Providing strong access control in campus computer network by using RADIUS server

Abstract

The possession of access control is of prime importance to secure important, confidential, or sensitive information and equipment. By designing the security of computer network to allow access only to authorized devices you have the ability to produce an environment that is more stable, more secure and more efficient. Along with the rapid growth of Internet, the importance of safe network authentication becomes more evident than ever before. Increasing number of users and their demands for resources leads to a problem of how to control access to a computer network, especialy in a campus sized network, where connected computers may expand to a few different buildings. The solution we use to authenticate and authorize user access is to apply RADIUS server with AAA protocol and Windows 2003 server including Active Directory, Certification Authority and Internet Authentication Service. This paper presents a practical implementation of such solution.