RADIUS authorization grants or denies access permissions for a router. Permissions include the use of FTP, Telnet, SSH (SCP), and console access. When granting Telnet, SSH (SCP) and console access to the router, authorization can be used to limit what CLI commands the user is allowed to issue and which file systems the user is allowed or denied access.
When a user has been authenticated using RADIUS (or another method), the router can be configured to perform authorization. The RADIUS server can be used to:
download the user profile to the router
send the profile name that the node should apply to the router
Profiles consist of a suite of commands that the user is allowed or not allowed to execute. When a user issues a command, the authorization server looks at the command and the user information and compares it with the commands in the profile. If the user is authorized to issue the command, the command is executed. If the user is not authorized to issue the command, then the command is not executed.
Profiles must be created on each router and should be identical for consistent results. If the profile is not present, then access is denied.
Table: Supported authorization configurations displays the following scenarios:
Remote (RADIUS) authorization cannot be performed if authentication is done locally (on the router).
The reverse scenario is supported if RADIUS authentication is successful and no authorization is configured for the user on the RADIUS server, then local (router) authorization is attempted, if configured in the authorization order.
When authorization is configured and profiles are downloaded to the router from the RADIUS server, the profiles are considered temporary configurations and are not saved when the user session terminates.
| Router | RADIUS supplied profile | |
|---|---|---|
Router configured user |
✓ | |
RADIUS server configured user |
✓ | ✓ |
TACACS+ server configured user |
✓ |
When using authorization, maintaining a user database on the router is not required. Usernames can be configured on the RADIUS server. Usernames are temporary and are not saved in the configuration when the user session terminates. Temporary user login names and their associated passwords are not saved as part of the configuration.