How does authentication with RADIUS work?

A RADIUS server is required for certificate-based device authentication on a WPA2 or WPA3 Enterprise network. You have three options for deploying a RADIUS server...

On an Enterprise Wi-Fi network, authentication is delegated away from the Access Points to a separate authentication server—a RADIUS server. Clients must authenticate with the RADIUS server (via the Access Point) when joining the network before they are allowed access. The RADIUS server then tells the client’s Access Point whether to allow or reject the connection.

A RADIUS server is required for certificate-based device authentication on a WPA2 or WPA3 Enterprise network. You have three options for deploying a RADIUS server:

  • You can use ours. Smallstep offers a RADIUS server as part of our complete Wi-Fi encryption solution. Smallstep’s RADIUS server does not offer high availability or multi-region / multi-AZ guarantees. It’s a good option for small to medium-sized networks.
  • You can use a third-party cloud-hosted RADIUS vendor
  • You can host your own RADIUS servers. This is a good option for large networks.