Study On The Integrated Model Of 802.1X And DHCP

With the continuous development of Internet, the size of network is bigger and bigger. Network is becoming more and more important, the application related to network are also more popular, so how to do an effective management is becoming more and more important. Through the integration of 802.1X and DHCP to ensure reliable network running is an essential exploration and research.802.1X and DHCP are both important protocols in network management. They are also the most two popular protocols. Especially as the concept AAA more and more accepted by the network administrator, the applications of 802.1X are becoming more extensive. But 802.1X is an IEEE standard, DHCP belongs to IETF. 802.1X work in the link layer, DHCP in the application layer, there are two layers between them. In the beginning of designing those two protocols, there is not too much consideration for them working together. So in the environment where using 802.1X and DHCP both, there may be conflicts. IEEE did not provide a suitable solution for this.On the basis of analyzing the conflict between 802.1X and DHCP and the shortcoming of relevant solutions, we propose the idea of integrating of 802.1X and DHCP. First of all, DHCP stage has been re-demarcated, from the earlier four into the current three. After the division, DHCP are integrated into the 802.1X authentication process part by part. Among them, the authentication information sharing must be particularly mentioned; this is the biggest innovation in this paper. Finally, the functions of the DHCP messages in the integrated model are re-allocated. So the integration of 802.1X and DHCP has been completed. The integrated model is a new authentication model which combines 802.1X and DHCP function. From the client's viewpoint, 802.1 X controlled ports get the correct network configuration when being authorized.At last, through a simulation test on Linux we has proved that the integration model proposed in this paper is practicable, but also proved 802.1X and DHCP can work together.