Radius: Securing Public Access to Private Resources

By Jonathan Hassell

Book Overview

The subject of security never strays far from the minds of IT workers, for good reason. If there is a network with even just one connection to another network, it needs to be secured. RADIUS, or Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service, is a widely deployed protocol that enables companies to authenticate, authorize and account for remote users who want access to a system or service from a central network server. Originally developed for dial-up remote access, RADIUS is now used by virtual private network (VPN) servers, wireless access points, authenticating Ethernet switches, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access, and other network access types. Extensible, easy to implement, supported, and actively developed, RADIUS is currently the de facto standard for remote authentication. RADIUS provides a complete, detailed guide to the underpinnings of the RADIUS protocol, with particular emphasis on the utility of user accounting. Author Jonathan Hassell draws from his extensive experience in Internet service provider operations to bring practical suggestions and advice for implementing RADIUS. He also provides instructions for using an open-source variation called FreeRADIUS. "RADIUS is an extensible protocol that enjoys the support of a wide range of vendors," says Jonathan Hassell. "Coupled with the amazing efforts of the open source development community to extend RADIUS's capabilities to other applications-Web, calling card security, physical device security, such as RSA's SecureID-RADIUS is possibly the best protocol with which to ensure only the people that need access to a resource indeed gain that access." This unique book covers RADIUS completely, from the history and theory of the architecture around which it was designed, to how the protocol and its ancillaries function on a day-to-day basis, to implementing RADIUS-based security in a variety of corporate and service provider environments. If you are an ISP owner or administrator, corporate IT professional responsible for maintaining mobile user connectivity, or a web presence provider responsible for providing multiple communications resources, you'll want this book to help you master this widely implemented but little understood protocol.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596003226
• ISBN13: 9780596003227
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A useful book for non-experts

We had a specific job to do at work which required knowledge of radius servers and their setup. I purchased this book to supplement my knowledge and found it very useful ... Got the job done !!! There was enough information (and helpful hints as to where to get more) to configure the Cisco AV-pairs ...

Good overview and reference

I found this book a good reference to RADIUS. While some content is available in the RFCs, it's handy to have it compact and easy to read inside this book. The overview and guide to FreeRADIUS is good to have, especially considering the lack of available documentation from the project. I especially found the security chapter helpful, a candid discussion of where RADIUS fails.While there could be more coverage in this book, I think it's a great one to have available. Recommended.

Best and only radius book.

A very thorough and detailed -without fluff O'reilly book. Since Freeradius has no documentation, this was godsent. It only lacks a little when it comes to configuring Freeradius with other databases (Mysql is the example setup), but otherwise very thorough.

Excellent Book

RADIUS is an excellent book which covers everything you need to know. The book is full of practical information - including deployment strategies which make sense, sample configurations, and a walk-through on using a particular RADIUS server. It's a typical O'Reilly book - well written, compelling, and practical. Definitely recommended."

Radius: Very Impressive Book

This book is a complete guide. The author explains the inner workings of RADIUS quite clearly. The practical suggestions on setting up freeradius, while basic, are very helpful; plus, it's the only book out there, and it's of typical O'Reilly quality. In closing, this book is very good, in-depth, and handy. I'd recommend it to anyone.