Radius: (O'Reilly Ser.)

Remote Authentication Dial-In User Radius (RADIUS) is a widely deployed protocol that enables companies to authenticate, authorize and account for remote users who want access to a system or service from a central network server. This text is a detailed guide to the underpinnings of RADIUS protocol, with particular emphasis on the utility of user accounting. Author Jonathan Hassell draws from his extensive experience in Internet service provider operations to bring practical suggestions and advice for implementing RADIUS. He also provides instructions for using an open-source variation called FreeRADIUS. This book covers RADIUS completely, from the history and theory of the architecture around which it was designed, to how the protocol and its ancillaries function on a day-to-day basis, to implementing RADIUS-based security in a variety of corporate and service provider environments. If you are an ISP owner or administrator, corporate IT professional responsible for maintaining mobile user connectivity, or a web presence provider responsible for providing multiple communications resources, you'll want this book to help you master this widely implemented but little understood protoc

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. An Overview of RADIUS An Overview of AAA Key Points About AAA Architecture The Authorization Framework And Now, RADIUS 2. RADIUS Specifics Using UDP versus TCP Packet Formats Packet Types Shared Secrets Attributes and Values Authentication Methods Realms RADIUS Hints 3. Standard RADIUS Attributes Attribute Properties 4. RADIUS Accounting Key Points in RADIUS Accounting Basic Operation The Accounting Packet Format Accounting Packet Types Accounting-specific Attributes 5. Getting Started with FreeRADIUS Introduction to FreeRADIUS Installing FreeRADIUS In-depth Configuration Troubleshooting Common Problems 6. Advanced FreeRADIUS Using PAM Proxying and Realms Using the clients.conf File FreeRADIUS with Some NAS Gear Using MySQL with FreeRADIUS Simultaneous Use Monitoring FreeRADIUS 7. Other RADIUS Applications RADIUS for Web Authentication Using the LDAP Directory Service Parsing RADIUS Accounting Files 8. The Security of RADIUS Vulnerabilities The Extensible Authentication Protocol Compensating for the Deficiencies Modifying the RADIUS Protocol 9. New RADIUS Developments Interim Accounting Updates The Apple Remote Access Protocol The Extensible Authentication Protocol Tunneling Protocols New Extensions Attributes 10. Deployment Techniques Typical Services RADIUS and Availability Other Things RADIUS Appendix:. Attribute Reference Index

About the Author :
Jonathan Hassell is a systems administrator, IT consultant, and industry author residing in Raleigh, NC. He has extensive experience in networking technologies and Internet connectivity and currently runs his own web hosting business, Enable Hosting. He is the author of "RADIUS" for O'Reilly and Associates and is a columnist for WindowsITSecurity.COM and Pinnacle's Linux AppDev newsletter. He has also worked with IBM to develop a tutorial on Apache web server optimization.