8 The FreeRADIUS Server Project is a high performance and highly
9 configurable AAA server. Is available under the terms of the GNU
10 GPLv2. It has been in steady development for over a decade. It is
11 the most widely used RADIUS server in the world, by quite a large
14 AAA stands for "Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting". The
15 server can do any or all of the AAA functions, across three protocols:
16 RADIUS, DHCP, and VMPS. The reason is that at its core, it is a
17 policy engine. The policy engine connects network protocols to
18 back-end systems such as SQL, LDAP, Active Directory, etc.
20 FreeRADIUS started out as a RADIUS server, of course. We then added
21 VMPS and DHCP when it became clear that doing so was both easy and
24 It supports all popular authentication methods for RADIUS. This
25 includes PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP, EAP, etc. It works with all known
26 networking equipment. The authors of FreeRADIUS have written the
27 official specifications for how RADIUS works (RFC 5080 and RFC 6158,
28 among others). It is compliant with all RADIUS standards. This means
29 that if a NAS does not inter-operate with FreeRADIUS, the most likely
30 reason is that the NAS is wrong.
32 FreeRADIUS can authenticate users on systems such as 802.1x (WiFi),
33 dialup, PPPoE, VPN's, VoIP, and many others. It supports back-end
34 databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft Active
35 Directory, OpenLDAP, and many more. It is used daily to authenticate
36 the Internet access for hundreds of millions of people, in sites
37 ranging from 10 users, to 10 million and more users. It is used in
38 appliances, WiFi boxes, ISPs, enterprises, and large
39 telecommunications providers.
41 Version 2.2 of the server is intended to be backwards compatible with
42 previous versions. It has features not available in Version 1, many
43 of which are also not available in any commercial server.
45 * simple policy language (see ``man unlang``)
46 * virtual servers (raddb/sites-available/README)
47 * DHCP support (server and relay)
50 * better proxy support (raddb/proxy.conf)
52 * verbose and descriptive Debugging output
53 * Almost 50 "stable" modules, and many more experimental ones.
54 * Sample SQL configuration for all major SQL databases.
55 * Some support for on-the-fly changing of configuration (HUP)
56 * check configuration test (``radiusd -C``)
57 * Event-based server core.
59 Please see http://freeradius.org and http://wiki.freeradius.org for
66 To install the server, please see the INSTALL file in this directory.
67 In general, we recommend using a pre-packaged installation for your
71 3. DEBUGGING THE SERVER
72 -----------------------
74 RADIUS systems can be complicated to configure. Unlike a simple
75 "query-response" protocol such as DNS, RADIUS systems need to juggle
76 large amounts of information. There may be dozens of attributes in
77 the request. Processing the request may involve querying any or all
78 of LDAP, SQL, flat files, external scripts, etc.
80 There is no easy solution to creating a working RADIUS configuration.
81 The only method that works is to run the server in debugging mode,
82 (``radiusd -X``) and READ the output. We cannot emphasize this point
83 strongly enough. The vast majority of problems can be solved by
84 carefully reading the debugging output, which includes WARNINGs about
85 common issues, and suggestions for how they may be fixed.
87 Read the FAQ. Many questions are answered there. See the Wiki
89 http://wiki.freeradius.org
91 Read the configuration files. Many parts of the server have NO
92 documentation, other than comments in the configuration file. That
93 being said, there are dozens of examples in the configuration files.
94 The configuration items are extensively commented, with all of their
97 Search the mailing lists. Many questions come up repeatedly, and are
98 answered there. There is a Google link on the bottom of the page:
100 http://www.freeradius.org/list/users.html
102 Type some key words into the search box, and you should find
103 discussions about common problems and solution.
106 4. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
107 -------------------------
109 See 'doc/README' for more information about FreeRADIUS.
111 See raddb/sites-available/README for documentation on virtual servers.
113 5. PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS
114 ------------------------
116 We understand that the server may be difficult to configure,
117 install, or administer. It is, after all, a complex system with many
118 different configuration possibilities.
120 The most common problem is that people change large amounts of the
121 configuration without understanding what they're doing, and without
122 testing their changes. The preferred method of operation is the
125 1. Start off with the default configuration files.
126 2. Save a copy of the default configuration: It WORKS. Don't change it!
127 3. Run the server in debugging mode. (radiusd -X)
128 4. Send it test packets using "radclient", or a NAS or AP.
129 5. Verify that the server does what you expect.
130 - If it does not work, change the configuration, and go to step (3)
131 If you're stuck, revert to using the "last working" configuration.
132 - If it works, proceed to step (6).
133 6. Save a copy of the working configuration, along with a note of what
134 you changed, and why.
135 7. Make a SMALL change to the configuration.
136 8. Repeat from step (3).
138 This method will ensure that you have a working configuration that
139 is customized to your site as quickly as possible. While it may seem
140 frustrating to proceed via a series of small steps, the alternative
141 will always take more time. The "fast and loose" way will be MORE
142 frustrating than quickly making forward progress!
148 If you have any comments, bug reports, problems, or concerns, please
149 send them to the 'freeradius-users' list (see the URL above). We will
150 do our best to answer your questions, to fix the problems, and to
151 generally improve the server in any way we can.
153 Please do NOT complain that the developers aren't answering your
154 questions quickly enough, or aren't fixing the problems quickly
155 enough. Please do NOT complain if you're told to go read
156 documentation. We recognize that the documentation isn't perfect, but
157 it *does* exist, and reading it can solve most common questions.
159 The list policy changed in mid 2012, due to the high volume of
160 inappropriate posts from a subset of users. These users would refuse
161 to read the documentation, even when asked to. They would ask
162 questions, and then refuse to follow the instructions given them on
163 the list. They would argue over the answers given on the list, even
164 when it was clear that they understood less about RADIUS than the
165 people trying to help them.
167 The new policy is to warn people engaging in this asocial behavior.
168 If they continue after a warning, they are unsubscribed and banned
169 permanently from the list.
171 The decision to enforce etiquette came after over 10 years of having a
172 more open policy. Sadly, a small subset of users abused the help
173 given by the volunteers on the list. This behavior is unacceptable,
174 and will not be tolerated.
176 FreeRADIUS is the cumulative effort of many years of work by many
177 people, and you've gotten it for free. No one gets paid to work on
178 FreeRADIUS, and no one is getting paid to answer your questions.
180 If you want the community to help you, you need to make it easy for
181 the community to help you.
183 Support is available. See http://networkradius.com/.
185 Please submit bug reports, suggestions, or patches. That feedback
186 gives the developers a guide as to where they should focus their work.
187 If you like the server, feel free to mail the list and say so.
189 .. |BuildStatus| image:: https://travis-ci.org/FreeRADIUS/freeradius-server.png?branch=v2.x.x
190 .. _BuildStatus: https://travis-ci.org/FreeRADIUS/freeradius-server