Originally posted here by annihilator_god
Grunt, I literally have no idea what RADIUS servers are. All I know is that my router has multiple security modes for wireless networking. These include WEP, WPA pre shared key, WPA RADIUS, and RADIUS. It looks to be a method of authentication, so that would be a way to log in, right? Obviously i need to do more research since I have no idea. Which is exactly what I'm doing right now.
RADIUS stands for remote access dial up server. THis is actually an authentication protocol, used when remote dial up users authenticate themselves. The reason this was brought up in the discussion of wireless security, is for the ability to authenticate users, not just based on mac cards and wep keys, but with actually usernames and passwords. This helps draw a clearer line on the network, as to what the actual user can do on a network or system. In addition, it adds another layer of security. I've listed below the actual radius definition, because I know my half ass explanation isn't gonna cut it for alot of you out there.


RADIUS: A client/server protocol and software that enables remote access servers to communicate with a central server to authenticate dial-in users and authorize their access to the requested system or service. RADIUS allows a company to maintain user profiles in a central database that all remote servers can share. It provides better security, allowing a company to set up a policy that can be applied at a single administered network point. Having a central service also means that it's easier to track usage for billing and for keeping network statistics. Created by Livingston (now owned by Lucent), RADIUS is a de facto industry standard used by Ascend and other network product companies and is a proposed IETF standard.


I hope this answers any of those radius specific questions out there.


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