Dell C9000 Series Networking Configuration Manual page 97

802.1X is a method of port security. A device connected to a port that is enabled with 802.1X is disallowed
from sending or receiving packets on the network until its identity can be verified (through a username and
password, for example). This feature is named for its IEEE specification.
802.1X employs extensible authentication protocol (EAP) to transfer a device's credentials to an
authentication server (typically RADIUS) using a mandatory intermediary network access device, in this case, a
Dell Networking switch. The network access device mediates all communication between the end-user
device and the authentication server so that the network remains secure. The network access device uses
EAP-over-Ethernet (EAPOL) to communicate with the end-user device and EAP-over-RADIUS to
communicate with the server.
NOTE: The Dell Networking OS supports 802.1X with EAP-MD5, EAP-OTP, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAPv0,
PEAPv1, and MS-CHAPv2 with PEAP.
5
802.1X
802.1X 97