What is NI&S AAA?
NI&S's AAA system provides authentication and authorization for a number of different services, ranging from guest internet access to administrator access to the network infrastructure itself. The three main software components are FreeRADIUS, Clearpass, and OpenLDAP.
FreeRADIUS
FreeRADIUS is a free, open-source RADIUS server. Its modular design has successfully encouraged significant community development, and it supports all commonly used authentication protocols and databases. FreeRADIUS provides the AAA system with a performant, scalable RADIUS solution.
ClearPass
Aruba Clearpass is a proprietary suite of tools centered around network access control, and designed to be used with Aruba hardware. The suite includes RADIUS and TACACS servers, databases, monitoring and alerting systems, and various admin and customer tools all presented via a web front-end.
OpenLDAP
OpenLDAP is a free, open-source LDAP directory server. NI&S's instance of the directory contains entries with authentication and authorization data used by both FreeRADIUS and Clearpass, and is managed by the Middleware group.