Authorization
Jul 14,2009 00:00 by alperen

AAA authorization works by assembling a set of attributes that describe what the user is authorized to perform or access. These attributes are compared to the information contained in a database for a given user, and the result is returned to AAA to determine the user’s actual capabilities and restrictions. The database can be located locally on the access server or the router, or it can be stored remotely on a RADIUS or TACACS+ security server. Remote security servers, such as RADIUS and TACACS+, authorize users for specific rights by associating attribute-value (AV) pairs, which define those rights, with the appropriate user. All authorization methods must be defined through AAA.

As with authentication, you configure AAA authorization by defining a named list of authorization methods, and then applying that list to various interfaces.