Cisco Technology, Inc.

Gregory Weber

Steven Joseph Rich

Robert L Sargent

Mark W Eklund

Scott K Reed

Laurence Grant

A solution for matching RADIUS request packets with corresponding RADIUS response packets when the number of simultaneous outstanding requests is greater than 256 involves using a sixteen-octet authenticator field in each packet. For each response packet that arrives, the identifier of the packet is compared in turn with the identifier of each outstanding request packet. If the identifiers match, the authenticators are then compared. If the results of the comparison indicate a match, the packet is accepted and no further processing of the outstanding requests is required. Otherwise, a search of the outstanding request packets is continued. This solution allows for more than 256 simultaneous outstanding RADIUS requests and only encounters a mismatch or ambiguous match with a probability of one in 3.4&#xd7;10packets.

Matching of radius request and response packets during high traffic volume

Command authorization may be accomplished using the RADIUS protocol by providing a user profile on the server for each user. This user profile may be transferred to a network device, such as a NAS, when the user initiates a NAS session. It may be stored in a local cache and accessed each time the user attempts to execute a command. The user profile may contain a command set defined by regular expressions which can then be used to determine whether or not the command should be authorized. The command may then be authorized or rejected based on the results of this determination. After the session is completed, the user profile may be purged from the cache. The present invention allows for a dramatic savings in the traffic associated with command authorization and allows command authorization to be accomplished using the RADIUS protocol, which increases flexibility and NAS security.

Command authorization via RADIUS

A solution for matching RADIUS request packets with corresponding RADIUS response packets when the number of simultaneous outstanding requests is greater than 256 involves using a sixteen-octet authenticator field in each packet. For each response packet that arrives, the identifier of the packet is compared in turn with the identifier of each outstanding request packet. If the identifiers match, the authenticators are then compared. If the results of the comparison indicate a match, the packet is accepted and no further processing of the outstanding requests is required. Otherwise, a search of the outstanding request packets is continued. This solution allows for more than 256 simultaneous outstanding RADIUS requests and only encounters a mismatch or ambiguous match with a probability of one in 3.4&times;10 packets.

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Knoxville, TN, United States of America

Gregory Weber