Sorry, less haste more speed... RFC 3580 specifies it's scoped on a per-AP/SSID basis: "In IEEE 802.11, where the SSID is known, it SHOULD be appended to the Access Point MAC address, separated from the MAC address with a ":". Example "00-10-A4-23-19-C0:AP1". Ambiguity: Does this mean the wired or wireless MAC address? Enterprise APs operate these days on a per VAP basis, operating with multiple radios. This wasn't the case when RFC 3580 was written. So, AP vendors should set this value in Access-Request packets with BSSID:SSID, not AP_WIRED_MAC:SSID or CONTROLLER_WIRED_MAC:SSID. Most vendors do, I think, already do this. Perhaps this needs some cogent, joined up thinking to come up with something suited for the future? Cheers, Nick On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 4:53 PM, Nick Lowe <nick.lowe@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Alan,
A BSS is always unique on a per-VAP basis, so that's per-SSID-per-radio-per-physical-AP.
Does the RADIUS spec prohibit accounting on a per-BSS basis, which is the basis of how all APs offer service to clients/stations (STAs)?
RFC 3580 does specify that Access-Requests will be scoped to a per-BSSID/per-SSID basis via the Called-Station-Id, so why not implement the same behaviour for accounting?
In the Aerohive model, there are no central controllers - each AP is a RADIUS client.
Without the Called-Station-Id, there is no specificity to an Accounting-On or Accounting-Off and they become a blunt instrument, and actually rather useless/meaningless. It doesn't match how APs actually operate so things should change.
Yes, it has not been traditionally done.
The RADIUS accounting spec was written long before wireless NASes existed, but I actually think that it would make sense for all wireless vendors to align to this model - scoping to the BSS with the Called-Station-Id and sending Accounting-On and Accounting-Off on a per-BSS basis (which means sent on a physical AP basis, even where it's actually transmitted by a central controller).
This already happens for Access-Request packets, and Accounting-Request packets with Start, Interim-Update and Stop with most vendors in this space via the Called-Station-Id.
Appreciate your thoughts!
Cheers,
Nick