Access device as the initiator

The access device initiates authentication, if a client cannot send EAPOL-Start packets. One example is the 802.1X client available with Windows XP.

The access device supports the following modes:

• Multicast trigger mode—The access device multicasts EAP-Request/Identity packets to initiate 802.1X authentication at the identity request interval.

• Unicast trigger mode—Upon receiving a frame from an unknown MAC address, the access device sends an EAP-Request/Identity packet out of the receiving port to the MAC address. The device retransmits the packet if no response has been received within the identity request timeout interval. This process continues until the maximum number of request attempts set by using the dot1x retry command is reached.

The username request timeout timer sets both the identity request interval for the multicast trigger and the identity request timeout interval for the unicast trigger.