Cisco Unified IP Phone 7931G
Required Network Components
Support for 802.1X authentication on Cisco Unified IP Phones requires several components, including:
• Cisco Unified IP Phone: The phone acts as the 802.1X supplicant, which initiates the request to access
the network.
• Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) (or other third-party authentication server): The authentication
server and the phone must both be configured with a shared secret that authenticates the phone.
• Cisco Catalyst Switch (or other third-party switch): The switch must support 802.1X, so it can act as
the authenticator and pass the messages between the phone and the authentication server. After the
exchange completes, the switch grants or denies the phone access to the network.
Best Practices, Requirements, and Recommendations
• Enable 802.1X Authentication: If you want to use the 802.1X standard to authenticate Cisco Unified IP
Phones, make sure that you have properly configured the other components before enabling it on the
phone.
MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB) is required as a fallback to 802.1x authentication for the LSC
certificate update process. Enable MAB on the phone port. For more information, see
www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/ios-nx-os-software/identity-based-networking-services/
config_guide_c17-663759.html.
• Configure PC Port: The 802.1X standard does not take into account the use of VLANs and thus
recommends that only a single device be authenticated to a specific switch port. However, some switches
(including Cisco Catalyst switches) support multi-domain authentication. The switch configuration
determines whether you can connect a PC to the phone PC port.
• Configure Voice VLAN: Because the 802.1X standard does not account for VLANs, you should configure
this setting based on the switch support.
• Enter MD5 Shared Secret: If you disable 802.1X authentication or perform a factory reset on the phone,
the previously configured MD5 shared secret is deleted.
◦ Enabled: If you are using a switch that supports multi-domain authentication, you can enable the
PC port and connect a PC to it. In this case, the Cisco Unified IP Phone supports proxy
EAPOL-Logoff to monitor the authentication exchanges between the switch and the attached PC.
For more information about IEEE 802.1X support on the Cisco Catalyst switches, refer to the Cisco
Catalyst switch configuration guides at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
◦ Disabled: If the switch does not support multiple 802.1X-compliant devices on the same port, you
should disable the PC Port when 802.1X authentication is enabled. If you do not disable this port
and subsequently attempt to attach a PC to it, the switch will deny network access to both the phone
and the PC.
◦ Enabled: If you are using a switch that supports multi-domain authentication, you can continue to
use the voice VLAN.
◦ Disabled: If the switch does not support multi-domain authentication, disable the Voice VLAN
and consider assigning the port to the native VLAN.
Cisco Unified IP Phone 7931G Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager 9.0 (SCCP and SIP)
802.1X Authentication
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