Centralized Authentication Services (Radius, Tacacs, Diameter)

INTRODUCTION RADIUS, TACACS, and DIAMETER are classified as authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) servers. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) chartered an AAA Working Group in 1998 to develop the authentication, authorization, and accounting requirements for network access. The goal was to produce a base protocol that supported a number of different network access models, including traditional dial-in network access servers (NAS), Mobile-IP, and roaming operations (ROAMOPS). The group was to build upon the work of existing access providers like Livingston Enterprises. Livingston Enterprises originally developed RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service) for their line of network access servers (NAS) to assist timeshare and Internet service providers with billing information consolidation and connection configuration. Livingston based RADIUS on the IETF distributed security model and actively promoted it through the IETF Network Access Server Requirements Working Group in the early 1990s. The client/server design was created to be open and extensible so it could be easily adapted to work with other thirdparty products. At this writing, RADIP A Y O F F I D E A