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Overview

In a computer network environment, a supplicant refers to the PC or a network device that is being authenticated, or in a more simple terms, a network device that is looking to gain access to resources that are actually secured via 802.1x authentication mechanism. This device could be either a Wireless Access Point, a computer, a VoIP phone or any hardware with 802.1x authentication capabilities.

Access

For a supplicant capable device to gain access to the secured resources on a network,some preconditions need to be observed and a context that will make this feasible. The network to which the supplicant need to interact with must provide a Radius Server also known as Authentication Server, an Authenticator and optionally a DHCP server if automatic IP address assignment is sought after, and in certain configurations, an active directory domain controller. This is particularly true in Microsoft environment especially when using Internet Authentication Service (IAS) or Network Policy Server (NPS) as the software running on the Authentication Server.

Notes

Note that IAS was being used up to Windows Server 2003; since then, it has been replaced by NPS on all subsequent Windows Server releases (2008, 2012...). IAS and NPS are not the only Radius Servers, some other include: FreeRadius, Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) Server...

External links

° Understanding 802.1x authentication on Microsoft

References

^[1] ^[2]

[1] Internet Authentication Service

[2] Cisco Secure Access Control System

[1]

[2]