RADIUS

Testing the Initial Setup

Once you have FreeRADIUS running, you need to test the configuration to make sure it is responding to requests. FreeRADIUS starts up listening, by default, on the port specified either in the local /etc/services file or in the port directive in radiusd.conf. While RFC 2138 defines the standard RADIUS port to be 1812, historically RADIUS client equipment has used port 1645. Communicating via two different ports is obviously troublesome, so many users start the FreeRADIUS daemon with the -p flag, which overrides the setting in both the /etc/services file and anything set in radiusd.conf. To do this, run the following from the command line:

radius:/etc/raddb # radiusd -p 1645
radiusd: Starting - reading configuration files ...
radius:/etc/raddb #

The server is now running; it is listening for and accepting requests on port 1645.

So, what is an easy way to test your configuration to see if it functions properly? It’s easier than you might think, in fact. MasterSoft, Inc. has released a Windows desktop RADIUS server testing tool called NTRadPing, available at http://www.mastersoft-group.com/download. The latest version as of this writing is 1.2, and it’s a freeware tool. Download and install this utility on a Windows machine, and then run it. The initial application window should look much like Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1. The NTRadPing 1.2 application window

To do ...