18 HABP CONFIGURATIONIntroduction to HABP With 802.1x enabled, a switch authenticates and then authorizes 802.1x-enabledports. Packets can be forwarded only by authorized ports. Received packets are,therefore, filtered for ports connected to a switch that is not authenticated andauthorized by 802.1x. This means that you cannot manage the attached switches.3Com authentication bypass protocol (HABP) is designed to address this problem.An HABP packet carries the MAC addresses of the attached switches with it. It canbypass the 802.1x authentications when traveling between HABP-enabledswitches, through which management devices can obtain the MAC addresses ofthe attached switches and thus the management of the attached switches isfeasible.HABP is implemented by HABP server and HABP client. Normally, an HABP serversends HABP request packets regularly to HABP clients to collect the MACaddresses of the attached switches. HABP clients respond to the HABP requestpackets and forward the HABP request packets to lower-level switches. HABPservers usually reside on management devices and HABP clients usually onattached switches.For ease of switch management, it is recommended that you enable HABP for802.1x-enabled switches.HABP ServerConfigurationWith the HABP server launched, a management device sends HABP requestpackets regularly to the attached switches to collect their MAC addresses. Youneed also to configure the interval on the management device for an HABP serverto send HABP request packets.Table 171 Configure an HABP serverOperation Command RemarksEnter system view system-view -Enable HABP habp enable OptionalBy default, HABP is enabled.Configure the currentswitch to be an HABPserverhabp server vlan vlan-id RequiredBy default, a switch operates as anHABP client after you enable HABPon the switch. If you want to usethe switch as a managementswitch, you need to configure theswitch to be an HABP server.
