Key Features of Radius

Following are the key features of Radius protocol.

a.   Works like client/server model

b.   Provide network security

c.    Support various authentication mechanisms

d.   Extensible protocol

Works like client/server model

There are two key components in Radius protocol.

Radius client: Who sends user credentials in the form of radius message to a radius server. Radius client can be a dial-up server, VPN server, or wireless access point.

Radius server: Responsible for receiving radius messages from radius clients, authenticating the user, and then returning all necessary information for the radius client to deliver service to the user.

Provide network security

Transactions between the radius client and RADIUS server are authenticated by using shared secret. Shared secret is a case-sensitive password used to validate communications between a RADIUS server and a RADIUS client. In addition to this, user passwords are encrypted while sending to Radius server.

Support various authentication mechanisms

Radius server supports number of methods to authenticate a user. It can support PPP PAP or CHAP, UNIX login, and other authentication mechanisms.

Extensible Protocol
New attribute values can be added without disturbing existing implementations of the protocol.

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