Hello fellow PackectFence users...

We successfully rolled out PacketFence last summer at one of our private
school clients where wireless users connect via 802.1x to a freeRadius server
with an openLDAP directory as the backend.

"pfcmd version" shows PacketFence 2.2.0 but I think this was reported as a
typo and I think this is actually 2.2.2 since the top of the UPGRADE file
shows "Upgrading from a version prior to 2.2.1"

The method used for auth is 802.1x EAP-TTLS with inner PAP. EAP-TTLS with
inner PAP was used since all research done during initial LDAP deployment
about 7 years ago showed that this was the most popular/supported method when
using 802.1x - along with the fact that the passwords in LDAP were in hashed
format and all other methods required that the password be in clear text in
teh LDAP directory (I think that was the reason - it has been a long time 
though)

Mostly everything has been fine before and after the PF deployment, but we
have run up against some issues with iPads, iPods, MAC OSX 10.7 etc that are
causing our client to think that it might be a good idea to set up a special
SSID for Apple wireless devices and have them auth with a shared WPA2
passphrase. This of course removes PacketFence from the whole "assign user to
VLAN" picture for these devices and actually adds more complexity to the
network which makes me bit unhappy/uneasy.

Here is the issue in a nutshell as written up by one of the tech guys onsite,
with my questions following:

--[snip]--
Mac OS X will never choose by default EAP/TTLS with inner PAP. Therefore, for
our students to connect to the wireless, we need to physically see every Apple
device, as well as Windows since we install the "Secure W2 supplicant."

Regarding Macs, we could easily set this up on the device ourselves until Mac
OS X 10.7 Lion came out. This required a Lion server with profile manager to
create a 802.1x profile using EAP/TTLS with inner PAP which can be imported
onto the device. The same profile may be used for every version of iOS (ipads
and iphones).

The issue is now two fold. For one, since we have very specifically setup the
wireless profile on devices before 10.7, and it's not a setup that Mac OS X
chooses by default, it will often "forget" the saved network and try and
connect via WPA. A username and password prompt is presented to the student,
but they will never connect because of the previously mentioned issue with Mac
configurations.

Second, on devices that have this EAP/TTLS with inner PAP profile created with
Profile Manager, Apple thinks it's OK to just delete these profiles anytime
when Mac OS X or iOS is updated. This is not always the case, but often times
the profile is not even saved by backing up the device.
--[snip]--


I guess my questions are: should we, can we, and if yes, how would we go about
changing from EAP-TTLS with inner PAP to something else that would be "more
supported" such as PEAP-MsCHAPv2?  I mention PEAP-MsCHAPv2 since plaxx
discussed using this on the #packetfence IRC channel. Hi plaxx :)

How would this affect end users (besides having to reconfigure their wireless
settings)?

Would Apples be "more happy" with this method, and not require a profile to be
installed and would they stop forgetting their settings?

If not PEAP-MsCHAPv2, what would be recommended and work with WinXP, Win7,
Apple MACs and other "iDevices"

I would love to hear any recommendations or ideas. I'd really like to keep
PacketFence in charge of all VLAN assignments - wired and wireless - and not
have to move to the "one-off" WPA2 solution being proposed by our client.

Thanks so much!

--
Bill Arlofski
Reverse Polarity, LLC
http://www.revpol.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live Security Virtual Conference
Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and 
threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions 
will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware 
threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
_______________________________________________
PacketFence-users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/packetfence-users

Reply via email to