eap Mailing List: RE: RE: Separation of EAP authenticator and AAA client

[Alper Yegin (alper.yegin]

Hi Jeff,

> > If we are going to make a distinction between the "EAP lower layer
> > authenticator" and "EAP authenticator", we'd need to define the
> > differences, roles, etc.. Btw, note that this is conflicting with
the
> > definition of "authenticator" in RFC3748 which equates the two.
> 
> I think that's correct:   RFC 3748 invokes the 802.1x definition in
> which the Authenticator is the entity that "flips the switch"
> controlling port access.  So the CAPWAP (or Wimax NWG) scenario would
> be viewed as including a single authenticator - whose functionality
> happens to be divided between more than one physical box.

Within the context of the IETF protocols, I perceive this as the "split
NAS". "(EAP) authenticator" and "AAA client" parts of the NAS are on one
(centralized) node. "NAS ports" are on multiple separate nodes.

Alper