Expert Reference Series of White Papers

Building, Installing,
and Configuring a
RADIUS Server

1-800-COURSES www.globalknowledge.com
Building, Installing, and Configuring a
RADIUS Server
George Mays, CCNA, A+, Network+, Security+, CTT+, I-Net+

Introduction
I work often with a variety of networking devices from different manufacturers. In many cases the equipment is
simply being evaluated, configured for demonstration purposes, or incorporated into a lab for classroom use.
RADIUS is supported by a lot of these gadgets but I have never found a handy-dandy inexpensive and easy to use
RADIUS server. Well, lets build one.

RADIUS is an acronym for Remote Authentication Dial-In User Services. It is an AAA tool intended to be useful in
instances where the user would like to centralize management of authentication, authorization, and accounting
functions (hence the AAA). Authentication, or proving that users are who they claim to be, is the primary reason
that most people are driven to want a RADIUS server. But the authorization (limiting what a user is allowed to do
once they have been authenticated) and accounting (logging and billing functions) will be of interest to some
people, too.

Where I most often like to demonstrate the use of RADIUS is in the configuration of Ethernet switches and IEEE
802.11 access points. For switches, RADIUS is most often used in conjunction with IEEE 802.1x port-based network
access controls, which can in turn be used to control the identity of users who are allowed access to specific ports.
For access points the same mechanism is actually in play, but it is used to limit who can associate with the wireless
network. You might have bumped into this feature if you ever clicked on the enterprise settings for WPA or
WPA2 while configuring your AP.

Raspberry Pi is a handy platform to building a simple RADIUS server. I chose the Raspberry Pi 2, which has a
multicore ARM processor and 1GB of RAM. For the OS I decided on Raspbian, which is basically Debian Linux for
the Pi. A case and heatsinks creates a nice package about the size of a pack of cigarettes. To build and configure
the server you will also require a display that supports HDMI and a USB keyboard and mouse initially. Once the
appliance is built you will no longer need the latter items as you can manage it via the network.

The cost is minimal. The Raspberry Pi 2 costs $35 and the case and heatsinks add less than $15. You do need a
class 10 micro SD card with at least 16GB, so add another $10. For less than $60 you can have a RADIUS server.
My advice though would be to spend a little more and get a 32GB SD cardthe 16GB option does not leave as
much room for growth and experimentation. That bumps the total to about $75. By the way, if you have an
older Raspberry Pi Model B or B+ laying around, it will work. The minimum SD card size is 8GB.

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There are quite a few steps involved in getting things up and running as you will see in the details later in this
paper. But the big picture is not all that tough to understand. Here are the major tasks:

1. Acquire and build your Raspberry Pi and assemble it with mouse, keyboard, display, and Internet
connection. All of the connections are standard off-the-shelf cables.

2. Download Raspbian and install it on the SD card. Boot it up and go through the initial OS installation
and customization.

3. Install and configure Apache, MySQL, and PHP, turning this into a LAMP server.

4. Install and configure FreeRADIUS and the daloRADIUS GUI.

5. Test, tune, experiment, and enjoy.

Lets get started.

Building the hardware platform

As a starting point I suggest that you visit raspberrypi.org. There are links there to various distributors. I bought
my Raspberry Pi 2 Model B from MCM Electronics. I purchased the case and heatsinks from Amazon. Be careful.
Make sure your case is for the Raspberry Pi 2not its predecessors. The class 10 micro SD card came from
Walmart. I already had the other things laying around my house. For the display I used a small 1080p TV. The
mouse and keyboard have to be USB devices. Note that the Pi is powered by a USB connection; so that requires a
separate power supply. In my case the TV had a USB port on the back so I simply took power for the Pi from
that. Cables you will need include: 1) an Ethernet cable, 2) an HDMI cable, and 3) a USB cable for power with
USB A connector on one end and a micro USB connector on the other.

Obtaining Raspbian and installing the OS

On the raspbian.org website navigate to the Downloads page and scroll down to the Raspbian section. There are
two important links here. First, the image installation guides will describe the steps needed to download and
install the Raspbian system image. Second, there is a link to actually download your Raspbian image. I used the
ZIP download.

Image installation guides are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. I went by the Windows guide. Using
Win32DiskImager I burned the extracted Raspbian ISO image to the SD card. My laptop has an SD slot so this was
painless. If your computer lacks that convenience then you will need some sort of adapter that lets you read and
write SD cards.

After the system image was transferred to the SD card I installed the card into the Pi and connected everything
up. Do not forget the network connection. When you power it on for the first time you will see the familiar
Linux-style boot sequence. The Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool starts automatically on this first boot.
Here are a few of the things that I did at this juncture:

1. Expanded the file system.

2. Enable dBoot to Desktop/Scratch. Chose the graphical desktop.

3. Went through Internalisation Options. I used en-US, set my time zone, and set generic 104-key U.S.
keyboard. Careful, default settings are for the U.K.

4. Overclock is up to you. I set it to a modest 800MHz.

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 5. In Advanced Settings I changed the hostname to radiuspi and enabled SSH. It is very important to
change the hostname.

6. Rebooted.
When the system comes alive you will be at the Raspbian graphical desktop. You are automatically logged in with
the default user id pi and the default password raspberry. From here on out you have a choice: you can use
the LX Terminal feature to access the bash command shell, or you can SSH into the system from your favorite PC.
At a minimum you will want to fire off LX Terminal and enter the ifconfig command to discover the IP address
that you obtained.

From the command prompt you should update and upgrade your software. The commands are:

sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade.

At this point you have a perfectly nice bare bones Raspberry Pi Raspbian system. Now, it is time to customize it to
meet our needs.

Install the LAMP components

LAMP is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Apache is the web server software that we will use.
MySQL is the database software and PHP is the web scripting facility. This software cocktail is a powerful one that
serves as a basis for many web-based applications. While these tools are not strictly needed to build a RADIUS
server using FreeRADIUS, they are required for managing it via the web interface, daloRADIUS. From my
perspective, being able to interact with the server using my browser is extremely convenient because I use this
only occasionally and dont care to re-educate myself every time I go to make a change to the user information
used by RADIUS.

I have to give credit where credit is due. There is a RaspiPress tutorial on the LAMP installation for the Pi and I
used that to guide me through the installation. I deviated a bit here and there. But it is very nice to have the
shared insights of others who have been through the processmuch appreciated.

The vast majority of the steps that follow have to be carried out in the context of the root user. To avoid having
to constantly type in the sudo command just enter the command sudo su. Notice that the prompt changes
from a $ to a # to indicate that you are operating as the root user. Now just take it one piece at a time.

Apache
apt-get install apache2 apache2-doc apache2-utils

PHP
apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php-pear php5-xcache
apt-get install php5-mysql

MySQL
apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

Note: Make sure that you remember the root password that you enter here, youll need it. I used
the password raspberry.

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Change Your IP Address
Using nano (or your favorite editor) you need to modify /etc/network/interfaces. Where you see the
line iface eth0 inet dhcp replace it with the following:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address x.x.x.x (Note: I used 192.168.0.199)
netmask x.x.x.x (Note: I used 255.255.255.0)
gateway x.x.x.x (Note: My router is 192.168.0.1)
dns-nameserver x.x.x.x (Note: My DNS server is 192.168.0.101)

Congratulations. You now have a LAMP server. It is a good idea to reboot, then you can test it over the network
from your browser. The default home page simply reports It works! to you.

Install and Configure FreeRADIUS and the daloRADIUS

GUI
Now, it is time to install RADIUS itself and the GUI that will make it a bit friendlier. We will be using FreeRADIUS
as our RADIUS server software and daloRADIUS, a PHP application, to provide the web interface. Handy tips
came from the Binary Heartbeat blog. Again, lets proceed a step at a time.

FreeRADIUS Installation
sudo su
apt-get install freeradius freeradius-mysql php5-gd php-db

daloRADIUS Installation
cd /usr/src
wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/daloradius/daloradius/daloradius0.9-
9/daloradius-0.9-9.tar.gz (Note: careful, dash before the zero in the file name)
tar xvfz daloradius-0.9-9.tar.gz -C /var/www
mv /var/www/daloradius-0.9-9/ /var/www/daloradius
cd /var/www/daloradius

Initialize the MySQL Database for FreeRADIUS to Use

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE radiusdb ;
exit
mysql -u root -p radiusdb < /var/www/daloradius/contrib/db/fr2-
mysql-daloradius-and-freeradius.sql
mysql -u root -p
CREATE USER radiususer@localhost ;
SET PASSWORD FOR radiususer@localhost = PASSWORD(radiuspass) ;
GRANT ALL ON radiusdb.* to radiususer@localhost ;
exit

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Point daloRADIUS at the MySQL Database
You need to edit /var/www/daloradius/library/daloradius.conf.php. I used nano to do this. Change the following
configuration values:

$configValues[CONFIG_DB_USER] = radiususer ;
$configValues[CONFIG_DB_PASS] = radiuspass ;
$configValues[CONFIG_DB_NAME] = radiusdb ;

Configure FreeRADIUS
You need to edit /etc/freeradius/users. Again, I used nano. =The following lines are commented out; you need
to remove the leading #.

#John Doe Cleartext-Password := hello

# Reply-Message = Hello, %(User-Name)

You may as well edit /etc/freeradius/clients.conf at this point. I added the following lines at the bottom of the
file so that any device on my office network could access the server.

# Allow any address that starts with 192.168

client 192.168.0.0/16 {
secret = testing123
shortname = office-network
}

Test FreeRADIUS
Now make sure that FreeRADIUS initializes successfully using the following commands. You should see Info:
Ready to process requests at the end of the initialization process.

service freeradius stop

freeradius -XXX

If FreeRADIUS starts okay then you can type Ctrl-C to exit the program and restart it with:
service freeradius start

There is a command line tool called radtest that can be used to exercise the RADIUS server. Type:

radtest John Doe hello localhost 0 testing123

You should receive a response that says Access-Accept.

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Point FreeRADIUS to the MySQL Database
You need to edit /etc/freeradius/radiusd.conf. In the modules section remove the leading # from the
following lines in the file:

$INCLUDE sql.conf
$INCLUDE sql/mysql/counter.conf
Then, edit /etc/freeradius/sql.conf to reflect the following:

server = localhost
login = radiususer
password = radiuspass
radius_db = radiusdb

Finally, you should edit /etc/freeradius/sites-enabled/default. Remove the leading # from the lines that say just
sql in the following sections of the configuration file:

authorize
accounting
session
post-auth

Then, reboot your system with:

reboot

Conclusion
Congratulations, you have a RADIUS server! Go ahead and give it a try. From another PC on the network, fire up
your browser and point it at your new server. For me the URL was http://192.168.0.199/daloradius. Naturally,
you will have to specify your own servers IP address. The daloRADIUS username is administrator and the
password is radius.

The steps outlined above have created a basic RADIUS server with the daloRADIUS graphical (web) user interface.
There are a few things that I had to tweak to fix a couple of gotchas. Here are my last few tips:

Make sure that the owner and group on /var/www/daloradius/library/daloradius.conf.php is www-

data. Commands chown and chgrp are used to fix things if they are wrong.

Adjust the permissions on the dmesg and syslog files in /var/log so that users other than root can read
them. I used chmod 644 on both files.

Using daloRADIUS, click Config, click Logging Settings, and then enable logging of Queries and Actions.

Adjust the permissions for the /var/log/freedadius directory. I used chmod 755 on that.

Copyright 2016 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. 7

 I did not have great luck using the Epiphany web browser installed with Raspbian. So I installed
Chromium, and that worked quite a bit better.
I used a 64GB class 10 micro SD card because I did not know what to expect when I began the project. It turns
out that the software installation consumed less than 3GB. That leads me to believe that one could get away
with just a 16GB card or even an 8GB card.

The Raspberry Pi 2 has 1GB of RAM on board. Previous Pis have only 512MB, or for the older ones, just 256MB.
Therefore the memory footprint of all of this software warrants our attention. On my system there is only 224MB
of RAM in use, which lead me to believe that one might well get away with an older Raspberry Pi.

As far as the processor is concerned, the quad-core ARM processor in the Pi 2 makes for a snappy and very
responsive system. The older Pis are not so blessed. I ran an experiment in which I repeated these instructions
using a Raspberry Pi Model B, which has a single core ARM processor and 512MB of RAM. The SD card was only
8GB. It worked. Not only that, it was surprisingly responsive. This would be a perfectly nice platform for testing,
demonstrations, and experimentation.
I hope you enjoy your new RADIUS server.

Learn More
Learn more about how you can improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and sharpen your competitive edge
through training.

Understanding Networking Fundamentals

TCP/IP Networking
Enterprise Wi-Fi Security (CWSP)

Visit www.globalknowledge.com or call 1-800-COURSES (1-800-268-7737) to speak with a Global Knowledge

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About the Author

George Mays is the president of G.W. Mays & Associates, Inc. based in San Antonio, Texas. George co-authored
Villanova Universitys Mastering IS Security+ course and their CISSP and CASP courses. Additionally, he wrote
ANRCs Network Traffic Analysis and Advanced Network Traffic Analysis courses, which he taught on a regular
basis to security agencies in the United States. George has over 45 years of experience in computing, data
communications, and networking.

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