in vs. out

[wlan at mac.com]

Hi Alan,

>   No.  The standard is the RFC.  The portmaster text is just  
> additional
> text from the people building RADIUS systems.
>
>   It is NOT vendor specific.  Do NOT say it is vendor specific.
>

Ok... I deserve a good slap for that one  ;)

I will start thinking of it as vendor specific brokenness. But, my  
reality remains the same.. the meaning depends on the NAS being  
broken or not.

>>>   Follow the standards.  Do not follow broken vendors.
>>
>> It actually isn't just that one vendor... in fact, if not  
>> mistaken, much
>> of the commercial wlan gear I've worked with used the above  
>> meaning. It
>> would be curious to see a list of vendors and how they implemented  
>> their
>> accounting...  if we all checked the manuals of the devices we  
>> use, we
>> could all help build that list in the freeradius wiki!
>
>   Feel free to start this effort.
>

I will ... maybe at:
http://wiki.freeradius.org/NAS_Accounting_Differences

>   There are many other vendor products that are very broken with  
> respect
> to RADIUS.  Do NOT follow any individual vendor, or even groups of
> vendors.  Follow the standards.  If the standards aren't clear, ask on
> the IETF RADEXT mailing list.  The people there should be able to give
> conclusive answers.
>

Unfortunately, from a back-end perspective, if having to support a  
variety of 'broken' commercial vendors, one doesn't have much choice  
(apart from not supporting these vendors). I guess we have to live  
with it as it would probably be difficult for these vendors to change  
their ways now...

David