radius server on Windows 2003 Server

[Richard1091]

I have been learning windows 2003 server. I have looked at alot of different configurations for it. I am wondering what is the radius authentication and what is that for?

[Webmaster]

RADIUS is used for authentication. Mainly because you would want to use your Active Directory username/password for everything. RAIDUS is used to match against things like router, wireless authentication, VPNs, etc.

I have and Active Directory server setup and use RADIUS in a Cisco Wireless Controller. The controller will pass requests for authentication. So, I can use my AD username and password to logon to the wireless network. That is much better than a shared key like WEP because everyone uses their own login info and so you don't have to worry about changing shared keys on your wifi networks.

I have been phasing out the RADIUS authentication for either kerberos or LDAP. It works exactly the same way but is less work in most cases.

[GoldenRabbit]

We use radius authenication for all our routers/switches. It makes it easier for management of the accounts used for making changes to our network equipment. It also makes it really easy to lock people out if they quit or get fired. Otherwise we would need to login to every network device and remove an account or change the password.