RADIUS with a local wired “access point”

Question

I have an unusual requirement for configuration of my network access schema.

I have Ubuntu 16.04.3 on board and I installed package freeradius. Also, security configuration has been completed according to the article and everything works as well. My problem is bound to unavailability to have a traditional access point like WiFi, but I have an Ethernet adapter at my PC. My strong desire is to configure the adapter as an "access point" and communicate with RADIUS as with local server. I googled and didn't find any notions about that.

Does anybody have an idea how to implement this stuff or even a reference (if I missed something)?

And what is your requirement, exactly? What would you achieve by setting up this "access point"? — u1686_grawity, Jan 03 '18 at 16:19
I will get a network with availability to manage net-access (via 802.1X) for one or more devices (in a switch case). But the switch is optional device, one supplicant is the main use case. — Oleksii Bidnichenko, Jan 03 '18 at 16:28
Basically, experimenting with 802.1X on Linux without a physical 802.1X-capable switch? — u1686_grawity, Jan 03 '18 at 16:35

u1686_grawity · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-04T08:45:15.807

0

Client: On Linux, wpa_supplicant also works as an Ethernet 802.1X supplicant, as long as you select the apropriate driver. (After all, 802.1X is a predecesor to WPA-Enterprise.)

Switch: Likewise, the AP daemon hostapd can act as an authenticator for Ethernet using the "wired" driver (to emulate a 802.1X-capable switch), although it has no built-in ability to actually allow/deny traffic. It will process the EAPOL handshake just fine though.

Managed switches with 802.1X (aka dot1x) capability are not expensive. For setting up a home lab, you can find various TP-Link models in the $100 range.

edited Jan 04 '18 at 08:45

answered Jan 03 '18 at 16:40

u1686_grawity

426,297
64
894
966

Thanks for the answer, I will try for tomorrow and report you. – Oleksii Bidnichenko Jan 03 '18 at 19:23
The plan is absolutely correct. I just would to extend the answer: 1. [The sample of wired config](https://github.com/jenssegers/RTL8188-hostapd/blob/master/hostapd/wired.conf); 2. configuration of **wpa_supplicant** completed via the command `wpa_supplicant -Dwired -ieth0 -c/path/to/config`. – Oleksii Bidnichenko Jan 04 '18 at 14:46

RADIUS with a local wired “access point”

1 Answers1