAN (V0) and VLAN (V1) are untagged.
If host (H2 ) is logged out or the session is removed due to some reason then the configured VLAN (V0) is
removed from the port, and VLAN (V1) becomes the only operational VLAN on the port.
Scenario three
When a hub is connected to an access port in open mode, and the port is configured with an access VLAN
(V0) .
The host (H1) is assigned to VLAN (V1) through the hub. The operational VLAN of the port is changed to
V1. When a second host (H2) is connected and remains unauthorized, it still has access to operational VLAN
(V1) due to open mode.
If host H1 is logged out or the session is removed due to some reason, VLAN (V1) is removed from the port
and host (H2) gets assigned to VLAN (V0).

Note The combination of Open mode and VLAN assignment has an adverse affect on host (H2) because it has an
IP address in the subnet that corresponds to VLAN (V1).

Limitation in Multi-auth Per User VLAN assignment

In the Multi-auth Per User VLAN assignment feature, egress traffic from multiple vlans are untagged on a
port where the hosts receive traffic that is not meant for them. This can be a problem with broadcast and
multicast traffic.
• IPv4 ARPs: Hosts receive ARP packets from other subnets. This is a problem if two subnets in different
Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) tables with overlapping IP address range are active on the port.
The host ARP cache may get invalid entries.
• IPv6 control packets: In IPv6 deployments, Router Advertisements (RA) are processed by hosts that
are not supposed to receive them. When a host from one VLAN receives RA from a different VLAN,
the host assign incorrect IPv6 address to itself. Such a host is unable to get access to the network.
The workaround is to enable the IPv6 first hop security so that the broadcast ICMPv6 packets are converted
to unicast and sent out from multi-auth enabled ports.. The packet is replicated for each client in multi-auth
port belonging to the VLAN and the destination MAC is set to an individual client. Ports having one
VLAN, ICMPv6 packets broadcast normally.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
MAC Move

• IP multicast: Multicast traffic destined to a multicast group gets replicated for different VLANs if the
hosts on those VLANs join the multicast group. When two hosts in different VLANs join a multicast
group (on the same mutli-auth port), two copies of each multicast packet are sent out from that port.

MAC Move
When a MAC address is authenticated on one switch port, that address is not allowed on another authentication
manager-enabled port of the switch. If the switch detects that same MAC address on another authentication
manager-enabled port, the address is not allowed.
There are situations where a MAC address might need to move from one port to another on the same switch.
For example, when there is another device (for example a hub or an IP phone) between an authenticated host
and a switch port, you might want to disconnect the host from the device and connect it directly to another
port on the same switch.
You can globally enable MAC move so the device is reauthenticated on the new port. When a host moves to
a second port, the session on the first port is deleted, and the host is reauthenticated on the new port. MAC
move is supported on all host modes. (The authenticated host can move to any port on the switch, no matter
which host mode is enabled on the that port.) When a MAC address moves from one port to another, the
switch terminates the authenticated session on the original port and initiates a new authentication sequence
on the new port. The MAC move feature applies to both voice and data hosts.

Note In open authentication mode, a MAC address is immediately moved from the original port to the new port,
with no requirement for authorization on the new port.

MAC Replace
The MAC replace feature can be configured to address the violation that occurs when a host attempts to
connect to a port where another host was previously authenticated.

Note This feature does not apply to ports in multi-auth mode, because violations are not triggered in that mode. It
does not apply to ports in multiple host mode, because in that mode, only the first host requires authentication.

If you configure the authentication violation interface configuration command with the replace keyword,
the authentication process on a port in multi-domain mode is:
• A new MAC address is received on a port with an existing authenticated MAC address.
• The authentication manager replaces the MAC address of the current data host on the port with the new
MAC address.
• The authentication manager initiates the authentication process for the new MAC address.
• If the authentication manager determines that the new host is a voice host, the original voice host is
removed.

If a port is in open authentication mode, any new MAC address is immediately added to the MAC address
table.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Accounting

802.1x Accounting
The 802.1x standard defines how users are authorized and authenticated for network access but does not keep
track of network usage. 802.1x accounting is disabled by default. You can enable 802.1x accounting to monitor
this activity on 802.1x-enabled ports:
• User successfully authenticates.
• User logs off.
• Link-down occurs.
• Re-authentication successfully occurs.
• Re-authentication fails.

The switch does not log 802.1x accounting information. Instead, it sends this information to the RADIUS
server, which must be configured to log accounting messages.

802.1x Accounting Attribute-Value Pairs

The information sent to the RADIUS server is represented in the form of Attribute-Value (AV) pairs. These
AV pairs provide data for different applications. (For example, a billing application might require information
that is in the Acct-Input-Octets or the Acct-Output-Octets attributes of a RADIUS packet.)
AV pairs are automatically sent by a switch that is configured for 802.1x accounting. Three types of RADIUS
accounting packets are sent by a switch:
• START–sent when a new user session starts
• INTERIM–sent during an existing session for updates
• STOP–sent when a session terminates

You can view the AV pairs that are being sent by the switch by entering the debug radius accounting
privileged EXEC command. For more information about this command, see the Cisco IOS Debug Command
Reference, Release 12.4.
This table lists the AV pairs and when they are sent are sent by the switch.

Table 3: Accounting AV Pairs

Attribute Number AV Pair Name START INTERIM STOP

Attribute[1] User-Name Always Always Always

Attribute[4] NAS-IP-Address Always Always Always

Attribute[5] NAS-Port Always Always Always

Attribute[8] Framed-IP-Address Never Sometimes3 Sometimes

Attribute[25] Class Always Always Always

Attribute[30] Called-Station-ID Always Always Always

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Readiness Check

Attribute Number AV Pair Name START INTERIM STOP

Attribute[31] Calling-Station-ID Always Always Always

Attribute[40] Acct-Status-Type Always Always Always

Attribute[41] Acct-Delay-Time Always Always Always

Attribute[42] Acct-Input-Octets Never Always Always

Attribute[43] Acct-Output-Octets Never Always Always

Attribute[47] Acct-Input-Packets Never Always Always

Attribute[48] Acct-Output-Packets Never Always Always

Attribute[44] Acct-Session-ID Always Always Always

Attribute[45] Acct-Authentic Always Always Always

Attribute[46] Acct-Session-Time Never Always Always

Attribute[49] Acct-Terminate-Cause Never Never Always

Attribute[61] NAS-Port-Type Always Always Always

3
The Framed-IP-Address AV pair is sent when a valid static IP address is configured or w when a Dynamic
Host Control Protocol (DHCP) binding exists for the host in the DHCP snooping bindings table.

802.1x Readiness Check

The 802.1x readiness check monitors 802.1x activity on all the switch ports and displays information about
the devices connected to the ports that support 802.1x. You can use this feature to determine if the devices
connected to the switch ports are 802.1x-capable. You use an alternate authentication such as MAC
authentication bypass or web authentication for the devices that do not support 802.1x functionality.
This feature only works if the supplicant on the client supports a query with the NOTIFY EAP notification
packet. The client must respond within the 802.1x timeout value.

Switch-to-RADIUS-Server Communication
RADIUS security servers are identified by their hostname or IP address, hostname and specific UDP port
numbers, or IP address and specific UDP port numbers. The combination of the IP address and UDP port
number creates a unique identifier, which enables RADIUS requests to be sent to multiple UDP ports on a
server at the same IP address. If two different host entries on the same RADIUS server are configured for the
same service—for example, authentication—the second host entry configured acts as the fail-over backup to
the first one. The RADIUS host entries are tried in the order that they were configured.

802.1x Authentication with VLAN Assignment

The switch supports 802.1x authentication with VLAN assignment. After successful 802.1x authentication
of a port, the RADIUS server sends the VLAN assignment to configure the switch port. The RADIUS server

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

14
Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Authentication with VLAN Assignment

database maintains the username-to-VLAN mappings, assigning the VLAN based on the username of the
client connected to the switch port. You can use this feature to limit network access for certain users.
Voice device authentication is supported with multidomain host mode in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(37)SE. In
Cisco IOS Release 12.2(40)SE and later, when a voice device is authorized and the RADIUS server returned
an authorized VLAN, the voice VLAN on the port is configured to send and receive packets on the assigned
voice VLAN. Voice VLAN assignment behaves the same as data VLAN assignment on multidomain
authentication (MDA)-enabled ports.
When configured on the switch and the RADIUS server, 802.1x authentication with VLAN assignment has
these characteristics:
• If no VLAN is supplied by the RADIUS server or if 802.1x authentication is disabled, the port is
configured in its access VLAN after successful authentication. Recall that an access VLAN is a VLAN
assigned to an access port. All packets sent from or received on this port belong to this VLAN.
• If 802.1x authentication is enabled but the VLAN information from the RADIUS server is not valid,
authorization fails and configured VLAN remains in use. This prevents ports from appearing unexpectedly
in an inappropriate VLAN because of a configuration error.
Configuration errors could include specifying a VLAN for a routed port, a malformed VLAN ID, a
nonexistent or internal (routed port) VLAN ID, an RSPAN VLAN, a shut down or suspended VLAN.
In the case of a multidomain host port, configuration errors can also be due to an attempted assignment
of a data VLAN that matches the configured or assigned voice VLAN ID (or the reverse).
• If 802.1x authentication is enabled and all information from the RADIUS server is valid, the authorized
device is placed in the specified VLAN after authentication.
• If the multiple-hosts mode is enabled on an 802.1x port, all hosts are placed in the same VLAN (specified
by the RADIUS server) as the first authenticated host.
• Enabling port security does not impact the RADIUS server-assigned VLAN behavior.
• If 802.1x authentication is disabled on the port, it is returned to the configured access VLAN and
configured voice VLAN.
• If an 802.1x port is authenticated and put in the RADIUS server-assigned VLAN, any change to the port
access VLAN configuration does not take effect. In the case of a multidomain host, the same applies to
voice devices when the port is fully authorized with these exceptions:
• If the VLAN configuration change of one device results in matching the other device configured
or assigned VLAN, then authorization of all devices on the port is terminated and multidomain host
mode is disabled until a valid configuration is restored where data and voice device configured
VLANs no longer match.
• If a voice device is authorized and is using a downloaded voice VLAN, the removal of the voice
VLAN configuration, or modifying the configuration value to dot1p or untagged results in voice
device un-authorization and the disablement of multi-domain host mode.

When the port is in the force authorized, force unauthorized, unauthorized, or shutdown state, it is put into
the configured access VLAN.
To configure VLAN assignment you need to perform these tasks:
• Enable AAA authorization by using the network keyword to allow interface configuration from the
RADIUS server.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

15
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Authentication with Per-User ACLs

• Enable 802.1x authentication. (The VLAN assignment feature is automatically enabled when you configure
802.1x authentication on an access port).
• Assign vendor-specific tunnel attributes in the RADIUS server. The RADIUS server must return these
attributes to the switch:
• [64] Tunnel-Type = VLAN
• [65] Tunnel-Medium-Type = 802
• [81] Tunnel-Private-Group-ID = VLAN name or VLAN ID
• [83] Tunnel-Preference

Attribute [64] must contain the value VLAN (type 13). Attribute [65] must contain the value 802 (type
6). Attribute [81] specifies the VLAN name or VLAN ID assigned to the IEEE 802.1x-authenticated user.

802.1x Authentication with Per-User ACLs

You can enable per-user access control lists (ACLs) to provide different levels of network access and service
to an 802.1x-authenticated user. When the RADIUS server authenticates a user connected to an 802.1x port,
it retrieves the ACL attributes based on the user identity and sends them to the switch. The switch applies the
attributes to the 802.1x port for the duration of the user session. The switch removes the per-user ACL
configuration when the session is over, if authentication fails, or if a link-down condition occurs. The switch
does not save RADIUS-specified ACLs in the running configuration. When the port is unauthorized, the
switch removes the ACL from the port.
You can configure router ACLs and input port ACLs on the same switch. However, a port ACL takes precedence
over a router ACL. If you apply input port ACL to an interface that belongs to a VLAN, the port ACL takes
precedence over an input router ACL applied to the VLAN interface. Incoming packets received on the port,
to which a port ACL is applied, are filtered by the port ACL. Incoming routed packets received on other ports
are filtered by the router ACL. Outgoing routed packets are filtered by the router ACL. To avoid configuration
conflicts, you should carefully plan the user profiles stored on the RADIUS server.
RADIUS supports per-user attributes, including vendor-specific attributes. These vendor-specific attributes
(VSAs) are in octet-string format and are passed to the switch during the authentication process. The VSAs
used for per-user ACLs are inacl#<n> for the ingress direction and outacl#<n> for the egress direction. MAC
ACLs are supported only in the ingress direction. The switch supports VSAs only in the ingress direction. It
does not support port ACLs in the egress direction on Layer 2 ports.
Use only the extended ACL syntax style to define the per-user configuration stored on the RADIUS server.
When the definitions are passed from the RADIUS server, they are created by using the extended naming
convention. However, if you use the Filter-Id attribute, it can point to a standard ACL.
You can use the Filter-Id attribute to specify an inbound or outbound ACL that is already configured on the
switch. The attribute contains the ACL number followed by .in for ingress filtering or .out for egress filtering.
If the RADIUS server does not allow the .in or .out syntax, the access list is applied to the outbound ACL by
default. The user is marked unauthorized if the Filter-Id sent from the RADIUS server is not configured on
the device. Because of limited support of Cisco IOS access lists on the switch, the Filter-Id attribute is supported
only for IP ACLs numbered in the range of 1 to 199 (IP standard ACLs) and 1300 to 2699 (IP extended ACLs).
The maximum size of the per-user ACL is 4000 ASCII characters but is limited by the maximum size of
RADIUS-server per-user ACLs.
You must meet the following prerequisites to configure per-user ACLs:

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Authentication with Downloadable ACLs and Redirect URLs

• Enable AAA authentication.

• Enable AAA authorization by using the network keyword to allow interface configuration from the
RADIUS server.
• Enable 802.1x authentication.
• Configure the user profile and VSAs on the RADIUS server.
• Configure the 802.1x port for single-host mode.

Note Per-user ACLs are supported only in single-host mode.

802.1x Authentication with Downloadable ACLs and Redirect URLs

You can download ACLs and redirect URLs from a RADIUS server to the switch during 802.1x authentication
or MAC authentication bypass of the host. You can also download ACLs during web authentication.

Note A downloadable ACL is also referred to as a dACL.

You can apply the ACLs and redirect URLs to all the devices connected to the 802.1x-enabled port.
If no ACLs are downloaded during 802.1x authentication, the switch applies the static default ACL on the
port to the host. On a voice VLAN port configured in multi-auth or MDA mode, the switch applies the ACL
only to the phone as part of the authorization policies.
For a URL redirect ACL:
• Packets that match a permit access control entry (ACE) rule are sent to the CPU for forwarding to the
AAA server.
• Packets that match a deny ACE rule are forwarded through the switch.
• Packets that match neither the permit ACE rule or deny ACE rule are processed by the next dACL, and
if there is no dACL, the packets hit the implicit-deny ACL and are dropped.

VLAN ID-Based MAC Authentication

You can use VLAN ID-based MAC authentication if you wish to authenticate hosts based on a static VLAN
ID instead of a downloadable VLAN. When you have a static VLAN policy configured on your switch, VLAN
information is sent to an IAS (Microsoft) RADIUS server along with the MAC address of each host for
authentication. The VLAN ID configured on the connected port is used for MAC authentication. By using
VLAN ID-based MAC authentication with an IAS server, you can have a fixed number of VLANs in the
network.
The feature also limits the number of VLANs monitored and handled by STP. The network can be managed
as a fixed VLAN.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Authentication with Guest VLAN

802.1x Authentication with Guest VLAN

You can configure a guest VLAN for each 802.1x port on the switch to provide limited services to clients,
such as downloading the 802.1x client. These clients might be upgrading their system for 802.1x authentication,
and some hosts, such as Windows 98 systems, might not be IEEE 802.1x-capable.
When you enable a guest VLAN on an 802.1x port, the switch assigns clients to a guest VLAN when the
switch does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame or when EAPOL packets are not sent by
the client.
The switch maintains the EAPOL packet history. If an EAPOL packet is detected on the interface during the
lifetime of the link, the switch determines that the device connected to that interface is an IEEE 802.1x-capable
supplicant, and the interface does not change to the guest VLAN state. EAPOL history is cleared if the interface
link status goes down. If no EAPOL packet is detected on the interface, the interface changes to the guest
VLAN state.
If the switch is trying to authorize an 802.1x-capable voice device and the AAA server is unavailable, the
authorization attempt fails, but the detection of the EAPOL packet is saved in the EAPOL history. When the
AAA server becomes available, the switch authorizes the voice device. However, the switch no longer allows
other devices access to the guest VLAN. To prevent this situation, use one of these command sequences:
• Enter the authentication event no-response action authorize vlan vlan-id interface configuration
command to allow access to the guest VLAN.
• Enter the shutdown interface configuration command followed by the no shutdown interface configuration
command to restart the port.

If devices send EAPOL packets to the switch during the lifetime of the link, the switch no longer allows clients
that fail authentication access to the guest VLAN.

Note If an EAPOL packet is detected after the interface has changed to the guest VLAN, the interface reverts to an
unauthorized state, and 802.1x authentication restarts.

Any number of 802.1x-incapable clients are allowed access when the switch port is moved to the guest VLAN.
If an 802.1x-capable client joins the same port on which the guest VLAN is configured, the port is put into
the unauthorized state in the user-configured access VLAN, and authentication is restarted.
Guest VLANs are supported on 802.1x ports in single host, multiple host, multi-auth and multi-domain modes.
You can configure any active VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN, a private VLAN, or a voice VLAN as an
802.1x guest VLAN. The guest VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed ports) or trunk
ports; it is supported only on access ports.
The switch supports MAC authentication bypass. When MAC authentication bypass is enabled on an 802.1x
port, the switch can authorize clients based on the client MAC address when IEEE 802.1x authentication times
out while waiting for an EAPOL message exchange. After detecting a client on an 802.1x port, the switch
waits for an Ethernet packet from the client. The switch sends the authentication server a
RADIUS-access/request frame with a username and password based on the MAC address. If authorization
succeeds, the switch grants the client access to the network. If authorization fails, the switch assigns the port
to the guest VLAN if one is specified.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Authentication with Restricted VLAN

802.1x Authentication with Restricted VLAN

You can configure a restricted VLAN (also referred to as an authentication failed VLAN) for each IEEE 802.1x
port on a switch stack or a switch to provide limited services to clients that cannot access the guest VLAN.
These clients are 802.1x-compliant and cannot access another VLAN because they fail the authentication
process. A restricted VLAN allows users without valid credentials in an authentication server (typically,
visitors to an enterprise) to access a limited set of services. The administrator can control the services available
to the restricted VLAN.

Note You can configure a VLAN to be both the guest VLAN and the restricted VLAN if you want to provide the
same services to both types of users.

Without this feature, the client attempts and fails authentication indefinitely, and the switch port remains in
the spanning-tree blocking state. With this feature, you can configure the switch port to be in the restricted
VLAN after a specified number of authentication attempts (the default value is 3 attempts).
The authenticator counts the failed authentication attempts for the client. When this count exceeds the configured
maximum number of authentication attempts, the port moves to the restricted VLAN. The failed attempt count
increments when the RADIUS server replies with either an EAP failure or an empty response without an EAP
packet. When the port moves into the restricted VLAN, the failed attempt counter resets.
Users who fail authentication remain in the restricted VLAN until the next re-authentication attempt. A port
in the restricted VLAN tries to re-authenticate at configured intervals (the default is 60 seconds). If
re-authentication fails, the port remains in the restricted VLAN. If re-authentication is successful, the port
moves either to the configured VLAN or to a VLAN sent by the RADIUS server. You can disable
re-authentication. If you do this, the only way to restart the authentication process is for the port to receive a
link down or EAP logoff event. We recommend that you keep re-authentication enabled if a client might
connect through a hub. When a client disconnects from the hub, the port might not receive the link down or
EAP logoff event.
After a port moves to the restricted VLAN, a simulated EAP success message is sent to the client. This prevents
clients from indefinitely attempting authentication. Some clients (for example, devices running Windows XP)
cannot implement DHCP without EAP success.
Restricted VLANs are supported on 802.1x ports in all host modes and on Layer 2 ports.
You can configure any active VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN, a primary private VLAN, or a voice VLAN
as an 802.1x restricted VLAN. The restricted VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed
ports) or trunk ports; it is supported only on access ports.
Other security port features such as dynamic ARP Inspection, DHCP snooping, and IP source guard can be
configured independently on a restricted VLAN.

802.1x Authentication with Inaccessible Authentication Bypass

Use the inaccessible authentication bypass feature, also referred to as critical authentication or the AAA fail
policy, when the switch cannot reach the configured RADIUS servers and new hosts cannot be authenticated.
You can configure the switch to connect those hosts to critical ports.
When a new host tries to connect to the critical port, that host is moved to a user-specified access VLAN, the
critical VLAN. The administrator gives limited authentication to the hosts.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Inaccessible Authentication Bypass Support on Multiple-Authentication Ports

When the switch tries to authenticate a host connected to a critical port, the switch checks the status of the
configured RADIUS server. If a server is available, the switch can authenticate the host. However, if all the
RADIUS servers are unavailable, the switch grants network access to the host and puts the port in the
critical-authentication state, which is a special case of the authentication state.

Note If critical authentication is configured on interface, then vlan used for critical authorization (critical vlan)
should be active on the switch. If the critical vlan is inactive (or) down, critical authentication session will
keep trying to enable inactive vlan and fail repeatedly. This can lead to large amount of memory holding.

Inaccessible Authentication Bypass Support on Multiple-Authentication Ports

When a port is configured on any host mode and the AAA server is unavailable, the port is then configured
to multi-host mode and moved to the critical VLAN. To support this inaccessible bypass on
multiple-authentication (multiauth) ports, use the authentication event server dead action reinitialize vlan
vlan-id command. When a new host tries to connect to the critical port, that port is reinitialized and all the
connected hosts are moved to the user-specified access VLAN.
This command is supported on all host modes.

Inaccessible Authentication Bypass Authentication Results

The behavior of the inaccessible authentication bypass feature depends on the authorization state of the port:
• If the port is unauthorized when a host connected to a critical port tries to authenticate and all servers
are unavailable, the switch puts the port in the critical-authentication state in the RADIUS-configured
or user-specified access VLAN.
• If the port is already authorized and reauthentication occurs, the switch puts the critical port in the
critical-authentication state in the current VLAN, which might be the one previously assigned by the
RADIUS server.
• If the RADIUS server becomes unavailable during an authentication exchange, the current exchange
times out, and the switch puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state during the next
authentication attempt.

You can configure the critical port to reinitialize hosts and move them out of the critical VLAN when the
RADIUS server is again available. When this is configured, all critical ports in the critical-authentication state
are automatically re-authenticated.

Inaccessible Authentication Bypass Feature Interactions

Inaccessible authentication bypass interacts with these features:
• Guest VLAN—Inaccessible authentication bypass is compatible with guest VLAN. When a guest VLAN
is enabled on 8021.x port, the features interact as follows:
• If at least one RADIUS server is available, the switch assigns a client to a guest VLAN when the
switch does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame or when EAPOL packets are
not sent by the client.
• If all the RADIUS servers are not available and the client is connected to a critical port, the switch
authenticates the client and puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state in the
RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

20
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Critical Voice VLAN

• If all the RADIUS servers are not available and the client is not connected to a critical port, the
switch might not assign clients to the guest VLAN if one is configured.
• If all the RADIUS servers are not available and if a client is connected to a critical port and was
previously assigned to a guest VLAN, the switch keeps the port in the guest VLAN.

• Restricted VLAN—If the port is already authorized in a restricted VLAN and the RADIUS servers are
unavailable, the switch puts the critical port in the critical-authentication state in the restricted VLAN.
• 802.1x accounting—Accounting is not affected if the RADIUS servers are unavailable.
• Private VLAN—You can configure inaccessible authentication bypass on a private VLAN host port.
The access VLAN must be a secondary private VLAN.
• Voice VLAN—Inaccessible authentication bypass is compatible with voice VLAN, but the
RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN and the voice VLAN must be different.
• Remote Switched Port Analyzer (RSPAN)—Do not configure an RSPAN VLAN as the
RADIUS-configured or user-specified access VLAN for inaccessible authentication bypass.

802.1x Critical Voice VLAN

When an IP phone connected to a port is authenticated by the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), the phone
is put into the voice domain. If the ISE is not reachable, the switch cannot determine if the device is a voice
device. If the server is unavailable, the phone cannot access the voice network and therefore cannot operate.
For data traffic, you can configure inaccessible authentication bypass, or critical authentication, to allow traffic
to pass through on the native VLAN when the server is not available. If the RADIUS authentication server
is unavailable (down) and inaccessible authentication bypass is enabled, the switch grants the client access
to the network and puts the port in the critical-authentication state in the RADIUS-configured or the
user-specified access VLAN. When the switch cannot reach the configured RADIUS servers and new hosts
cannot be authenticated, the switch connects those hosts to critical ports. A new host trying to connect to the
critical port is moved to a user-specified access VLAN, the critical VLAN, and granted limited authentication.

Note Dynamic assignment of critical voice VLAN is not supported with nested service templates. It causes the
device to switch between VLANs continuously in a loop.

You can enter the authentication event server dead action authorize voice interface configuration command
to configure the critical voice VLAN feature. When the ISE does not respond, the port goes into critical
authentication mode. When traffic coming from the host is tagged with the voice VLAN, the connected device
(the phone) is put in the configured voice VLAN for the port. The IP phones learn the voice VLAN identification
through Cisco Discovery Protocol (Cisco devices) or through LLDP or DHCP.
You can configure the voice VLAN for a port by entering the switchport voice vlan vlan-id interface
configuration command.
This feature is supported in multidomain and multi-auth host modes. Although you can enter the command
when the switch in single-host or multi-host mode, the command has no effect unless the device changes to
multidomain or multi-auth host mode.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

21
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x User Distribution

802.1x User Distribution

You can configure 802.1x user distribution to load-balance users with the same group name across multiple
different VLANs.
The VLANs are either supplied by the RADIUS server or configured through the switch CLI under a VLAN
group name.
• Configure the RADIUS server to send more than one VLAN name for a user. The multiple VLAN names
can be sent as part of the response to the user. The 802.1x user distribution tracks all the users in a
particular VLAN and achieves load balancing by moving the authorized user to the least populated
VLAN.
• Configure the RADIUS server to send a VLAN group name for a user. The VLAN group name can be
sent as part of the response to the user. You can search for the selected VLAN group name among the
VLAN group names that you configured by using the switch CLI. If the VLAN group name is found,
the corresponding VLANs under this VLAN group name are searched to find the least populated VLAN.
Load balancing is achieved by moving the corresponding authorized user to that VLAN.

Note The RADIUS server can send the VLAN information in any combination of
VLAN-IDs, VLAN names, or VLAN groups.

802.1x User Distribution Configuration Guidelines

• Confirm that at least one VLAN is mapped to the VLAN group.
• You can map more than one VLAN to a VLAN group.
• You can modify the VLAN group by adding or deleting a VLAN.
• When you clear an existing VLAN from the VLAN group name, none of the authenticated ports in the
VLAN are cleared, but the mappings are removed from the existing VLAN group.
• If you clear the last VLAN from the VLAN group name, the VLAN group is cleared.
• You can clear a VLAN group even when the active VLANs are mapped to the group. When you clear a
VLAN group, none of the ports or users that are in the authenticated state in any VLAN within the group
are cleared, but the VLAN mappings to the VLAN group are cleared.

IEEE 802.1x Authentication with Voice VLAN Ports

A voice VLAN port is a special access port associated with two VLAN identifiers:
• VVID to carry voice traffic to and from the IP phone. The VVID is used to configure the IP phone
connected to the port.
• PVID to carry the data traffic to and from the workstation connected to the switch through the IP phone.
The PVID is the native VLAN of the port.

The IP phone uses the VVID for its voice traffic, regardless of the authorization state of the port. This allows
the phone to work independently of IEEE 802.1x authentication.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

22
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
IEEE 802.1x Authentication with MAC Authentication Bypass

In single-host mode, only the IP phone is allowed on the voice VLAN. In multiple-hosts mode, additional
clients can send traffic on the voice VLAN after a supplicant is authenticated on the PVID. When multiple-hosts
mode is enabled, the supplicant authentication affects both the PVID and the VVID.
A voice VLAN port becomes active when there is a link, and the device MAC address appears after the first
CDP message from the IP phone. Cisco IP phones do not relay CDP messages from other devices. As a result,
if several IP phones are connected in series, the switch recognizes only the one directly connected to it. When
IEEE 802.1x authentication is enabled on a voice VLAN port, the switch drops packets from unrecognized
IP phones more than one hop away.
When IEEE 802.1x authentication is enabled on a switch port, you can configure an access port VLAN that
is also a voice VLAN.
When IP phones are connected to an 802.1x-enabled switch port that is in single host mode, the switch grants
the phones network access without authenticating them. We recommend that you use multidomain authentication
(MDA) on the port to authenticate both a data device and a voice device, such as an IP phone

Note If you enable IEEE 802.1x authentication on an access port on which a voice VLAN is configured and to
which a Cisco IP Phone is connected, the Cisco IP phone loses connectivity to the switch for up to 30 seconds.

IEEE 802.1x Authentication with MAC Authentication Bypass

You can configure the switch to authorize clients based on the client MAC address by using the MAC
authentication bypass feature. For example, you can enable this feature on IEEE 802.1x ports connected to
devices such as printers.
If IEEE 802.1x authentication times out while waiting for an EAPOL response from the client, the switch
tries to authorize the client by using MAC authentication bypass.
When the MAC authentication bypass feature is enabled on an IEEE 802.1x port, the switch uses the MAC
address as the client identity. The authentication server has a database of client MAC addresses that are allowed
network access. After detecting a client on an IEEE 802.1x port, the switch waits for an Ethernet packet from
the client. The switch sends the authentication server a RADIUS-access/request frame with a username and
password based on the MAC address. If authorization succeeds, the switch grants the client access to the
network. If authorization fails, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN if one is configured. This process
works for most client devices; however, it does not work for clients that use an alternate MAC address format.
You can configure how MAB authentication is performed for clients with MAC addresses that deviate from
the standard format or where the RADIUS configuration requires the user name and password to differ.
If an EAPOL packet is detected on the interface during the lifetime of the link, the switch determines that the
device connected to that interface is an 802.1x-capable supplicant and uses 802.1x authentication (not MAC
authentication bypass) to authorize the interface. EAPOL history is cleared if the interface link status goes
down.
If the switch already authorized a port by using MAC authentication bypass and detects an IEEE 802.1x
supplicant, the switch does not unauthorize the client connected to the port. When re-authentication occurs,
the switch uses the authentication or re-authentication methods configured on the port, if the previous session
ended because the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute value is DEFAULT.
Clients that were authorized with MAC authentication bypass can be re-authenticated. The re-authentication
process is the same as that for clients that were authenticated with IEEE 802.1x. During re-authentication, the

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

23
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Network Admission Control Layer 2 IEEE 802.1x Validation

port remains in the previously assigned VLAN. If re-authentication is successful, the switch keeps the port
in the same VLAN. If re-authentication fails, the switch assigns the port to the guest VLAN, if one is configured.
If re-authentication is based on the Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) and the
Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute [29]) and if the Termination-Action RADIUS attribute
(Attribute [29]) action is Initialize (the attribute value is DEFAULT), the MAC authentication bypass session
ends, and connectivity is lost during re-authentication. If MAC authentication bypass is enabled and the IEEE
802.1x authentication times out, the switch uses the MAC authentication bypass feature to initiate
re-authorization. For more information about these AV pairs, see RFC 3580, “IEEE 802.1X Remote
Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) Usage Guidelines.”
MAC authentication bypass interacts with the features:
• IEEE 802.1x authentication—You can enable MAC authentication bypass only if 802.1x authentication
is enabled on the port .
• Guest VLAN—If a client has an invalid MAC address identity, the switch assigns the client to a guest
VLAN if one is configured.
• Restricted VLAN—This feature is not supported when the client connected to an IEEE 802.lx port is
authenticated with MAC authentication bypass.
• Port security
• Voice VLAN
• Private VLAN—You can assign a client to a private VLAN.
• Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT)—MAB and NEAT are mutually exclusive. You cannot enable
MAB when NEAT is enabled on an interface, and you should not enable NEAT when MAB is enabled
on an interface.

Cisco IOS Release 12.2(55)SE and later supports filtering of verbose MAB system messages

Network Admission Control Layer 2 IEEE 802.1x Validation

The switch supports the Network Admission Control (NAC) Layer 2 IEEE 802.1x validation, which checks
the antivirus condition or posture of endpoint systems or clients before granting the devices network access.
With NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1x validation, you can do these tasks:
• Download the Session-Timeout RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) and the Termination-Action RADIUS
attribute (Attribute[29]) from the authentication server.
• Set the number of seconds between re-authentication attempts as the value of the Session-Timeout
RADIUS attribute (Attribute[27]) and get an access policy against the client from the RADIUS server.
• Set the action to be taken when the switch tries to re-authenticate the client by using the
Termination-Action RADIUS attribute (Attribute[29]). If the value is the DEFAULT or is not set, the
session ends. If the value is RADIUS-Request, the re-authentication process starts.
• Set the list of VLAN number or name or VLAN group name as the value of the Tunnel Group Private
ID (Attribute[81]) and the preference for the VLAN number or name or VLAN group name as the value
of the Tunnel Preference (Attribute[83]). If you do not configure the Tunnel Preference, the first Tunnel
Group Private ID (Attribute[81]) attribute is picked up from the list.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

24
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Flexible Authentication Ordering

• View the NAC posture token, which shows the posture of the client, by using the show authentication
privileged EXEC command.
• Configure secondary private VLANs as guest VLANs.

Configuring NAC Layer 2 IEEE 802.1x validation is similar to configuring IEEE 802.1x port-based
authentication except that you must configure a posture token on the RADIUS server.

Flexible Authentication Ordering

You can use flexible authentication ordering to configure the order of methods that a port uses to authenticate
a new host. The IEEE 802.1X Flexible Authentication feature supports three authentication methods:
• dot1X—IEEE 802.1X authentication is a Layer 2 authentication method.
• mab—MAC-Authentication Bypass is a Layer 2 authentication method.
• webauth—Web authentication is a Layer 3 authentication method.

Using this feature, you can control which ports use which authentication methods, and you can control the
failover sequencing of methods on those ports. For example, MAC authentication bypass and 802.1x can be
the primary or secondary authentication methods, and web authentication can be the fallback method if either
or both of those authentication attempts fail.
The IEEE 802.1X Flexible Authentication feature supports the following host modes:
• multi-auth—Multiauthentication allows one authentication on a voice VLAN and multiple authentications
on the data VLAN.
• multi-domain—Multidomain authentication allows two authentications: one on the voice VLAN and
one on the data VLAN.

Open1x Authentication
Open1x authentication allows a device access to a port before that device is authenticated. When open
authentication is configured, a new host can pass traffic according to the access control list (ACL) defined on
the port. After the host is authenticated, the policies configured on the RADIUS server are applied to that
host.
You can configure open authentication with these scenarios:
• Single-host mode with open authentication–Only one user is allowed network access before and after
authentication.
• MDA mode with open authentication–Only one user in the voice domain and one user in the data domain
are allowed.
• Multiple-hosts mode with open authentication–Any host can access the network.
• Multiple-authentication mode with open authentication–Similar to MDA, except multiple hosts can be
authenticated.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

25
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Multidomain Authentication

Note If open authentication is configured, it takes precedence over other authentication

controls. This means that if you use the authentication open interface
configuration command, the port will grant access to the host irrespective of the
authentication port-control interface configuration command.

Multidomain Authentication
The switch supports multidomain authentication (MDA), which allows both a data device and voice device,
such as an IP phone (Cisco or non-Cisco), to authenticate on the same switch port. The port is divided into a
data domain and a voice domain.

Note For all host modes, the line protocol stays up before authorization when port-based authentication is configured.

MDA does not enforce the order of device authentication. However, for best results, we recommend that a
voice device is authenticated before a data device on an MDA-enabled port.
Follow these guidelines for configuring MDA:
• You must configure a switch port for MDA.
• You must configure the voice VLAN for the IP phone when the host mode is set to multidomain.
• Voice VLAN assignment on an MDA-enabled port is supported Cisco IOS Release 12.2(40)SE and later.
• To authorize a voice device, the AAA server must be configured to send a Cisco Attribute-Value (AV)
pair attribute with a value of device-traffic-class=voice. Without this value, the switch treats the voice
device as a data device.

Note When traffic-class=voice is downloaded from AAA servers as a service-template,

a session will be created in DATA domain instead of VOICE domain.

• The guest VLAN and restricted VLAN features only apply to the data devices on an MDA-enabled port.
The switch treats a voice device that fails authorization as a data device.
• If more than one device attempts authorization on either the voice or the data domain of a port, it is error
disabled.
• Until a device is authorized, the port drops its traffic. Non-Cisco IP phones or voice devices are allowed
into both the data and voice VLANs. The data VLAN allows the voice device to contact a DHCP server
to obtain an IP address and acquire the voice VLAN information. After the voice device starts sending
on the voice VLAN, its access to the data VLAN is blocked.
• A voice device MAC address that is binding on the data VLAN is not counted towards the port security
MAC address limit.
• MDA can use MAC authentication bypass as a fallback mechanism to allow the switch port to connect
to devices that do not support IEEE 802.1x authentication.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

26
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Supplicant and Authenticator Switches with Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT)

• When a data or a voice device is detected on a port, its MAC address is blocked until authorization
succeeds. If the authorization fails, the MAC address remains blocked for 5 minutes.
• If more than five devices are detected on the data VLAN or more than one voice device is detected on
the voice VLAN while a port is unauthorized, the port is error disabled.
• When a port host mode is changed from single- or multihost to multidomain mode, an authorized data
device remains authorized on the port. However, a Cisco IP phone that has been allowed on the port
voice VLAN is automatically removed and must be reauthenticated on that port.
• Active fallback mechanisms such as guest VLAN and restricted VLAN remain configured after a port
changes from single- or multihost mode to multidomain mode.
• Switching a port host mode from multidomain to single- or multihost mode removes all authorized devices
from the port.
• If a data domain is authorized first and placed in the guest VLAN, non-IEEE 802.1x-capable voice
devices need to tag their packets on the voice VLAN to trigger authentication.
• We do not recommend per-user ACLs with an MDA-enabled port. An authorized device with a per-user
ACL policy might impact traffic on both the voice and data VLANs of the port. If used, only one device
on the port should enforce per-user ACLs.

802.1x Supplicant and Authenticator Switches with Network Edge Access

Topology (NEAT)
The Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT) feature extends identity to areas outside the wiring closet (such
as conference rooms). This allows any type of device to authenticate on the port.
• 802.1x switch supplicant: You can configure a switch to act as a supplicant to another switch by using
the 802.1x supplicant feature. This configuration is helpful in a scenario, where, for example, a switch
is outside a wiring closet and is connected to an upstream switch through a trunk port. A switch configured
with the 802.1x switch supplicant feature authenticates with the upstream switch for secure connectivity.
Once the supplicant switch authenticates successfully the port mode changes from access to trunk in an
authenticator switch. In a supplicant switch you must manually configure trunk when enabling CISP.
• If the access VLAN is configured on the authenticator switch, it becomes the native VLAN for the trunk
port after successful authentication.

In the default state, when you connect a supplicant switch to an authenticator switch that has BPDU guard
enabled, the authenticator port could be error-disabled if it receives a Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) bridge
protocol data unit (BPDU) packets before the supplicant switch has authenticated. Beginning with Cisco IOS
Release 15.0(1)SE, you can control traffic exiting the supplicant port during the authentication period. Entering
the dot1x supplicant controlled transient global configuration command temporarily blocks the supplicant
port during authentication to ensure that the authenticator port does not shut down before authentication
completes. If authentication fails, the supplicant port opens. Entering the no dot1x supplicant controlled
transient global configuration command opens the supplicant port during the authentication period. This is
the default behavior.
We strongly recommend using the dot1x supplicant controlled transientcommand on a supplicant switch
when BPDU guard is enabled on the authenticator switch port with the spanning-tree bpduguard enable
interface configuration command.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

27
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Supplicant and Authenticator Switches with Network Edge Access Topology (NEAT)

Note If you globally enable BPDU guard on the authenticator switch by using the spanning-tree portfast bpduguard
default global configuration command, entering the dot1x supplicant controlled transient command does
not prevent the BPDU violation.

You can enable MDA or multiauth mode on the authenticator switch interface that connects to one more
supplicant switches. Multihost mode is not supported on the authenticator switch interface.
When you reboot an authenticator switch with single-host mode enabled on the interface, the interface may
move to err-disabled state before authentication. To recover from err-disabled state, flap the authenticator
port to activate the interface again and initiate authentication.
Use the dot1x supplicant force-multicast global configuration command on the supplicant switch for Network
Edge Access Topology (NEAT) to work in all host modes.
• Host Authorization: Ensures that only traffic from authorized hosts (connecting to the switch with
supplicant) is allowed on the network. The switches use Client Information Signalling Protocol (CISP)
to send the MAC addresses connecting to the supplicant switch to the authenticator switch.
• Auto enablement: Automatically enables trunk configuration on the authenticator switch, allowing user
traffic from multiple VLANs coming from supplicant switches. Configure the cisco-av-pair as
device-traffic-class=switch at the ISE. (You can configure this under the group or the user settings.)
Figure 4: Authenticator and Supplicant Switch using CISP

1 Workstations (clients) 2 Supplicant switch (outside

wiring closet)

3 Authenticator switch 4 Cisco ISE

5 Trunk port

Note The switchport nonegotiate command is not supported on supplicant and authenticator switches with NEAT.
This command should not be configured at the supplicant side of the topology. If configured on the authenticator
side, the internal macros will automatically remove this command from the port.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

28
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Voice Aware 802.1x Security

Voice Aware 802.1x Security

Note To use voice aware IEEE 802.1x authentication, the switch must be running the LAN base image.

You use the voice aware 802.1x security feature to configure the switch to disable only the VLAN on which
a security violation occurs, whether it is a data or voice VLAN. In previous releases, when an attempt to
authenticate the data client caused a security violation, the entire port shut down, resulting in a complete loss
of connectivity.
You can use this feature in IP phone deployments where a PC is connected to the IP phone. A security violation
found on the data VLAN results in the shutdown of only the data VLAN. The traffic on the voice VLAN
flows through the switch without interruption.

Common Session ID
Authentication manager uses a single session ID (referred to as a common session ID) for a client no matter
which authentication method is used. This ID is used for all reporting purposes, such as the show commands
and MIBs. The session ID appears with all per-session syslog messages.
The session ID includes:
• The IP address of the Network Access Device (NAD)
• A monotonically increasing unique 32 bit integer
• The session start time stamp (a 32 bit integer)

This example shows how the session ID appears in the output of the show authentication command. The
session ID in this example is 160000050000000B288508E5:

Device# show authentication sessions

Interface MAC Address Method Domain Status Session ID
Fa4/0/4 0000.0000.0203 mab DATA Authz Success 160000050000000B288508E5

This is an example of how the session ID appears in the syslog output. The session ID in this example is
also160000050000000B288508E5:

1w0d: %AUTHMGR-5-START: Starting 'mab' for client (0000.0000.0203) on Interface Fa4/0/4

AuditSessionID 160000050000000B288508E5
1w0d: %MAB-5-SUCCESS: Authentication successful for client (0000.0000.0203) on Interface
Fa4/0/4 AuditSessionID 160000050000000B288508E5
1w0d: %AUTHMGR-7-RESULT: Authentication result 'success' from 'mab' for client
(0000.0000.0203) on Interface Fa4/0/4 AuditSessionID 160000050000000B288508E5

The session ID is used by the NAD, the AAA server, and other report-analyzing applications to identify the
client. The ID appears automatically. No configuration is required.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

29
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
How to Configure 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

How to Configure 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

Default 802.1x Authentication Configuration
Table 4: Default 802.1x Authentication Configuration

Feature Default Setting

Switch 802.1x enable state Disabled.

Per-port 802.1x enable state Disabled (force-authorized).

The port sends and receives normal traffic without 802.1x-based
authentication of the client.

AAA Disabled.

RADIUS server • None specified.

• IP address • 1645.
• UDP authentication port • 1646.
• Default accounting port • None specified.
• Key

Host mode Single-host mode.

Control direction Bidirectional control.

Periodic re-authentication Disabled.

Number of seconds between re-authentication attempts 3600 seconds.

Re-authentication number 2 times (number of times that the switch restarts the authenticatio
before the port changes to the unauthorized state).

Quiet period 60 seconds (number of seconds that the switch remains in the qui
following a failed authentication exchange with the client).

Retransmission time 30 seconds (number of seconds that the switch should wait for a re
an EAP request/identity frame from the client before resending the

Maximum retransmission number 2 times (number of times that the switch will send an EAP-reques
frame before restarting the authentication process).

Client timeout period 30 seconds (when relaying a request from the authentication serv
client, the amount of time the switch waits for a response before r
the request to the client.)

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

30
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
802.1x Authentication Configuration Guidelines

Feature Default Setting

Authentication server timeout period 30 seconds (when relaying a response from the client to the au
server, the amount of time the switch waits for a reply before
response to the server.)
You can change this timeout period by using the dot1x timeout s
interface configuration command.

Inactivity timeout Disabled.

Guest VLAN None specified.

Inaccessible authentication bypass Disabled.

Restricted VLAN None specified.

Authenticator (switch) mode None specified.

MAC authentication bypass Disabled.

Voice-aware security Disabled.

802.1x Authentication Configuration Guidelines

802.1x Authentication
These are the 802.1x authentication configuration guidelines:
• When 802.1x authentication is enabled, ports are authenticated before any other Layer 2 or Layer 3
features are enabled.
• If the VLAN to which an 802.1x-enabled port is assigned changes, this change is transparent and does
not affect the switch. For example, this change occurs if a port is assigned to a RADIUS server-assigned
VLAN and is then assigned to a different VLAN after re-authentication.
If the VLAN to which an 802.1x port is assigned to shut down, disabled, or removed, the port becomes
unauthorized. For example, the port is unauthorized after the access VLAN to which a port is assigned
shuts down or is removed.
• The 802.1x protocol is supported on Layer 2 static-access ports, voice VLAN ports, and Layer 3 routed
ports, but it is not supported on these port types:
• Dynamic ports—A port in dynamic mode can negotiate with its neighbor to become a trunk port.
If you try to enable 802.1x authentication on a dynamic port, an error message appears, and 802.1x
authentication is not enabled. If you try to change the mode of an 802.1x-enabled port to dynamic,
an error message appears, and the port mode is not changed.
• EtherChannel port—Do not configure a port that is an active or a not-yet-active member of an
EtherChannel as an 802.1x port. If you try to enable 802.1x authentication on an EtherChannel port,
an error message appears, and 802.1x authentication is not enabled.
• Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) and Remote SPAN (RSPAN) destination ports—You can enable
802.1x authentication on a port that is a SPAN or RSPAN destination port. However, 802.1x

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

31
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
VLAN Assignment, Guest VLAN, Restricted VLAN, and Inaccessible Authentication Bypass

authentication is disabled until the port is removed as a SPAN or RSPAN destination port. You can
enable 802.1x authentication on a SPAN or RSPAN source port.

• Before globally enabling 802.1x authentication on a switch by entering the dot1x system-auth-control
global configuration command, remove the EtherChannel configuration from the interfaces on which
802.1x authentication and EtherChannel are configured.
• Cisco IOS Release 12.2(55)SE and later supports filtering of system messages related to 802.1x
authentication.

VLAN Assignment, Guest VLAN, Restricted VLAN, and Inaccessible Authentication Bypass
These are the configuration guidelines for VLAN assignment, guest VLAN, restricted VLAN, and inaccessible
authentication bypass:
• When 802.1x authentication is enabled on a port, you cannot configure a port VLAN that is equal to a
voice VLAN.
• You can configure any VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN as an 802.1x guest VLAN.
The guest VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed ports) or trunk ports; it is supported
only on access ports.
• After you configure a guest VLAN for an 802.1x port to which a DHCP client is connected, you might
need to get a host IP address from a DHCP server. You can change the settings for restarting the 802.1x
authentication process on the switch before the DHCP process on the client times out and tries to get a
host IP address from the DHCP server. Decrease the settings for the 802.1x authentication process
(authentication timer inactivity and authentication timer reauthentication interface configuration
commands). The amount to decrease the settings depends on the connected 802.1x client type.
• When configuring the inaccessible authentication bypass feature, follow these guidelines:
• The feature is supported on 802.1x port in single-host mode and multihosts mode.
• If the client is running Windows XP and the port to which the client is connected is in the
critical-authentication state, Windows XP might report that the interface is not authenticated.
• If the Windows XP client is configured for DHCP and has an IP address from the DHCP server,
receiving an EAP-Success message on a critical port might not re-initiate the DHCP configuration
process.
• You can configure the inaccessible authentication bypass feature and the restricted VLAN on an
802.1x port. If the switch tries to re-authenticate a critical port in a restricted VLAN and all the
RADIUS servers are unavailable, switch changes the port state to the critical authentication state
and remains in the restricted VLAN.
• If the CTS links are in Critical Authentication mode and the active switch reloads, the policy where
SGT was configured on a device will not be available on the new active switch. This is because the
internal bindings will not be synced to the standby switch in a 3750-X switch stack.

• You can configure any VLAN except an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN as an 802.1x restricted VLAN.
The restricted VLAN feature is not supported on internal VLANs (routed ports) or trunk ports; it is
supported only on access ports.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

32
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
MAC Authentication Bypass

MAC Authentication Bypass

These are the MAC authentication bypass configuration guidelines:
• Unless otherwise stated, the MAC authentication bypass guidelines are the same as the 802.1x
authentication guidelines.
• If you disable MAC authentication bypass from a port after the port has been authorized with its MAC
address, the port state is not affected.
• If the port is in the unauthorized state and the client MAC address is not the authentication-server database,
the port remains in the unauthorized state. However, if the client MAC address is added to the database,
the switch can use MAC authentication bypass to re-authorize the port.
• If the port is in the authorized state, the port remains in this state until re-authorization occurs.
• You can configure a timeout period for hosts that are connected by MAC authentication bypass but are
inactive. The range is 1to 65535 seconds.

Maximum Number of Allowed Devices Per Port

This is the maximum number of devices allowed on an 802.1x-enabled port:
• In single-host mode, only one device is allowed on the access VLAN. If the port is also configured with
a voice VLAN, an unlimited number of Cisco IP phones can send and receive traffic through the voice
VLAN.
• In multidomain authentication (MDA) mode, one device is allowed for the access VLAN, and one IP
phone is allowed for the voice VLAN.
• In multihost mode, only one 802.1x supplicant is allowed on the port, but an unlimited number of
non-802.1x hosts are allowed on the access VLAN. An unlimited number of devices are allowed on the
voice VLAN.

Configuring 802.1x Readiness Check

The 802.1x readiness check monitors 802.1x activity on all the switch ports and displays information about
the devices connected to the ports that support 802.1x. You can use this feature to determine if the devices
connected to the switch ports are 802.1x-capable.
The 802.1x readiness check is allowed on all ports that can be configured for 802.1x. The readiness check is
not available on a port that is configured as dot1x force-unauthorized.
Follow these steps to enable the 802.1x readiness check on the switch:

Before you begin

Follow these guidelines to enable the readiness check on the switch:
• The readiness check is typically used before 802.1x is enabled on the switch.
• If you use the dot1x test eapol-capable privileged EXEC command without specifying an interface, all
the ports on the switch stack are tested.
• When you configure the dot1x test eapol-capable command on an 802.1x-enabled port, and the link
comes up, the port queries the connected client about its 802.1x capability. When the client responds
with a notification packet, it is 802.1x-capable. A syslog message is generated if the client responds

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

33
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Readiness Check

within the timeout period. If the client does not respond to the query, the client is not 802.1x-capable.
No syslog message is generated
• When you configure the dot1x test eapol-capable command on an 802.1x-enabled port, and the link
comes up, the port queries the connected client about its 802.1x capability. When the client responds
with a notification packet, it is 802.1x-capable. A syslog message is generated if the client responds
within the timeout period. If the client does not respond to the query, the client is not 802.1x-capable.
No syslog message is generated
• The readiness check can be sent on a port that handles multiple hosts (for example, a PC that is connected
to an IP phone). A syslog message is generated for each of the clients that respond to the readiness check
within the timer period.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. dot1x test eapol-capable [interface interface-id]
4. dot1x test timeout timeout
5. end
6. show running-config
7. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
Example: • Enter your password if prompted.

Device> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 3 dot1x test eapol-capable [interface interface-id] Enables the 802.1x readiness check on the switch.
Example: (Optional) For interface-id specify the port on which to
Device# dot1x test eapol-capable interface check for IEEE 802.1x readiness.
gigabitethernet1/0/13
DOT1X_PORT_EAPOL_CAPABLE:DOT1X: MAC
Note If you omit the optional interface keyword,
00-01-02-4b-f1-a3 on gigabitethernet1/0/13 is EAPOL all interfaces on the switch are tested.

capable

Step 4 dot1x test timeout timeout (Optional) Configures the timeout used to wait for EAPOL
response. The range is from 1 to 65535 seconds. The default
is 10 seconds.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

34
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Voice Aware 802.1x Security

Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.
Example:

Device(config)# end

Step 6 show running-config Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show running-config

Step 7 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring Voice Aware 802.1x Security

Note To use voice aware IEEE 802.1x authentication, the switch must be running the LAN base image.

You use the voice aware 802.1x security feature on the switch to disable only the VLAN on which a security
violation occurs, whether it is a data or voice VLAN. You can use this feature in IP phone deployments where
a PC is connected to the IP phone. A security violation found on the data VLAN results in the shutdown of
only the data VLAN. The traffic on the voice VLAN flows through the switch without interruption.
Follow these guidelines to configure voice aware 802.1x voice security on the switch:
• You enable voice aware 802.1x security by entering the errdisable detect cause security-violation
shutdown vlan global configuration command. You disable voice aware 802.1x security by entering the
no version of this command. This command applies to all 802.1x-configured ports in the switch.

Note If you do not include the shutdown vlan keywords, the entire port is shut down
when it enters the error-disabled state.

• If you use the errdisable recovery cause security-violation global configuration command to configure
error-disabled recovery, the port is automatically re-enabled. If error-disabled recovery is not configured
for the port, you re-enable it by using the shutdown and no shutdown interface configuration commands.
• You can re-enable individual VLANs by using the clear errdisable interface interface-id vlan [vlan-list]
privileged EXEC command. If you do not specify a range, all VLANs on the port are enabled.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable voice aware 802.1x security:

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

35
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Voice Aware 802.1x Security

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. errdisable detect cause security-violation shutdown vlan
3. errdisable recovery cause security-violation
4. clear errdisable interfaceinterface-id vlan [vlan-list]
5. Enter the following:
• shutdown
• no shutdown
6. end
7. show errdisable detect

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode.

Step 2 errdisable detect cause security-violation shutdown vlan Shut down any VLAN on which a security violation error
occurs.
Note If the shutdown vlan keywords are not
included, the entire port enters the
error-disabled state and shuts down.

Step 3 errdisable recovery cause security-violation Enter global configuration mode.

Step 4 clear errdisable interfaceinterface-id vlan [vlan-list] (Optional) Reenable individual VLANs that have been error
disabled.
• For interface-id specify the port on which to reenable
individual VLANs.
• (Optional) For vlan-list specify a list of VLANs to be
re-enabled. If vlan-list is not specified, all VLANs are
re-enabled.

Step 5 Enter the following: (Optional) Re-enable an error-disabled VLAN, and clear
all error-disable indications.
• shutdown
• no shutdown

Step 6 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.

Step 7 show errdisable detect Verify your entries.

Example
This example shows how to configure the switch to shut down any VLAN on which a security
violation error occurs:
Switch(config)# errdisable detect cause security-violation shutdown vlan

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

36
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Violation Modes

This example shows how to re-enable all VLANs that were error disabled on port Gigabit Ethernet
40/2.
Switch# clear errdisable interface gigabitethernet40/2
vlan
You can verify your settings by entering the show errdisable detect privileged EXEC command.

Configuring 802.1x Violation Modes

You can configure an 802.1x port so that it shuts down, generates a syslog error, or discards packets from a
new device when:
• a device connects to an 802.1x-enabled port
• the maximum number of allowed about devices have been authenticated on the port

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure the security violation actions on the
switch:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. aaa new-model
3. aaa authentication dot1x {default} method1
4. interface interface-id
5. switchport mode access
6. authentication violation {shutdown | restrict | protect | replace}
7. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 aaa new-model Enables AAA.

Example:

Device(config)# aaa new-model

Step 3 aaa authentication dot1x {default} method1 Creates an 802.1x authentication method list.
Example: To create a default list that is used when a named list is not
specified in the authentication command, use the default
Device(config)# aaa authentication dot1x default keyword followed by the method that is to be used in default

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

37
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Authentication

Command or Action Purpose

group radius situations. The default method list is automatically applied
to all ports.
For method1, enter the group radius keywords to use the
list of all RADIUS servers for authentication.

Step 4 interface interface-id Specifies the port connected to the client that is to be
enabled for IEEE 802.1x authentication, and enter interface
Example:
configuration mode.
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet1/0/4

Step 5 switchport mode access Sets the port to access mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 6 authentication violation {shutdown | restrict | protect | Configures the violation mode. The keywords have these
replace} meanings:
Example: • shutdown–Error disable the port.

Device(config-if)# authentication violation

• restrict–Generate a syslog error.
restrict
• protect–Drop packets from any new device that sends
traffic to the port.
• replace–Removes the current session and authenticates
with the new host.

Step 7 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring 802.1x Authentication

To allow per-user ACLs or VLAN assignment, you must enable AAA authorization to configure the switch
for all network-related service requests.
This is the 802.1x AAA process:

Before you begin

To configure 802.1x port-based authentication, you must enable authentication, authorization, and accounting
(AAA) and specify the authentication method list. A method list describes the sequence and authentication
method to be queried to authenticate a user.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

38
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

SUMMARY STEPS
1. A user connects to a port on the switch.
2. Authentication is performed.
3. VLAN assignment is enabled, as appropriate, based on the RADIUS server configuration.
4. The switch sends a start message to an accounting server.
5. Re-authentication is performed, as necessary.
6. The switch sends an interim accounting update to the accounting server that is based on the result of
re-authentication.
7. The user disconnects from the port.
8. The switch sends a stop message to the accounting server.

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 A user connects to a port on the switch.
Step 2 Authentication is performed.
Step 3 VLAN assignment is enabled, as appropriate, based on the
RADIUS server configuration.
Step 4 The switch sends a start message to an accounting server.
Step 5 Re-authentication is performed, as necessary.
Step 6 The switch sends an interim accounting update to the
accounting server that is based on the result of
re-authentication.
Step 7 The user disconnects from the port.
Step 8 The switch sends a stop message to the accounting server.

Configuring 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure 802.1x port-based authentication:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. aaa new-model
3. aaa authentication dot1x {default} method1
4. dot1x system-auth-control
5. aaa authorization network {default} group radius
6. radius server server name
7. address {ipv4 | ipv6} ip address
8. key string
9. exit
10. interface interface-id
11. switchport mode access

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

39
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

12. authentication port-control auto

13. dot1x pae authenticator
14. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 aaa new-model Enables AAA.

Example:

Device(config)# aaa new-model

Step 3 aaa authentication dot1x {default} method1 Creates an 802.1x authentication method list.
Example: To create a default list that is used when a named list is
not specified in the authentication command, use the
Device(config)# aaa authentication dot1x default default keyword followed by the method that is to be used
group radius in default situations. The default method list is
automatically applied to all ports.
For method1, enter the group radius keywords to use the
list of all RADIUS servers for authentication.
Note Though other keywords are visible in the
command-line help string, only the group
radius keywords are supported.

Step 4 dot1x system-auth-control Enables 802.1x authentication globally on the switch.

Example:

Device(config)# dot1x system-auth-control

Step 5 aaa authorization network {default} group radius (Optional) Configures the switch to use user-RADIUS
authorization for all network-related service requests, such
Example:
as per-user ACLs or VLAN assignment.
Device(config)# aaa authorization network default
group radius

Step 6 radius server server name (Optional) Specifies the IP address of the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config)# radius server rsim address ipv4

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

40
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

Command or Action Purpose

124.2.2.12

Step 7 address {ipv4 | ipv6} ip address Configures the IP address for the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-radius-server)# address ipv4

10.0.1.12

Step 8 key string (Optional) Specifies the authentication and encryption key
used between the switch and the RADIUS daemon running
Example:
on the RADIUS server.
Device(config-radius-server)# key rad123

Step 9 exit Exits the RADIUS server mode and enters the global
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config-radius-server)# exit

Step 10 interface interface-id Specifies the port connected to the client that is to be
enabled for IEEE 802.1x authentication, and enter interface
Example:
configuration mode.
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet1/0/2

Step 11 switchport mode access (Optional) Sets the port to access mode only if you
configured the RADIUS server in Step 6 and Step 7.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 12 authentication port-control auto Enables 802.1x authentication on the port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication port-control

auto

Step 13 dot1x pae authenticator Sets the interface Port Access Entity to act only as an
authenticator and ignore messages meant for a supplicant.
Example:

Device(config-if)# dot1x pae authenticator

Step 14 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

41
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Switch-to-RADIUS-Server Communication

Command or Action Purpose

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring Switch-to-RADIUS-Server Communication

Follow these steps to configure the RADIUS server parameters:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. enable
2. configure terminal
3. ip radius source-interface
4. radius server server name
5. address {ipv4 | ipv6} ip address
6. key string
7. exit
8. radius-server dead-criteria tries num-tries
9. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
Example: • Enter your password if prompted.

Device> enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 3 ip radius source-interface Specifies that the RADIUS packets have the IP address of
the indicated interface.
Example:

Device(config)# ip radius source-interface vlan 80

Step 4 radius server server name (Optional) Specifies the IP address of the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config)# radius server rsim address ipv4

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

42
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring the Host Mode

Command or Action Purpose

124.2.2.12

Step 5 address {ipv4 | ipv6} ip address Configures the IP address for the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-radius-server)# address ipv4 10.0.1.2

auth-port 1550 acct-port 1560

Step 6 key string (Optional) Specifies the authentication and encryption key
used between the switch and the RADIUS daemon running
Example:
on the RADIUS server.
Device(config-radius-server)# key rad123

Step 7 exit Exits the RADIUS server mode and enters the global
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config-radius-server)# exit

Step 8 radius-server dead-criteria tries num-tries Specifies the number of unanswered sent messages to a
RADIUS server before considering the server to be inactive.
Example:
The range of num-tries is 1 to 100.
Device(config)# radius-server dead-criteria tries
30

Step 9 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Configuring the Host Mode

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to allow multiple hosts (clients) on an
IEEE 802.1x-authorized port that has the authentication port-control interface configuration command set
to auto. Use the multi-domain keyword to configure and enable multidomain authentication (MDA), which
allows both a host and a voice device, such as an IP phone (Cisco or non-Cisco), on the same switch port.
This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication host-mode [multi-auth | multi-domain | multi-host | single-host]
4. end

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

43
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring the Host Mode

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to which multiple hosts are indirectly
attached, and enter interface configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 3 authentication host-mode [multi-auth | multi-domain | Allows multiple hosts (clients) on an 802.1x-authorized
multi-host | single-host] port.
Example: The keywords have these meanings:
• multi-auth–Allow multiple authenticated clients on
Device(config-if)# authentication host-mode
multi-host both the voice VLAN and data VLAN.
Note The multi-auth keyword is only
available with the authentication
host-mode command.

• multi-host–Allow multiple hosts on an

802.1x-authorized port after a single host has been
authenticated.
• multi-domain–Allow both a host and a voice device,
such as an IP phone (Cisco or non-Cisco), to be
authenticated on an IEEE 802.1x-authorized port.
Note You must configure the voice VLAN for
the IP phone when the host mode is set
to multi-domain.

Make sure that the authentication port-control interface

configuration command is set to auto for the specified
interface.

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

44
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Periodic Re-Authentication

Configuring Periodic Re-Authentication

You can enable periodic 802.1x client re-authentication and specify how often it occurs. If you do not specify
a time period before enabling re-authentication, the number of seconds between attempts is 3600.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable periodic re-authentication of the client and
to configure the number of seconds between re-authentication attempts. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication periodic
4. authentication timer {{[inactivity | reauthenticate | restart | unauthorized]} {value}}
5. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 3 authentication periodic Enables periodic re-authentication of the client, which is

disabled by default.
Example:
Note The default value is 3600 seconds. To change
Device(config-if)# authentication periodic the value of the reauthentication timer or to
have the switch use a RADIUS-provided
session timeout, enter the authentication
timer reauthenticate command.

Step 4 authentication timer {{[inactivity | reauthenticate | Sets the number of seconds between re-authentication
restart | unauthorized]} {value}} attempts.
Example: The authentication timer keywords have these meanings:
• inactivity—Interval in seconds after which if there is
Device(config-if)# authentication timer
reauthenticate 180 no activity from the client then it is unauthorized
• reauthenticate—Time in seconds after which an
automatic re-authentication attempt is initiated

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

45
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Changing the Quiet Period

Command or Action Purpose

• restart value—Interval in seconds after which an
attempt is made to authenticate an unauthorized port
• unauthorized value—Interval in seconds after which
an unauthorized session will get deleted

This command affects the behavior of the switch only if

periodic re-authentication is enabled.

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Changing the Quiet Period

When the switch cannot authenticate the client, the switch remains idle for a set period of time and then tries
again. The authentication timer restart interface configuration command controls the idle period. A failed
authentication of the client might occur because the client provided an invalid password. You can provide a
faster response time to the user by entering a number smaller than the default.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to change the quiet period. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication timer restart seconds
4. end
5. show authentication sessions interface interface-id
6. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/1

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

46
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Changing the Switch-to-Client Retransmission Time

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 authentication timer restart seconds Sets the number of seconds that the switch remains in the
quiet state following a failed authentication exchange with
Example:
the client.
Device(config-if)# authentication timer restart 30 The range is 1 to 65535 seconds; the default is 60.

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 5 show authentication sessions interface interface-id Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show authentication sessions interface

gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 6 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Changing the Switch-to-Client Retransmission Time

The client responds to the EAP-request/identity frame from the switch with an EAP-response/identity frame.
If the switch does not receive this response, it waits a set period of time (known as the retransmission time)
and then resends the frame.

Note You should change the default value of this command only to adjust for unusual circumstances such as
unreliable links or specific behavioral problems with certain clients and authentication servers.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to change the amount of time that the switch waits
for client notification. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication timer reauthenticate seconds
4. end
5. show authentication sessions interface interface-id
6. copy running-config startup-config

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

47
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Setting the Switch-to-Client Frame-Retransmission Number

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 3 authentication timer reauthenticate seconds Sets the number of seconds that the switch waits for a
response to an EAP-request/identity frame from the client
Example:
before resending the request.
Device(config-if)# authentication timer The range is 1 to 65535 seconds; the default is 5.
reauthenticate 60

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 5 show authentication sessions interface interface-id Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show authentication sessions interface

gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 6 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Setting the Switch-to-Client Frame-Retransmission Number

In addition to changing the switch-to-client retransmission time, you can change the number of times that the
switch sends an EAP-request/identity frame (assuming no response is received) to the client before restarting
the authentication process.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

48
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Setting the Re-Authentication Number

Note You should change the default value of this command only to adjust for unusual circumstances such as
unreliable links or specific behavioral problems with certain clients and authentication servers.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to set the switch-to-client frame-retransmission
number. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. dot1x max-reauth-req count
4. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 3 dot1x max-reauth-req count Sets the number of times that the switch sends an
EAP-request/identity frame to the client before restarting
Example:
the authentication process. The range is 1 to 10; the default
is 2.
Device(config-if)# dot1x max-reauth-req 5

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Setting the Re-Authentication Number

You can also change the number of times that the switch restarts the authentication process before the port
changes to the unauthorized state.

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

49
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Setting the Re-Authentication Number

Note You should change the default value of this command only to adjust for unusual circumstances such as
unreliable links or specific behavioral problems with certain clients and authentication servers.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to set the re-authentication number. This procedure
is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. switchport mode access
4. dot1x max-req count
5. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device# interface gigabitethernet2/0/1

Step 3 switchport mode access Sets the port to access mode only if you previously
configured the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 dot1x max-req count Sets the number of times that the switch restarts the
authentication process before the port changes to the
Example:
unauthorized state. The range is 0 to 10; the default is 2.
Device(config-if)# dot1x max-req 4

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

50
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Enabling MAC Move

Enabling MAC Move

MAC move allows an authenticated host to move from one port on the switch to another.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to globally enable MAC move on the switch. This
procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. authentication mac-move permit
3. end
4. show running-config
5. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 authentication mac-move permit Enables MAC move on the switch. Default is deny.
Example: In Session Aware Networking mode, the default CLI is
access-session mac-move deny. To enable Mac Move in
Device(config)# authentication mac-move permit Session Aware Networking, use the no access-session
mac-move global configuration command.
In legacy mode (IBNS 1.0), default value for mac-move is
deny and in C3PL mode (IBNS 2.0) default value is permit.

Step 3 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Step 4 show running-config Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show running-config

Step 5 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

51
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Enabling MAC Replace

Enabling MAC Replace

MAC replace allows a host to replace an authenticated host on a port.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable MAC replace on an interface. This procedure
is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication violation {protect | replace | restrict | shutdown}
4. end
5. show running-config
6. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/2

Step 3 authentication violation {protect | replace | restrict | Use the replace keyword to enable MAC replace on the
shutdown} interface. The port removes the current session and initiates
authentication with the new host.
Example:
The other keywords have these effects:
Device(config-if)# authentication violation replace
• protect: the port drops packets with unexpected MAC
addresses without generating a system message.
• restrict: violating packets are dropped by the CPU
and a system message is generated.
• shutdown: the port is error disabled when it receives
an unexpected MAC address.

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

52
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Accounting

Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 show running-config Verifies your entries.
Example:

Device# show running-config

Step 6 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring 802.1x Accounting

Enabling AAA system accounting with 802.1x accounting allows system reload events to be sent to the
accounting RADIUS server for logging. The server can then infer that all active 802.1x sessions are closed.

Note In Cisco IOS XE Denali 16.3.x and Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.x, periodic AAA accounting updates are not
supported. The switch does not send periodic interim accounting records to the accounting server. Periodic
AAA accounting updates are available in Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.x and later releases.

Because RADIUS uses the unreliable UDP transport protocol, accounting messages might be lost due to poor
network conditions. If the switch does not receive the accounting response message from the RADIUS server
after a configurable number of retransmissions of an accounting request, this system message appears:

Accounting message %s for session %s failed to receive Accounting Response.

When the stop message is not sent successfully, this message appears:

00:09:55: %RADIUS-4-RADIUS_DEAD: RADIUS server 172.20.246.201:1645,1646 is not responding.

Note You must configure the RADIUS server to perform accounting tasks, such as logging start, stop, and
interim-update messages and time stamps. To turn on these functions, enable logging of “Update/Watchdog
packets from this AAA client” in your RADIUS server Network Configuration tab. Next, enable “CVS
RADIUS Accounting” in your RADIUS server System Configuration tab.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure 802.1x accounting after AAA is enabled
on your switch. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

53
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Accounting

3. aaa accounting dot1x default start-stop group radius

4. aaa accounting system default start-stop group radius
5. end
6. show running-config
7. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet1/0/3

Step 3 aaa accounting dot1x default start-stop group radius Enables 802.1x accounting using the list of all RADIUS
servers.
Example:

Device(config-if)# aaa accounting dot1x default

start-stop group radius

Step 4 aaa accounting system default start-stop group radius (Optional) Enables system accounting (using the list of all
RADIUS servers) and generates system accounting reload
Example:
event messages when the switch reloads.
Device(config-if)# aaa accounting system default
start-stop group radius

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEc mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 6 show running-config Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show running-config

Step 7 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

54
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring a Guest VLAN

Command or Action Purpose

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring a Guest VLAN

When you configure a guest VLAN, clients that are not 802.1x-capable are put into the guest VLAN when
the server does not receive a response to its EAP request/identity frame. Clients that are 802.1x-capable but
that fail authentication are not granted network access. The switch supports guest VLANs in single-host or
multiple-hosts mode.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure a guest VLAN. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. Use one of the following:
• switchport mode access
• switchport mode private-vlan host
4. authentication event no-response action authorize vlan vlan-id
5. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 2/0/2

Step 3 Use one of the following: • Sets the port to access mode.
• switchport mode access • Configures the Layer 2 port as a private-VLAN host
• switchport mode private-vlan host port.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode private-vlan

host

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

55
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring a Restricted VLAN

Command or Action Purpose

Step 4 authentication event no-response action authorize vlan Specifies an active VLAN as an 802.1x guest VLAN. The
vlan-id range is 1 to 4094.
Example: You can configure any active VLAN except an internal
VLAN (routed port), an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN
Device(config-if)# authentication event no-response as an 802.1x guest VLAN.
action authorize vlan 2

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring a Restricted VLAN

When you configure a restricted VLAN on a switch stack or a switch, clients that are IEEE 802.1x-compliant
are moved into the restricted VLAN when the authentication server does not receive a valid username and
password. The switch supports restricted VLANs only in single-host mode.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure a restricted VLAN. This procedure is
optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. Use one of the following:
• switchport mode access
• switchport mode private-vlan host
4. authentication port-control auto
5. authentication event fail action authorize vlan vlan-id
6. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

56
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Number of Authentication Attempts on a Restricted VLAN

Command or Action Purpose

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 2/0/2

Step 3 Use one of the following: • Sets the port to access mode.
• switchport mode access • Configures the Layer 2 port as a private-VLAN host
• switchport mode private-vlan host port.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 authentication port-control auto Enables 802.1x authentication on the port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication port-control auto

Step 5 authentication event fail action authorize vlan vlan-id Specifies an active VLAN as an 802.1x restricted VLAN.
The range is 1 to 4094.
Example:
You can configure any active VLAN except an internal
Device(config-if)# authentication event fail action VLAN (routed port), an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN
authorize vlan 2 as an 802.1x restricted VLAN.

Step 6 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring Number of Authentication Attempts on a Restricted VLAN

You can configure the maximum number of authentication attempts allowed before a user is assigned to the
restricted VLAN by using the authentication event retry retry count interface configuration command. The
range of allowable authentication attempts is 1 to 3. The default is 3 attempts.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure the maximum number of allowed
authentication attempts. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. Use one of the following:
• switchport mode access
• switchport mode private-vlan host
4. authentication port-control auto

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Number of Authentication Attempts on a Restricted VLAN

5. authentication event fail action authorize vlan vlan-id

6. authentication event retry retry count
7. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 2/0/3

Step 3 Use one of the following: • Sets the port to access mode.
• switchport mode access • Configures the Layer 2 port as a private-VLAN host
• switchport mode private-vlan host port.
Example:
or

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 authentication port-control auto Enables 802.1x authentication on the port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication port-control auto

Step 5 authentication event fail action authorize vlan vlan-id Specifies an active VLAN as an 802.1x restricted VLAN.
The range is 1 to 4094.
Example:
You can configure any active VLAN except an internal
Device(config-if)# authentication event fail action VLAN (routed port), an RSPAN VLAN or a voice VLAN
authorize vlan 8 as an 802.1x restricted VLAN.

Step 6 authentication event retry retry count Specifies a number of authentication attempts to allow
before a port moves to the restricted VLAN. The range is
Example:
1 to 3, and the default is 3.
Device(config-if)# authentication event retry 2

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Inaccessible Authentication Bypass with Critical Voice VLAN

Command or Action Purpose

Step 7 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.
Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring 802.1x Inaccessible Authentication Bypass with Critical Voice

VLAN
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure critical voice VLAN on a port and enable
the inaccessible authentication bypass feature.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. aaa new-model
3. radius-server dead-criteria{time seconds } [tries number]
4. radius-serverdeadtimeminutes
5. radius server server name
6. address {ipv4 | ipv6} ip address auth-port port_number acct-port port_number
7. key string
8. exit
9. dot1x critical {eapol | recovery delay milliseconds}
10. interface interface-id
11. authentication event server dead action {authorize | reinitialize} vlan vlan-id]
12. switchport voice vlan vlan-id
13. authentication event server dead action authorize voice
14. show authentication interface interface-id
15. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 aaa new-model Enables AAA.

Example:

Device(config)# aaa new-model

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Inaccessible Authentication Bypass with Critical Voice VLAN

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 radius-server dead-criteria{time seconds } [tries Sets the conditions that determine when a RADIUS server
number] is considered un-available or down (dead).
Example: • time— 1 to 120 seconds. The switch dynamically
determines a default seconds value between 10 and
Device(config)# radius-server dead-criteria time 60.
20 tries 10
• number—1 to 100 tries. The switch dynamically
determines a default triesnumber between 10 and
100.

Step 4 radius-serverdeadtimeminutes (Optional) Sets the number of minutes during which a

RADIUS server is not sent requests. The range is from 0
Example:
to 1440 minutes (24 hours). The default is 0 minutes.
Device(config)# radius-server deadtime 60

Step 5 radius server server name (Optional) Specifies the IP address of the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config)# radius server rsim address ipv4

124.2.2.12

Step 6 address {ipv4 | ipv6} ip address auth-port port_number Configures the IP address for the RADIUS server.
acct-port port_number
Example:

Device(config-radius-server)# address ipv4

10.0.1.2 auth-port 1550 acct-port 1560

Step 7 key string (Optional) Specifies the authentication and encryption key
used between the switch and the RADIUS daemon running
Example:
on the RADIUS server.
Device(config-radius-server)# key rad123

Step 8 exit Exits the RADIUS server mode and enters the global
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config-radius-server)# exit

Step 9 dot1x critical {eapol | recovery delay milliseconds} (Optional) Configure the parameters for inaccessible
authentication bypass:
Example:
• eapol—Specify that the switch sends an
Device(config)# dot1x critical eapol EAPOL-Success message when the switch
(config)# dot1x critical recovery delay 2000 successfully authenticates the critical port.

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Inaccessible Authentication Bypass with Critical Voice VLAN

Command or Action Purpose

• recovery delaymilliseconds—Set the recovery delay
period during which the switch waits to re-initialize
a critical port when a RADIUS server that was
unavailable becomes available. The range is from 1
to 10000 milliseconds. The default is 1000
milliseconds (a port can be re-initialized every
second).

Step 10 interface interface-id Specify the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 1/0/1

Step 11 authentication event server dead action {authorize | Use these keywords to move hosts on the port if the
reinitialize} vlan vlan-id] RADIUS server is unreachable:
Example: • authorize—Move any new hosts trying to
authenticate to the user-specified critical VLAN.
Device(config-if)# authentication event server
dead action • reinitialize—Move all authorized hosts on the port
reinitialicze vlan 20 to the user-specified critical VLAN.

Step 12 switchport voice vlan vlan-id Specifies the voice VLAN for the port. The voice VLAN
cannot be the same as the critical data VLAN configured
Example:
in Step 6.
Device(config-if)# switchport voice vlan

Step 13 authentication event server dead action authorize voice Configures critical voice VLAN to move data traffic on
the port to the voice VLAN if the RADIUS server is
Example:
unreachable.
Device(config-if)# authentication event server
dead action
authorize voice

Step 14 show authentication interface interface-id (Optional) Verify your entries.

Example:

Device(config-if)# do show authentication

interface gigabit 1/0/1

Step 15 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Verify your entries.

Example:

Device(config-if)# do copy running-config

startup-config

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Example of Configuring Inaccessible Authentication Bypass

Example
To return to the RADIUS server default settings, use the no radius-server dead-criteria, the no
radius-server deadtime, and the no radius server global configuration commands. To disable
inaccessible authentication bypass, use the no authentication event server dead action interface
configuration command. To disable critical voice VLAN, use the no authentication event server
dead action authorize voice interface configuration command.

Example of Configuring Inaccessible Authentication Bypass

This example shows how to configure the inaccessible authentication bypass feature:

Device(config)# radius-server dead-criteria time 30 tries 20

Device(config)# radius-server deadtime 60
Device(config)# radius server server1
Device(config-radius-server)# address ipv4 172.29.36.49 acct-port 1618 auth-port 1612
Device(config-radius-server)# key abc1234
Device(config-radius-server)# exit
Device(config)# dot1x critical eapol
Device(config)# dot1x critical recovery delay 2000
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 1/0/1
Device(config-if)# dot1x critical
Device(config-if)# dot1x critical recovery action reinitialize
Device(config-if)# dot1x critical vlan 20
Device(config-if)# end

Configuring 802.1x Authentication with WoL

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable 802.1x authentication with WoL. This
procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication control-direction {both | in}
4. end
5. show authentication sessions interface interface-id
6. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

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62
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring MAC Authentication Bypass

Command or Action Purpose

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/3

Step 3 authentication control-direction {both | in} Enables 802.1x authentication with WoL on the port, and
use these keywords to configure the port as bidirectional or
Example:
unidirectional.
Device(config-if)# authentication control-direction • both—Sets the port as bidirectional. The port cannot
both receive packets from or send packets to the host. By
default, the port is bidirectional.
• in—Sets the port as unidirectional. The port can send
packets to the host but cannot receive packets from
the host.

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 5 show authentication sessions interface interface-id Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show authentication sessions interface

gigabitethernet2/0/3

Step 6 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring MAC Authentication Bypass

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable MAC authentication bypass. This procedure
is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. authentication port-control auto
4. mab [eap]

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x User Distribution

5. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 2/0/1

Step 3 authentication port-control auto Enables 802.1x authentication on the port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication port-control auto

Step 4 mab [eap] Enables MAC authentication bypass.

Example: (Optional) Use the eap keyword to configure the switch to
use EAP for authorization.
Device(config-if)# mab

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring 802.1x User Distribution

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure a VLAN group and to map a VLAN to
it:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. vlan group vlan-group-name vlan-list vlan-list
3. end
4. no vlan group vlan-group-name vlan-list vlan-list

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64
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Example of Configuring VLAN Groups

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 vlan group vlan-group-name vlan-list vlan-list Configures a VLAN group, and maps a single VLAN or a
range of VLANs to it.
Example:

Device(config)# vlan group eng-dept vlan-list 10

Step 3 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Step 4 no vlan group vlan-group-name vlan-list vlan-list Clears the VLAN group configuration or elements of the
VLAN group configuration.
Example:

Device(config)# no vlan group eng-dept vlan-list

10

Example of Configuring VLAN Groups

This example shows how to configure the VLAN groups, to map the VLANs to the groups, to and verify the
VLAN group configurations and mapping to the specified VLANs:

Device(config)# vlan group eng-dept vlan-list 10

Device(config)# show vlan group group-name eng-dept

Group Name Vlans Mapped
------------- --------------
eng-dept 10

Device(config)# show dot1x vlan-group all

Group Name Vlans Mapped
------------- --------------
eng-dept 10
hr-dept 20

This example shows how to add a VLAN to an existing VLAN group and to verify that the VLAN was added:

Device(config)# vlan group eng-dept vlan-list 30

Device(config)# show vlan group eng-dept
Group Name Vlans Mapped
------------- --------------

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65
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring NAC Layer 2 802.1x Validation

eng-dept 10,30

This example shows how to remove a VLAN from a VLAN group:

Device# no vlan group eng-dept vlan-list 10

This example shows that when all the VLANs are cleared from a VLAN group, the VLAN group is cleared:

Device(config)# no vlan group eng-dept vlan-list 30

Vlan 30 is successfully cleared from vlan group eng-dept.

Device(config)# show vlan group group-name eng-dept

This example shows how to clear all the VLAN groups:

Device(config)# no vlan group end-dept vlan-list all

Device(config)# show vlan-group all

For more information about these commands, see the Cisco IOS Security Command Reference.

Configuring NAC Layer 2 802.1x Validation

You can configure NAC Layer 2 802.1x validation, which is also referred to as 802.1x authentication with a
RADIUS server.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure NAC Layer 2 802.1x validation. The
procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. switchport mode access
4. authentication event no-response action authorize vlan vlan-id
5. authentication periodic
6. authentication timer reauthenticate
7. end
8. show authentication sessions interface interface-id
9. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring NAC Layer 2 802.1x Validation

Command or Action Purpose

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/3

Step 3 switchport mode access Sets the port to access mode only if you configured the
RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 authentication event no-response action authorize vlan Specifies an active VLAN as an 802.1x guest VLAN. The
vlan-id range is 1 to 4094.
Example: You can configure any active VLAN except an internal
VLAN (routed port), an RSPAN VLAN, or a voice VLAN
Device(config-if)# authentication event no-response as an 802.1x guest VLAN.
action authorize vlan 8

Step 5 authentication periodic Enables periodic re-authentication of the client, which is

disabled by default.
Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication periodic

Step 6 authentication timer reauthenticate Sets re-authentication attempt for the client (set to one hour).
Example: This command affects the behavior of the switch only if
periodic re-authentication is enabled.
Device(config-if)# authentication timer
reauthenticate

Step 7 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 8 show authentication sessions interface interface-id Verifies your entries.

Example:

Device# show authentication sessions interface

gigabitethernet2/0/3

Step 9 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

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67
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring an Authenticator Switch with NEAT

Command or Action Purpose

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring an Authenticator Switch with NEAT

Configuring this feature requires that one switch outside a wiring closet is configured as a supplicant and is
connected to an authenticator switch.

Note • The authenticator switch interface configuration must be restored to access mode by explicitly flapping
it if a line card is removed and inserted in the chassis when CISP or NEAT session is active.
• The cisco-av-pairs must be configured as device-traffic-class=switch on the ISE, which sets the interface
as a trunk after the supplicant is successfully authenticated.

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure a switch as an authenticator:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. cisp enable
3. interface interface-id
4. switchport mode access
5. authentication port-control auto
6. dot1x pae authenticator
7. spanning-tree portfast
8. end
9. show running-config interface interface-id
10. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 cisp enable Enables CISP.

Example:

Device(config)# cisp enable

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring an Authenticator Switch with NEAT

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 2/0/1

Step 4 switchport mode access Sets the port mode to access.

Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 5 authentication port-control auto Sets the port-authentication mode to auto.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication port-control

auto

Step 6 dot1x pae authenticator Configures the interface as a port access entity (PAE)
authenticator.
Example:

Device(config-if)# dot1x pae authenticator

Step 7 spanning-tree portfast Enables Port Fast on an access port connected to a single
workstation or server..
Example:

Device(config-if)# spanning-tree portfast trunk

Step 8 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 9 show running-config interface interface-id Verifies your configuration.

Example:

Device# show running-config interface

gigabitethernet 2/0/1

Step 10 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring a Supplicant Switch with NEAT

Command or Action Purpose

Note Saving changes to the configuration file will
Device# copy running-config startup-config
mean that the authenticator interface will
continue to be in trunk mode after reload. If
you want the authenticator interface to remain
as an access port, do not save your changes
to the configuration file.

Configuring a Supplicant Switch with NEAT

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure a switch as a supplicant:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. cisp enable
3. dot1x credentials profile
4. username suppswitch
5. password password
6. dot1x supplicant force-multicast
7. interface interface-id
8. switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
9. switchport mode trunk
10. dot1x pae supplicant
11. dot1x credentials profile-name
12. end
13. show running-config interface interface-id
14. copy running-config startup-config
15. Configuring NEAT with Auto Smartports Macros

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 cisp enable Enables CISP.

Example:

Device(config)# cisp enable

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring a Supplicant Switch with NEAT

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 dot1x credentials profile Creates 802.1x credentials profile. This must be attached
to the port that is configured as supplicant.
Example:

Device(config)# dot1x credentials test

Step 4 username suppswitch Creates a username.

Example:

Device(config)# username suppswitch

Step 5 password password Creates a password for the new username.

Example:

Device(config)# password myswitch

Step 6 dot1x supplicant force-multicast Forces the switch to send only multicast EAPOL packets
when it receives either unicast or multicast packets.
Example:
This also allows NEAT to work on the supplicant switch
Device(config)# dot1x supplicant force-multicast in all host modes.

Step 7 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet1/0/1

Step 8 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q Sets the port to trunk mode.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport trunk encapsulation

dot1q

Step 9 switchport mode trunk Configures the interface as a VLAN trunk port.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode trunk

Step 10 dot1x pae supplicant Configures the interface as a port access entity (PAE)
supplicant.
Example:

Device(config-if)# dot1x pae supplicant

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring 802.1x Authentication with Downloadable ACLs and Redirect URLs

Command or Action Purpose

Step 11 dot1x credentials profile-name Attaches the 802.1x credentials profile to the interface.
Example:

Device(config-if)# dot1x credentials test

Step 12 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Step 13 show running-config interface interface-id Verifies your configuration.

Example:

Device# show running-config interface

gigabitethernet1/0/1

Step 14 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Step 15 Configuring NEAT with Auto Smartports Macros You can also use an Auto Smartports user-defined macro
instead of the switch VSA to configure the authenticator
switch. For more information, see the Auto Smartports
Configuration Guide for this release.

Configuring 802.1x Authentication with Downloadable ACLs and Redirect URLs

Note You must configure a downloadable ACL on the ACS before downloading it to the switch.

After authentication on the port, you can use the show ip access-list privileged EXEC command to display
the downloaded ACLs on the port.

Note The output of the show ip access-lists interface command does not display dACL or ACL filter IDs. This is
because the ACLs are attached to the virtual ports created by multidomain authentication for each authentication
session; instead of the physical interface. To display dACL or ACL filter IDs, use the show ip access-lists
access-list-name command.

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72
 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring Downloadable ACLs

Configuring Downloadable ACLs

The policies take effect after client authentication and the client IP address addition to the IP device tracking
table. The switch then applies the downloadable ACL to the port.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. ip device tracking
3. aaa new-model
4. aaa authorization network default local group radius
5. radius-server vsa send authentication
6. interface interface-id
7. ip access-group acl-id in
8. show running-config interface interface-id
9. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 ip device tracking Sets the ip device tracking table.

Example:

Device(config)# ip device tracking

Step 3 aaa new-model Enables AAA.

Example:

Device(config)# aaa new-model

Step 4 aaa authorization network default local group radius Sets the authorization method to local. To remove the
authorization method, use the no aaa authorization
Example:
network default local group radius command.
Device(config)# aaa authorization network default
local group radius

Step 5 radius-server vsa send authentication Configures the radius vsa send authentication.
Example:

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring a Downloadable Policy

Command or Action Purpose

Device(config)# radius-server vsa send

authentication

Step 6 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/4

Step 7 ip access-group acl-id in Configures the default ACL on the port in the input
direction.
Example:
Note The acl-id is an access list name or number.
Device(config-if)# ip access-group default_acl in

Step 8 show running-config interface interface-id Verifies your configuration.

Example:

Device(config-if)# show running-config interface

gigabitethernet2/0/4

Step 9 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring a Downloadable Policy

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode:

Before you begin

SISF-Based device tracking is a prerequisite to configuring 802.1x authentication. Ensure that you have
enabled device tracking programmatically or manually.
For more information, see Confguring SISF-Based Tracking.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. access-list access-list-number { deny | permit } { hostname | any | host } log
3. interface interface-id
4. ip access-group acl-id in
5. exit
6. aaa new-model
7. aaa authorization network default group radius

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring a Downloadable Policy

8. radius-server vsa send authentication

9. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 access-list access-list-number { deny | permit } { hostname Defines the default port ACL.
| any | host } log
The access-list-number is a decimal number from 1 to 99
Example: or 1300 to 1999.
Device(config)# access-list 1 deny any log Enter deny or permit to specify whether to deny or permit
access if conditions are matched.
The source is the source address of the network or host that
sends a packet, such as this:
• hostname: The 32-bit quantity in dotted-decimal
format.
• any: The keyword any as an abbreviation for source
and source-wildcard value of 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255.
You do not need to enter a source-wildcard value.
• host: The keyword host as an abbreviation for source
and source-wildcard of source 0.0.0.0.

(Optional) Applies the source-wildcard wildcard bits to the

source.
(Optional) Enters log to cause an informational logging
message about the packet that matches the entry to be sent
to the console.

Step 3 interface interface-id Enters interface configuration mode.

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet2/0/2

Step 4 ip access-group acl-id in Configures the default ACL on the port in the input
direction.
Example:
Note The acl-id is an access list name or number.
Device(config-if)# ip access-group default_acl in

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Configuring VLAN ID-based MAC Authentication

Command or Action Purpose

Step 5 exit Returns to global configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config-if)# exit

Step 6 aaa new-model Enables AAA.

Example:

Device(config)# aaa new-model

Step 7 aaa authorization network default group radius Sets the authorization method to local. To remove the
authorization method, use the no aaa authorization
Example:
network default group radius command.
Device(config)# aaa authorization network default
group radius

Step 8 radius-server vsa send authentication Configures the network access server to recognize and use
vendor-specific attributes.
Example:
Note The downloadable ACL must be operational.
Device(config)# radius-server vsa send
authentication

Step 9 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config)# end

Configuring VLAN ID-based MAC Authentication

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. mab request format attribute 32 vlan access-vlan
3. copy running-config startup-config

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

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Configuring Flexible Authentication Ordering

Command or Action Purpose

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 mab request format attribute 32 vlan access-vlan Enables VLAN ID-based MAC authentication.
Example:

Device(config)# mab request format attribute 32

vlan access-vlan

Step 3 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Saves your entries in the configuration file.
Example:

Device# copy running-config startup-config

Configuring Flexible Authentication Ordering

The examples used in the instructions below changes the order of Flexible Authentication Ordering so that
MAB is attempted before IEEE 802.1X authentication (dot1x). MAB is configured as the first authentication
method, so MAB will have priority over all other authentication methods.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. switchport mode access
4. authentication order [ dot1x | mab ] | {webauth}
5. authentication priority [ dot1x | mab ] | {webauth}
6. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 1/0/1

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Configuring Open1x

Command or Action Purpose

Step 3 switchport mode access Sets the port to access mode only if you previously
configured the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 authentication order [ dot1x | mab ] | {webauth} (Optional) Sets the order of authentication methods used
on a port.
Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication order mab dot1x

Step 5 authentication priority [ dot1x | mab ] | {webauth} (Optional) Adds an authentication method to the
port-priority list.
Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication priority mab

dot1x

Step 6 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Configuring Open1x
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to enable manual control of the port authorization
state:

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. switchport mode access
4. authentication control-direction {both | in}
5. authentication fallback name
6. authentication host-mode [multi-auth | multi-domain | multi-host | single-host]
7. authentication open
8. authentication order [ dot1x | mab ] | {webauth}
9. authentication periodic
10. authentication port-control {auto | force-authorized | force-un authorized}
11. end

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Configuring Open1x

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 1/0/1

Step 3 switchport mode access Sets the port to access mode only if you configured the
RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 authentication control-direction {both | in} (Optional) Configures the port control as unidirectional or
bidirectional.
Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication
control-direction both

Step 5 authentication fallback name (Optional) Configures a port to use web authentication as
a fallback method for clients that do not support 802.1x
Example:
authentication.
Device(config-if)# authentication fallback
profile1

Step 6 authentication host-mode [multi-auth | multi-domain (Optional) Sets the authorization manager mode on a port.
| multi-host | single-host]
Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication host-mode

multi-auth

Step 7 authentication open (Optional) Enables or disable open access on a port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication open

Step 8 authentication order [ dot1x | mab ] | {webauth} (Optional) Sets the order of authentication methods used
on a port.
Example:

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 Configuring IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication
Disabling 802.1x Authentication on the Port

Command or Action Purpose

Device(config-if)# authentication order dot1x

webauth

Step 9 authentication periodic (Optional) Enables or disable reauthentication on a port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication periodic

Step 10 authentication port-control {auto | force-authorized | (Optional) Enables manual control of the port authorization
force-un authorized} state.
Example:

Device(config-if)# authentication port-control

auto

Step 11 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Disabling 802.1x Authentication on the Port

You can disable 802.1x authentication on the port by using the no dot1x pae interface configuration command.
Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to disable 802.1x authentication on the port. This
procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. switchport mode access
4. no dot1x pae authenticator
5. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

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Resetting the 802.1x Authentication Configuration to the Default Values

Command or Action Purpose

Step 2 interface interface-id Specifies the port to be configured, and enter interface
configuration mode.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 2/0/1

Step 3 switchport mode access (Optional) Sets the port to access mode only if you
configured the RADIUS server.
Example:

Device(config-if)# switchport mode access

Step 4 no dot1x pae authenticator Disables 802.1x authentication on the port.

Example:

Device(config-if)# no dot1x pae authenticator

Step 5 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Resetting the 802.1x Authentication Configuration to the Default Values

Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to reset the 802.1x authentication configuration to
the default values. This procedure is optional.

SUMMARY STEPS
1. configure terminal
2. interface interface-id
3. dot1x default
4. end

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 configure terminal Enters global configuration mode.
Example:

Device# configure terminal

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Monitoring 802.1x Statistics and Status

Command or Action Purpose

Step 2 interface interface-id Enters interface configuration mode, and specify the port
to be configured.
Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 1/0/2

Step 3 dot1x default Resets the 802.1x parameters to the default values.
Example:

Device(config-if)# dot1x default

Step 4 end Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Monitoring 802.1x Statistics and Status

Table 5: Privileged EXEC show Commands

Command Purpose

show dot1x all statistics Displays 802.1x statistics for all ports

show dot1x interface interface-id statistics Displays 802.1x statistics for a specific port

show dot1x all [count | details | statistics | Displays the 802.1x administrative and operational status
summary] for a switch

show dot1x interface interface-id Displays the 802.1x administrative and operational status
for a specific port

Table 6: Global Configuration Commands

Command Purpose

no dot1x logging Filters verbose 802.1x authentication messages (beginning with Cisco IOS Release
verbose 12.2(55)SE)

For detailed information about the fields in these displays, see the command reference for this release.

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Feature History for IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

Feature History for IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

Release Feature Feature Information

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.2 IEEE 802.1x Port-Based IEEE 802.1x authentication prevents unauthorized
Authentication devices (clients) from gaining access to the network.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform and software image support. To access Cisco
Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn.

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Feature History for IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Authentication

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