XGS-5240-Series User Manual

Configuration Guide of XGS-5240-Series
47-9
Fig 3-9 the Authentication Flow of 802.1x EAP-MD5
2. EAP-TLS Authentication Method
EAP-TLS is brought up by Microsoft based on EAP and TLS protocols. It uses PKI
to protect the id authentication between the supplicant system and the RADIUS server
and the dynamically generated session keys, requiring both the supplicant system and
the Radius authentication server to possess digital certificate to implement bidirectional
authentication. It is the earliest EAP authentication method used in wireless LAN. Sinc
e every user should have a digital certificate, this method is rarely used practically con
sidering the difficult maintenance. However it is still one of the safest EAP standards, a
nd enjoys prevailing supports from the vendors of wireless LAN hardware and software.
The following figure illustrates the basic operation flow of the EAP-TLS authenticati
on method.