Security+ Domain 2.1 - Remote Access Technologies
802.1x
What is 802.1x?
802.1x is a form of port-based access control used in remote access. Before I go further, I need to define the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP).
What are PPP and EAP?
PPP is used to create a connection between two network devices. It was commonly used in dial-up, but now is more widely used. PPP includes authentication, which consisted of only a username and password. EAP was then developed to make a more secure authentication method and is now included in PPP.
802.1x continued
802.1x is just a standard of how to use EAP over a local area network (LAN). EAP frames are packaged (encapsulated) and sent over the network without PPP. 802.1x's protocol is known as EAP encapsulation over LANs, or EAPOL. Now for a few vocab words. A supplicant is the user wishing to be authenticated, the authenticator is the device the supplicant connects to and the server that authenticates the supplicant is creatively named the authentication server. The authentication server does not have to be sophisticated at all, which is an advantage of 802.1x.
Resources:
TechExams.Net TechNote: "Remote Access Technologies." By: Johan Hiemstra