Cabletron Systems CyberSWITCH CSX150 User Manual

Also see for CyberSWITCH CSX150: User guide Quick start guide

Contents

CONFIGURING SECURITY L EVELOVERVIEWThe CyberSWITCH offers the following levels of network security: no security, device levelsecurity, user level security, or device and user level security. The network security leveldetermines the type of security you want activated on your network. As the name implies, nosecurity is used if you configure your network security level as “no security.” Device level securityand user level security provide a flexible amount of security, but each secure a different entity:• Device level security is an authentication process between internetworking devices. The authen-tication happens automatically without any human intervention.• User level security is an authentication process between a specific user and a device. In contrastto the device level security, this authentication process is performed interactively.The combination of both device and user level security supports user authentication on top ofdevice level authentication. Often referred to as multilevel security, this option increases thesecurity on your network. First, authentication takes place at the device level. If the system meetsthese requirements, then user level security begins by telneting to the appropriate authenticationserver.Note: The default value on your initial configuration is device level security, with only CHAPsecurity enabled.The following picture illustrates two different levels of security. The picture on the left representsUser Level Security. The users, not the devices, are authorized before they are allowed access. Thiswould be advantageous, for example, for a user traveling to different areas, using different devices,but still needing access. No matter what device the user is on, the user can be authenticated.Thepicture on the right represents device level security. The devices are authenticated before access isallowed, no matter who the specific user may be. The device level authentication process istransparent to the user.