Cisco DCNM Security Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Configuring RADIUS

This chapter describes how to configure the Remote Access Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol on NX-OS devices.

This chapter includes the following sections:

•Information About RADIUS

•Licensing Requirements for RADIUS

•Prerequisites for RADIUS

•Guidelines and Limitations

•Configuring RADIUS Servers

•Displaying RADIUS Server Statistics

•Where to Go Next

•Field Descriptions for RADIUS Server Groups and Servers

•Additional References

•Feature History for RADIUS

Information About RADIUS

The RADIUS distributed client/server system allows you to secure networks against unauthorized access. In the Cisco implementation, RADIUS clients run on Cisco NX-OS devices and send authentication and accounting requests to a central RADIUS server that contains all user authentication and network service access information.

This section includes the following topics:

•RADIUS Network Environments

•RADIUS Operation

•RADIUS Server Monitoring

•Vendor-Specific Attributes

•Virtualization Support

RADIUS Network Environments

RADIUS can be implemented in a variety of network environments that require high levels of security while maintaining network access for remote users.

You can use RADIUS in the following network environments that require access security:

•Networks with multiple-vendor network devices, each supporting RADIUS. For example, network devices from several vendors can use a single RADIUS server-based security database.

•Networks already using RADIUS. You can add a Cisco NX-OS device with RADIUS to the network. This action might be the first step when you make a transition to a AAA server.

•Networks that require resource accounting. You can use RADIUS accounting independent of RADIUS authentication or authorization. The RADIUS accounting functions allow data to be sent at the start and end of services, indicating the amount of resources (such as time, packets, bytes, and so on) used during the session. An Internet service provider (ISP) might use a freeware-based version of the RADIUS access control and accounting software to meet special security and billing needs.

•Networks that support authentication profiles. Using the RADIUS server in your network, you can configure AAA authentication and set up per-user profiles. Per-user profiles enable the Cisco NX-OS device to better manage ports using their existing RADIUS solutions and to efficiently manage shared resources to offer different service-level agreements.

RADIUS Operation

When a user attempts to log in and authenticate to a Cisco NX-OS device using RADIUS, the following process occurs:

1. The user is prompted for and enters a username and password.

2. The username and encrypted password are sent over the network to the RADIUS server.

3. The user receives one of the following responses from the RADIUS server:

–ACCEPT—The user is authenticated.

–REJECT—The user is not authenticated and is prompted to reenter the username and password, or access is denied.

–CHALLENGE—A challenge is issued by the RADIUS server. The challenge collects additional data from the user.

–CHANGE PASSWORD—A request is issued by the RADIUS server, asking the user to select a new password.

The ACCEPT or REJECT response is bundled with additional data that is used for EXEC or network authorization. You must first complete RADIUS authentication before using RADIUS authorization. The additional data included with the ACCEPT or REJECT packets consists of the following:

•Services that the user can access, including Telnet, rlogin, or local-area transport (LAT) connections, and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP), or EXEC services.

•Connection parameters, including the host or client IPv4 or IPv6 address, access list, and user timeouts.

RADIUS Server Monitoring

An unresponsive RADIUS server can cause a delay in processing AAA requests. You can configure the Cisco NX-OS device to periodically monitor a RADIUS server to check whether it is responding (or alive) to save time in processing AAA requests. The Cisco NX-OS device marks unresponsive RADIUS servers as dead and does not send AAA requests to any dead RADIUS servers. The Cisco NX-OS device periodically monitors the dead RADIUS servers and brings them to the alive state once they respond. This monitoring process verifies that a RADIUS server is in a working state before real AAA requests are sent its way. Whenever a RADIUS server changes to the dead or alive state, a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap is generated and the Cisco NX-OS device displays an error message that a failure is taking place. See Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1 RADIUS Server States

Note The monitoring interval for alive servers and dead servers are different and can be configured by the user. The RADIUS server monitoring is performed by sending a test authentication request to the RADIUS server.

Vendor-Specific Attributes

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft standard specifies a method for communicating VSAs between the network access server and the RADIUS server. The IETF uses attribute 26. VSAs allow vendors to support their own extended attributes that are not suitable for general use. The Cisco RADIUS implementation supports one vendor-specific option using the format recommended in the specification. The Cisco vendor ID is 9, and the supported option is vendor type 1, which is named cisco-av-pair. The value is a string with the following format:

protocol : attribute separator value *

The protocol is a Cisco attribute for a particular type of authorization, the separator is = (equal sign) for mandatory attributes, and * (asterisk) indicates optional attributes.

When you use RADIUS servers for authentication on a Cisco NX-OS device, the RADIUS protocol directs the RADIUS server to return user attributes, such as authorization information, with authentication results. This authorization information is specified through VSAs.

The following VSA protocol options are supported by the Cisco NX-OS software:

•Shell—Protocol used in access-accept packets to provide user profile information.

•Accounting—Protocol used in accounting-request packets. If a value contains any white spaces, you should enclose the value within double quotation marks.

The Cisco NX-OS software supports the following attributes:

•roles—Lists all the roles to which the user belongs. The value field is a string that lists the role names delimited by white space. For example, if the user belongs to roles network-operator and vdc-admin, the value field would be "network-operator vdc-admin." This subattribute, which the RADIUS server sends in the VSA portion of the Access-Accept frames, can only be used with the shell protocol value. The following examples show the roles attribute that supported by the Cisco Access Control Server (ACS):

shell:roles="network-operator vdc-admin"

shell:roles*"network-operator vdc-admin" 

The following examples show the roles attribute that is supported by FreeRADIUS:

Cisco-AVPair = "shell:roles=\"network-operator vdc-admin\""

Cisco-AVPair = "shell:roles*\"network-operator vdc-admin\""

Note When you specify a VSA as shell:roles*"network-operator vdc-admin" or "shell:roles*\"network-operator vdc-admin\"", this VSA is flagged as an optional attribute and other Cisco devices ignore this attribute.

•accountinginfo—Stores accounting information in addition to the attributes covered by a standard RADIUS accounting protocol. This attribute is sent only in the VSA portion of the Account-Request frames from the RADIUS client on the switch. It can be used only with the accounting protocol data units (PDUs).

Virtualization Support

RADIUS configuration and operation are local to the virtual device context (VDC). For more information on VDCs, see the Cisco DCNM Virtual Device Context Configuration Guide, Release 4.1.

The Cisco NX-OS device uses virtual routing and forwarding instances (VRFs) to access the RADIUS servers. For more information on VRFs, see the Cisco DCNM Unicast Routing Configuration Guide, Release 4.1.

Licensing Requirements for RADIUS

The following table shows the licensing requirements for this feature:

Prerequisites for RADIUS

RADIUS has the following prerequisites:

•Obtain IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or hostnames for the RADIUS servers.

•Obtain keys from the RADIUS servers.

•Ensure that the Cisco NX-OS device is configured as a RADIUS client of the AAA servers.

•Ensure that the logging level for RADIUS in the Cisco NX-OS software is set to 5 using the command-line interface (CLI).

switch# configure terminal

switch(config)# logging level radius 5

Guidelines and Limitations

RADIUS has the following guidelines and limitations:

•You can configure a maximum of 64 RADIUS servers on the Cisco NX-OS device.

•If you have a user account configured on the local Cisco NX-OS device that has the same name as a remote user account on an AAA server, the Cisco NX-OS software applies the user roles for the local user account to the remote user, not the user roles configured on the AAA server.

Configuring RADIUS Servers

This section includes the following topics:

•RADIUS Server Configuration Process

•Adding a RADIUS Server Host

•Copying a RADIUS Server Host

•Deleting a RADIUS Server Host

•Configuring a Global RADIUS Key

•Configuring a Key for a Specific RADIUS Server

•Adding a RADIUS Server Group

•Adding a RADIUS Server Host to a RADIUS Server Group

•Deleting a RADIUS Server Host from a RADIUS Server Group

•Deleting a RADIUS Server Group

•Allowing Users to Specify a RADIUS Server at Login

•Configuring the Global RADIUS Transmission Retry Count and Timeout Interval

•Configuring the RADIUS Transmission Retry Count and Timeout Interval for a Server

•Configuring Accounting and Authentication Attributes for RADIUS Servers

•Configuring Periodic RADIUS Server Monitoring

•Configuring the Dead-Time Interval

•Displaying RADIUS Server Statistics

RADIUS Server Configuration Process

Follow these steps to configure RADIUS servers:

Step 1 Establish the RADIUS server connections to the Cisco NX-OS device (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

Step 2 Configure the RADIUS secret keys for the RADIUS servers (see the "Configuring a Global RADIUS Key" section).

Step 3 If needed, configure RADIUS server groups with subsets of the RADIUS servers for AAA authentication methods (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Group" section and the "Configuring AAA" section on page 2-7).

Step 4 If needed, configure any of the following optional parameters:

•Dead-time interval (see the "Configuring the Dead-Time Interval" section).

•Allow specification of a RADIUS server at login (see the "Allowing Users to Specify a RADIUS Server at Login" section).

•Transmission retry count and timeout interval (see the "Configuring the Global RADIUS Transmission Retry Count and Timeout Interval" section).

•Accounting and authentication attributes (see the "Configuring Accounting and Authentication Attributes for RADIUS Servers" section).

Step 5 If needed, configure periodic RADIUS server monitoring (see the "Configuring Periodic RADIUS Server Monitoring" section).

Figure 3-2 shows the AAA Server Groups pane.

Figure 3-2 Server Groups Pane

Figure 3-3 shows the Server Details tab.

Figure 3-3 Server Details Tab

Adding a RADIUS Server Host

To access a remote RADIUS server, you must configure the IP address or hostname of a RADIUS server. You can configure up to 64 RADIUS servers.

Note By default, when you configure a RADIUS server IP address or hostname the Cisco NX-OS device, the RADIUS server is added to the default RADIUS server group. You can also add the RADIUS server to another RADIUS server group. For info about creating RADIUS server groups, see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Group" section).

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ensure that the server is configured to authenticate RADIUS traffic.

Ensure that the Cisco NX-OS device is configured as a RADIUS client of the AAA servers.

DETAILED STEPS

To add a RADIUS server host, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Click Default RADIUS Server Group.

Step 4 From the menu bar, choose Actions > Add Server.

The Server Details appear in the Details pane.

Step 5 In the Server field, enter the RADIUS server IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or hostname in the Server field.

Step 6 From the Server drop-down list, choose either the IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or hostname as the correct server identifier type.

Note If the server identifier format matches the identifier type selected, DCNM outlines the Server field in yellow to indicate that it is correct. If the server identifier format does not match the identifier type, DCNM outlines the Server field in red to indicate an error. Change the address or the address type to correct this problem.

Step 7 (Optional) In the Authentication Port field, enter a new UDP port number or clear the field to disable authentication.

The default authentication UDP port is 1812.

Step 8 (Optional) In the Accounting Port field, enter a new UDP port number or clear the field to disable accounting.

The default accounting UDP port is 1813.

Step 9 (Optional) In the Test area, you can enter a username, password, and idle time interval in minutes for periodic server host monitoring.

The default username is test, the default password is test, and the default idle time interval is 0 minutes, which disables periodic monitoring.

Step 10 (Optional) Check Override Defaults and enter a key, timeout interval, and retransmit time interval in minutes to override the global values.

Step 11 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Copying a RADIUS Server Host

You can copy the configuration of a RADIUS server host from one RADIUS server to another server group, either on the same NX-OS device or on another NX-OS device.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ensure that you have configured the server in the default RADIUS server group (see "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

Ensure that you have created the target RADIUS server group (see "Adding a RADIUS Server Group" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To copy the configuration of a RADIUS server host, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click Default RADIUS Server Group.

The list of configured RADIUS server hosts appears.

Step 4 Click on the server host that you want to copy.

Step 5 From the menu bar, choose Actions > Copy.

Step 6 Click the destination server group.

Note You can copy the server host configuration to a server group within the same device or in another device.

Step 7 From the menu bar, choose Actions > Paste.

The RADIUS server host appears in the list of servers for the server group.

Step 8 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Deleting a RADIUS Server Host

You can delete a RADIUS server host from a server group.

DETAILED STEPS

To delete a RADIUS server host, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click the server group to display the list of server hosts.

Step 4 Click the RADIUS server host to delete.

Step 5 From the menu bar, choose Server Groups > Delete Server and click Yes on the confirmation dialog.

The RADIUS server host disappears from the list.

Step 6 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring a Global RADIUS Key

You can configure a RADIUS key for all servers used by the Cisco NX-OS device. A RADIUS key is a shared secret text string between the Cisco NX-OS device and the RADIUS server hosts. To configure a RADIUS key specific to a RADIUS server, see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Group" section.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Obtain the RADIUS key values for the remote RADIUS servers.

Configure the RADIUS key on the remote RADIUS servers.

DETAILED STEPS

To configure a global RADIUS key, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Click Default RADIUS Server Group.

Step 4 From the Details pane, click the Global RADIUS Settings tab.

Step 5 In the Key field, enter the RADIUS key.

Step 6 (Optional) Check Encrypt to encrypt the key.

The default is clear text. The Cisco NX-OS software encrypts a clear text key before saving it to the running configuration.

Step 7 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring a Key for a Specific RADIUS Server

You can configure a key on the Cisco NX-OS device for a specific RADIUS server. A RADIUS key is a secret text string shared between the Cisco NX-OS device and a specific RADIUS server.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Configure one or more RADIUS server hosts (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

Obtain the key value for the remote RADIUS server.

Configure the key on the RADIUS server.

DETAILED STEPS

To configure a RADIUS server key, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click Default RADIUS Server Group to display the list of RADIUS servers.

Step 4 Click the desired RADIUS server.

Step 5 From the Details pane, click the Server Details tab.

Step 6 Check Override Defaults.

Step 7 In the Key field, enter the RADIUS key.

The default is the global RADIUS key.

Step 8 (Optional) Check Encrypt to encrypt the key.

The default is clear text. The Cisco NX-OS software encrypts a clear text key before saving it to the running configuration.

Step 9 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Adding a RADIUS Server Group

You can reference one or more remote AAA servers to authenticate users using server groups. All members of a group must belong to the RADIUS protocol. The servers are tried in the same order in which you configure them.

You can configure these server groups at any time but they only take effect when you apply them to an AAA service. For information on AAA services, see the "Remote AAA Services" section on page 2-2.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Configure one or more RADIUS server hosts (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To add a RADIUS server group, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, click the device.

Step 3 From the menu bar, choose Server Groups > RADIUS Server Group.

A new line appears at the end of the server group list for the device and the Details tab appears in the Details pane.

Step 4 In the Server Group Name field, enter the name and press the Enter key.

The server group name is a case-sensitive alphanumeric string with a maximum length of 127 characters.

Step 5 (Optional) In the Dead time(mins) field, enter the number of minutes for the dead-time interval.

The default dead-time interval is 0 minutes.

Step 6 In the VRF Name field, click the down arrow to display the VRF Name dialog and click a VRF. Click OK.

Step 7 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Adding a RADIUS Server Host to a RADIUS Server Group

You can add a RADIUS server host to a RADIUS server group.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ensure that you have added the RADIUS server host to the Default RADIUS Server Group (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To add a RADIUS server host to a RADIUS server group, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Click a RADIUS server group.

Step 4 From the menu bar, choose Server Groups > Add Server.

The Server Details appear in the Details pane.

Step 5 In the Server field, enter the RADIUS server IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or hostname in the Server field.

Step 6 From the Server drop-down list, choose either the IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or hostname as the correct server identifier type.

Note If the server identifier format matches the identifier type selected, DCNM outlines the Server field in yellow to indicate that it is correct. If the server identifier format does not match the identifier type, DCNM outlines the Server field in red to indicate an error. Change the address or the address type to correct this problem.

Step 7 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Deleting a RADIUS Server Host from a RADIUS Server Group

You can delete a RADIUS server host from a RADIUS server group.

DETAILED STEPS

To delete a RADIUS server host from a RADIUS server group, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click the server group to display the list of server hosts.

Step 4 Click the RADIUS server host to delete.

Step 5 From the menu bar, choose Server Groups > Delete Server and click Yes on the confirmation dialog.

The RADIUS server host disappears from the list.

Step 6 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Deleting a RADIUS Server Group

You can delete a RADIUS server group.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ensure that all servers in the group are RADIUS servers.

DETAILED STEPS

To delete a RADIUS server group, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the list of server groups.

Step 3 Click the RADIUS server group to delete.

Step 4 From the menu bar, choose Server Groups > Delete Server Group and click Yes in the confirmation dialog.

The server group disappears from the server group list.

Step 5 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Allowing Users to Specify a RADIUS Server at Login

By default, the Cisco NX-OS device forwards an authentication request based on the default AAA authentication method. You can configure the Cisco NX-OS device to allow the user to specify a VRF and RADIUS server to send the authentication request by enabling the directed-request option. If you enable this option, the user can log in as username@vrfname:hostname, where vrfname is the VRF to use and hostname is the name of a configured RADIUS server.

Note If you enable the directed-request option, the device uses only the RADIUS method for authentication and not the default local method.

Note User-specified logins are supported only for Telnet sessions.

DETAILED STEPS

To allow users to specify a RADIUS server at login, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Click Default RADIUS Server Group.

Step 4 From the Details pane, click the Global RADIUS Settings tab.

Step 5 Click Direct Req.

Step 6 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring the Global RADIUS Transmission Retry Count and Timeout Interval

You can configure a global retransmission retry count and timeout interval for all RADIUS servers. By default, a Cisco NX-OS device retries transmission to a RADIUS server only once before reverting to local authentication. You can increase this number up to a maximum of five retries per server. The timeout interval determines how long the Cisco NX-OS device waits for responses from RADIUS servers before declaring a timeout failure.

DETAILED STEPS

To configure the global RADIUS transmission retry count and timeout interval, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Click Default RADIUS Server Group.

Step 4 From the Details pane, click the Global RADIUS Settings tab.

Step 5 In the Retransmit field, enter a number of retransmit attempts.

The default is 1.

Step 6 In the Time out(secs) field, enter the number of seconds for the timeout interval.

The default is 5 seconds.

Step 7 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring the RADIUS Transmission Retry Count and Timeout Interval for a Server

By default, a Cisco NX-OS device retries a transmission to a RADIUS server only once before reverting to local authentication. You can increase this number up to a maximum of five retries per server. You can also set a timeout interval that the Cisco NX-OS device waits for responses from RADIUS servers before declaring a timeout failure.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Configure one or more RADIUS server hosts (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To configure the transmission retry count and timeout interval for a RADIUS server, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click Default RADIUS Server Group to display the list of RADIUS servers.

Step 4 Click the desired RADIUS server.

Step 5 From the Details pane, click the Server Details tab.

Step 6 Check Override Defaults.

Step 7 In the Retransmit field, enter the number of retransmit attempts.

The default is 1.

Step 8 In the Timeout(secs) field, enter the number of seconds for the retransmission interval.

The default is 5 seconds.

Step 9 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring Accounting and Authentication Attributes for RADIUS Servers

You can specify that a RADIUS server is to be used only for accounting purposes or only for authentication purposes. By default, RADIUS servers are used for both accounting and authentication. You can also specify the destination UDP port numbers where RADIUS accounting and authentication messages should be sent if there is a conflict with the default port.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Configure one or more RADIUS server hosts (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To configure the authentication and accounting attributes for RADIUS servers, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click Default RADIUS Server Group to display the list of RADIUS servers.

Step 4 Click the desired RADIUS server.

Step 5 From the Details pane, click the Server Details tab.

Step 6 (Optional) In the Authentication Port field, enter a new UDP port number or clear the field to disable authentication.

The default authentication UDP port is 1812.

Step 7 (Optional) In the Accounting Port field, enter a new UDP port number or clear the field to disable accounting.

The default accounting UDP port is 1813.

Step 8 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring Periodic RADIUS Server Monitoring

You can monitor the availability of RADIUS servers. These parameters include the username and password to use for the server and an idle timer. The idle timer specifies the interval during which a RADIUS server receives no requests before the Cisco NX-OS device sends out a test packet. You can configure this option to test servers periodically.

Note For security reasons, we recommend that you do not configure a test username that is the same as an existing user in the RADIUS database.

The test idle timer specifies the interval during which a RADIUS server receives no requests before the Cisco NX-OS device sends out a test packet.

Note The default idle timer value is 0 minutes. When the idle time interval is 0 minutes, the Cisco NX-OS device does not perform periodic RADIUS server monitoring.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Add one or more RADIUS server hosts (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To configure periodic RADIUS server monitoring, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click Default RADIUS Server Group to display the list of RADIUS servers.

Step 4 Click the desired RADIUS server.

Step 5 From the Details pane, click the Server Details tab.

Step 6 In the User Name field, enter a username.

Step 7 In the Password field, enter a password.

Step 8 In the Idle Time field, enter the number of minutes for periodic monitoring.

Step 9 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Configuring the Dead-Time Interval

You can configure the dead-time interval for all RADIUS servers. The dead-time interval specifies the time that the Cisco NX-OS device waits after declaring a RADIUS server is dead, before sending out a test packet to determine if the server is now alive. The default value is 0 minutes.

Note When the dead-time interval is 0 minutes, RADIUS servers are not marked as dead even if they are not responding. You can configure the dead-time interval for a RADIUS server group (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Group" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To configure the RADIUS dead-time interval, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Click Default RADIUS Server Group.

Step 4 From the Details pane, click the Global RADIUS Settings tab.

Step 5 In the Dead time(mins) field, enter the number of minutes.

The default is 0 minutes.

Step 6 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to apply your changes to the device.

Displaying RADIUS Server Statistics

You can display the statistics that the Cisco NX-OS device maintains for the RADIUS servers.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Configure one or more RADIUS server hosts (see the "Adding a RADIUS Server Host" section).

DETAILED STEPS

To display RADIUS server statistics, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose Security > AAA > Server Groups.

Step 2 From the Summary pane, double-click the device to display the server groups.

Step 3 Double-click Default RADIUS Server Group to display the list of RADIUS servers.

Step 4 Click the desired RADIUS server.

Step 5 From the Details pane, click the Statistics tab.

Where to Go Next

You can now configure AAA authentication methods to include the RADIUS server groups (see Chapter 2, "Configuring AAA").

Field Descriptions for RADIUS Server Groups and Servers

This section includes the following topics:

•Security: AAA: Server Groups: Summary Pane

•Security: AAA: Server Groups: device: Default RADIUS Server Group: Global RADIUS Settings Tab

•Security: AAA: Server Groups: device: Default RADIUS Server Group: server: Server Details Tab

•Security: AAA: Server Groups: device: server group: Details Tab

Security: AAA: Server Groups: Summary Pane

Security: AAA: Server Groups: device: Default RADIUS Server Group: Global RADIUS Settings Tab

Security: AAA: Server Groups: device: Default RADIUS Server Group: server: Server Details Tab

Security: AAA: Server Groups: device: server group: Details Tab

Additional References

For additional information related to implementing RADIUS, see the following sections:

•Related Documents

•Standards

•MIBs

Related Documents

Standards

MIBs

Feature History for RADIUS

Table 3-5 lists the release history for this feature.