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Overview

The

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is configurable using CLI and EMA interfaces, and the access to these interfaces are authenticated using the user credentials. User credentials can be verified using local or external authentication. For local authentication, the user credentials are validated against a locally stored user database and for . For external authentication, the user credentials are sent to an remote RADIUS server and authenticated.Since 3.1 release, 
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platforms have included the ability to configure one remote server per
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for the purpose of authenticating users from this server using a remote Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) protocolserver and authenticated. The username and encrypted password are sent to the remote RADIUS server in an ACCESS_REQUEST packet. The user is allowed/denied access to the 
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based on the response from the RADIUS server. 

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users are currently segregated into the following groups which define the privileges of each user. Access to data/commands is allowed/prevented based on the group of the user who is trying to acquire the access.

  • Administrator
  • Operator
  • FieldService
  • Guest
  • SecurityAuditor
  • Calea

Since the RADIUS protocol does not provide a means to assign users to a group, the implementation currently hard codes every RADIUS authenticated user to the Administrator group.

The Spacevars0series4
supports the following RADIUS authentication improvements:Obtain Correct Privileges via RADIUS Transaction – When a user is authenticated using RADIUS, the correct privilege is obtained via RADIUS transaction itself using a Vendor Specific Attribute (VSA).
  • Configure Multiple RADIUS Servers – Up to three RADIUS servers are now configurable per
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    .
  • To configure RADIUS authentication for

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    , you must first enable external authentication and then configure the remote RADIUS server.

    Anchor
    privileges
    privileges
    Obtain Correct Privileges via RADIUS Transaction

    When a user is authenticated via RADIUS, the user is assigned to a group provided by the RADIUS server as part of the ACCESS_ACCEPT packet.

    Note
    iconfalse
    titleNote

    If EMS is used for RADIUS authentication, the group information is passed in a VSA message as plain text after the vendor ID. The string start with "Sonus-Groups". No Vendor-specific formatting is used by EMS.

    For

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     RADIUS authentication, RADIUS server is configured to return the group name using a VSA in ACCESS_ACCEPT packet. The VSA should be in the following format.

    Code Block
    languagenone
    0               1               2               3       
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |     Type      |  Length       |            Vendor-Id
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
         Vendor-Id (cont)           | Vendor type   | Vendor length |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |    Attribute-Specific...
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

    The Vendor-Id is a an SMI Network Management Private Enterprise Code of the vendor Sonus Ribbon as specified in RFC 2865.

    • Vendor ID for Sonus Ribbon is "2879".
    • Vendor type can be "1" considering this is the first instance of using VSAs. Type "1" can be the identifier for a group name from server.
    • Vendor length is the length of the group name itself. This is followed by a string consisting of a case-sensitive group name.

    If the RADIUS server does not provide a group or provides a group name which is not present in the

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     in the ACCESS_ACCEPT response, the user is denied access, and a log is written to the SECURITY event log stipulating that the
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     received an invalid group name from the RADIUS server.

    Anchor
    multiple servers
    multiple servers
    Configure Multiple RADIUS Servers

    The

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     supports configuring up to three RADIUS servers per
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     with the addition of radiusServer and retryCriteria parameters to radiusAuthentication configuration object.

    When more than one RADIUS server is configured and RADIUS authentication is attempted, the server configured with the least priority value is tried first. If fallback is configured, the inverse priority order is followed to pick the next server for authentication. SBC allows a configurable number of retries and time-outs before retry.

    Once the

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     sends an ACCESS_REQUEST, it waits until a configured amount of time (retryTimer) before resending the ACCESS_REQUEST. After a configurable number of failed attempts (retryCount), the RADIUS server is marked as unavailable, or out of service (OOS) for a configured amount of time (oosDuration), and the
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     moves to the next configured RADIUS server based on the configured priority. Once all RADIUS servers are attempted and deemed unreachable (or no responses are received), the
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     falls back to Local Authentication (if Local Authentication is enabled).

    Note
    iconfalse
    titleNote

    An administrator can manually return an OOS RADIUS server back into service by setting the radiusServer state flag first to disabled, and then back to enabled setting.

    SBC includes statistics to check the status of a RADIUS server, as well as the time when an unavailable server automatically becomes available again. See "radiusAuthentication" statistic details at Show Table OAM or Show Status OAM pages.

    Note
    iconfalse
    titleNote
    • IPv6 configuration for RADIUS server is not supported at this time.
    • Access-Challenge support is not included in this release.
    • SBC only supports Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) authentication via RADIUS at this time.
    • RADIUS authentication not supported for REST interface.

    Enable Remote Authentication

    To enable remote authentication:

    1. Login to Log into the SBC CLI.

    2. Change to the Configuration mode:

      Code Block
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      > configure private

      Span

       

    3. Execute the following command:

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      % set system admin <system name> localAuthenticationEnabled false externalAuthenticationEnabled true
    Info
    titleInfo
    For CLI configuration details, refer to Admin - CLI. To enable the external authentication using EMA, refer to Administration - Users and Application Management.

    Configure a RADIUS Server

    To configure the a remote RADIUS Server:

    1. Log into the Logon to

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       CLI.
       

    2. Change to the Configuration mode:

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      > configure private

      Span
       

    3. Execute the following command:

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      % set oam radiusAuthentication 
      	radiusServer <server name>
      		mgmtInterfaceGroup <string>
      		priority <#>
      		radiusNasIp <x.x.x.x>
      		radiusServerIp <x.x.x.x>
      		radiusServerPort <#>
      		radiusSharedSecret <8-128>
      		state <disabled | enabled>
      	retryCriteria
      		oosDuration <# minutes>
      		retryCount <#>
      		retryTimer <# milliseconds>
    Info
    titleInfo
    For CLI configuration details, refer to Radius Authentication - CLI. To configure a RADIUS server using EMA, refer to Users and Application Management - Radius Authentication and OAM - Radius Authentication.

    Include Page
    Radius_auth_users
    Radius_auth_users

    Rules to Configure

    Radius

    a RADIUS Shared Secret Key

    The supports all alphabetical, numeric, and special characters for setting the radiusSharedSecret key.

    The following characters in the key must be escaped while setting a radiusSharedSecret for configuring a RADIUS server:

    • # (hash) anywhere in the key
    • \ (backslash) anywhere in the key
    • “ (double quotes) at the beginning or end of the key

    For example,

    • Un-escaped key: ThisIsARadiusKeyWithDoubleQuote”andBackSlash\Hash#andAdoubleQuoteAtTheEnd”
    • Escaped string: ThisIsARadiusKeyWithDoubleQuote”andBackSlash\\Hash\#andAdoubleQuoteAtTheEnd\”

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