Configuring RADIUS Accounting in a Realm

If you use a RADIUS server for collecting accounting information, you can configure a RADIUS accounting server in AMC and then enable accounting on a per-realm basis. The appliance sends RADIUS accounting messages to the server identifying user sessions, the time and duration of their connections, and their source IP addresses.

The appliance can connect to one RADIUS server at a time. If two RADIUS servers are configured in AMC, the appliance sends messages to just the primary server, and communicates with the secondary server only if there is a communication failure with the primary one.

To configure a RADIUS accounting server

1. In the AMC, navigate to System Configuration > Authentication Servers.

2. In RADIUS Accounting click the Edit link.

3. To enable the appliance to save RADIUS, syslog, and routing changes, select the Enable accounting records checkbox.

   

4. In the Primary RADIUS server field, type the IP address for the primary accounting server. In the Accounting port box, type the port number used to communicate with the server. If left blank, AMC uses the default server port (1813).
5. If you are using a second RADIUS accounting server as a backup in case communication between the appliance and the server fails, enter the server’s IP address in the Secondary RADIUS server field, and the port number in the Accounting port field.
6. In the Shared secret field, enter the shared secret that allows the appliance to communicate with the RADIUS accounting server.
7. In the Retry interval field (in the Advanced area), type the number of seconds to wait for a reply from the RADIUS server before retrying communication with the server.
8. By default, the appliance uses its appliance name (from the Configure Network Interfaces page) to identify itself to the RADIUS accounting server. However, you can use the NAS-Identifier and NAS-IP-Address boxes to have the appliance send different identity information.

9. In the Locale encoding area, do one of the following:

   • Choose a character set from the Selected drop-down menu. See Selected RADIUS Character Sets for a list of selected character sets.

   • Click Other and then type the name of a character set in the field. See Other Supported RADIUS Character Sets for a list of character sets that can be entered.

10. Click Save.