AAA Concepts:
o AAA is a term, which is stands for Authentication, Authorization & Accounting.
o Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA, pronounced as a Triple A).
o AAA is a centralized management of users to access the network resources etc.
o AAA services allow setting up access control on Cisco Routers or Cisco Switches.
o Whenever user’s attempts to login and access network it verifies by AAA database.
o User management done on AAA database without need to reconfigure each device.
o AAA also control connections passing through router for access network resources.
o AAA provides flexibility and scalability, using privilege levels allows the flexibility.
o AAA can be RADIUS Protocol or TACACS+ protocol, where the database is located.
o Use local database fallback if the TACACS+/RADIUS server becomes unavailable.
o Fallback only occurs, if the AAA Server in unavailable or down for some reason.
o There are two uses cases of AAA, one is device administration other network access.
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Authentication:
o Authentication basically means who the user and/or endpoint is.
o Authentication involves validating an identity or the credential.
o Authentication provides the answer for the questions "Who are you?
o Check the user’s credentials to verify their identity is authentication.
o It is the process in which identify of a device or a user is verified.
o Authentication is the process of proving identity to the system.
o Authentication is the validation of an identity or the credential.
o The user or computer has to prove its identity to the server or client.
o Log on to a PC with a user name and password you are authenticating.
o Authentication does not determine, what tasks the individual can do.
o Authentication merely identifies and verifies who the person or system is.
o Authentication is about who somebody is or who some device endpoint is.
o In Cisco Identity Service Engine One Authentication Methodology is IEEE 802.1X.
o In Identity Service Engine one authentication Method is MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB).
o In Cisco Identity Service Engine one authentication Method is Web Authentication.
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o In Cisco Identity Service Engine one authentication Method is EasyConnect.
Authorization:
o Authorization basically means what User and/or device are allowed to.
o Provides the answer for the question "Are you allowed to do this task?"
o Determines what the user/device is allowed to do is called Authorization.
o Restrict the access to the user or the Endpoint is called Authorization.
o Server determines client has permission to use a resource or access file.
o Authorization is the process of verifying access to something or resources.
o Authorization is about what they are allowed to do inside the network.
o Authorization is the function of specifying access rights to the resources.
o Authorization is the process to confirm what you are authorized to perform.
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Accounting:
o Accounting basically means recording what end-user/endpoint have done.
o Provides answer for questions "What did you do?", "Who is responsible for this?"
o In AAA model, accounting features is also very much important in security.
o Accounting occurs after authentication and authorization have been completed.
o Accounting allows administrators to collect information about users and devices.
o Accounting command tracking commands, services and resources used by user.
o Accounting is the measure of resources consumed by a user/device during access.
o Accounting, includes amount of time, amount of data user has send or received.
o Accounting is carried in the form of logs of session statistics and usage information.
o Accounting data is used for authorization control, resources utilization, billing & planning.
o Accounting is also very much helpful to troubleshoot if network devices are not working.
o Accounting is disabled by default in Authentication, Authorization & Accounting model.
o AAA Accounting Types Network, Exec, Commands, Connection and Resource.
o AAA collects and stores information about logins and activity happen in network.
o Recorded while accessing the specific device during specific time in the network.
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