Radius (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's far more to information security than usernames and passwords; it's not just a matter of letting legitimate users "in" and keeping bad guys "out." Users who have authority to use certain parts of a system may not be authorized to see everything, and businesses, for billing purposes, often want to track how long users spend in a system. The Remote Access Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) solves all of these engineering challenges, but you have to implement it correctly in order to achieve maximum benefit and keep your systems safe. RADIUS provides an architectural and technical guide to RADIUS implementation, enabling its readers to design RADIUS-secured systems properly and choose products wisely.

Jonathan Hassell's approach is to lay down a foundation of RADIUS protocol theory, then explain how to implement the protocol with a particular product (FreeRADIUS for Linux). He approaches both elements of his book with precision and detail, and provides plenty of tabular information for reference. He's also liberal with examples, which is a welcome trait if you're in a hurry to know how to format a radiusd.conf file or how to configure Cisco IOS to do RADIUS authentication. This is a comprehensive treatment of a complicated subject. --David Wall

Topics covered: How the RADIUS protocol provides authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA services), and how it fits with other elements of network design. The author covers the protocol in theory before digging into its implementation in FreeRADIUS for Linux and the integration of that package with several important networking products.

Product Description

RADIUS, or Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service, is a widely deployed protocol that enables companies to authenticate, authorize and account for remote users who want access to a system or service from a central network server. Originally developed for dial-up remote access, RADIUS is now used by virtual private network (VPN) servers, wireless access points, authenticating Ethernet switches, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) access, and other network access types. Extensible, easy to implement, supported, and actively developed, RADIUS is currently the de facto standard for remote authentication. RADIUS provides a complete, detailed guide to the underpinnings of the RADIUS protocol, with particular emphasis on the utility of user accounting. Author Jonathan Hassell draws from his extensive experience in Internet service provider operations to bring practical suggestions and advice for implementing RADIUS. He also provides instructions for using an open-source variation called FreeRADIUS.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; illustrated edition edition (October 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596003226
• ISBN-13: 978-0596003227
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #434,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not that great., February 2, 2003

By	Cole Tjepkes (Littleton, CO United States) - See all my reviews

Reading the other reviews of this book I was expecting it to be fantastic. I was disappointed. The book is well written and provides a good overview. However, I was hoping that I could use this book to take me through a fairly complex RADIUS implementation using FreeRADIUS and LDAP. It was not at all adequate in that regard. The configuration examples are sparse and not explained in detail. I was left with a lot of questions about how the RADIUS software actually implements the standard. How user files are parsed, how attribute matching is done, what is actually checked and returned. Things like that were not covered at all. This is a good introduction to RADIUS, but if you have a real project to do you are still going to have to spend a lot of time digging for more info on the web or in poorly written documentation that is available out there. I would call this the best RADIUS book because it is the ONLY RADIUS book.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It may be the only book on RADIUS ..., April 2, 2003

By A Customer

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The RFCs tend to be full of nitty gritty legalese, by the very nature of their being formal specifications. That is the reason one would want to read a book, such as this one, in the hope of gaining implementation and deployment perspective that may be lacking in the the RFCs. This book does not measure up.

It is poorly organized, is ridden with glaring errors, and does not explain key concepts well, if at all. If the author has brought any technical expertise on the subject matter to bear, it certainly does not show up. It looks and feels like a potpourri of hastily put together notes by a sysadmin technician; nothing more.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Radius: Very Impressive Book, October 22, 2002

By	Brian Grossman (Raleigh, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews

This book is a complete guide. The author explains the inner workings of RADIUS quite clearly. The practical suggestions on setting up freeradius, while basic, are very helpful; plus, it's the only book out there, and it's of typical O'Reilly quality. In closing, this book is very good, in-depth, and handy. I'd recommend it to anyone.