The FreeRADIUS Server Project is a high performance and highly configurable RADIUS server that is available under the terms of the GNU GPLv2. Using RADIUS allows authentication and authorization for a network to be centralized, and minimizes the number of changes that have to be done when adding or deleting new users to a network.
FreeRADIUS can authenticate users on systems such as 802.1x (WiFi), dialup, PPPoE, VPN's, VoIP, and many others. It supports back-end databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft Active Directory, OpenLDAP, and many more. It is used daily to authenticate the Internet access for hundreds of millions of people, in sites ranging from 10 users, to 10 million and more users.
Version 3.0 of the server is largely compatible with version 2.x, but we highly recommend that you recreate your configuration, rather than trying to get the older configuration to work.
For a list of changes in version 3.0, please see doc/ChangeLog.
See raddb/README.rst for information on what to do to update your
configuration.
Administrators upgrading from a previous version should install this version in a different location from their existing systems. Any existing configuration should be carefully migrated to the new version, in order to take advantage of the new features which can greatly simply configuration.
Please see http://freeradius.org and http://wiki.freeradius.org for more information.
To install the server, please see the INSTALL file in this directory.
Run the server in debugging mode, (radiusd -X) and READ the output.
We cannot emphasize this point strongly enough. The vast majority of
problems can be solved by carefully reading the debugging output,
which includes WARNINGs about common issues, and suggestions for how
they may be fixed.
Read the FAQ. Many questions are answered there. See the Wiki
Read the configuration files. Many parts of the server have NO documentation, other than comments in the configuration file.
Search the mailing lists. There is a Google link on the bottom of the page:
http://www.freeradius.org/list/users.html
Type some key words into the search box, and you should find discussions about common problems and solution.
See doc/README for more information about FreeRADIUS.
There is an O'Reilly book available. It serves as a good introduction for anyone new to RADIUS. However, it is almost 11 years old, and is not much more than a basic introduction to the subject.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596003226/freeradiusorg-20/
For other RADIUS information, the Livington internet site had a lot of information about radius online. Unfortunately Livingston, and the site, don't exist anymore but there is a copy of the site still at:
http://portmasters.com/www.livingston.com/
Especially worth reading is the "RADIUS for Unix administrators guide"
- HTML: http://portmasters.com/tech/docs/radius/1185title.html
- PDF: http://portmasters.com/tech/docs/pdf/radius.pdf
We understand that the server may be difficult to configure, install, or administer. It is, after all, a complex system with many different configuration possibilities.
The most common problem is that people change large amounts of the configuration without understanding what they're doing, and without testing their changes. The preferred method of operation is the following:
- Start off with the default configuration files.
- Save a copy of the default configuration: It WORKS. Don't change it!
- Verify that the server starts. (You ARE using debugging mode, right?)
- Send it test packets using "radclient", or a NAS or AP.
- Verify that the server does what you expect.
- If it does not work, change the configuration, and go to step (3) If you're stuck, revert to using the "last working" configuration.
- If it works, proceed to step (6).
- Save a copy of the working configuration, along with a note of what you changed, and why.
- Make a SMALL change to the configuration.
- Repeat from step (3).
This method will ensure that you have a working configuration that is customized to your site as quickly as possible. While it may seem frustrating to proceed via a series of small steps, the alternative will always take more time. The "fast and loose" way will be MORE frustrating than quickly making forward progress!
If you have any comments, bug reports, problems, or concerns, please send them to the 'freeradius-users' list (see the URL above). We will do our best to answer your questions, to fix the problems, and to generally improve the server in any way we can.
Please do NOT complain that the developers aren't answering your questions quickly enough, or aren't fixing the problems quickly enough. Please do NOT complain if you're told to go read documentation. We recognize that the documentation isn't perfect, but it does exist, and reading it can solve most common questions.
FreeRADIUS is the cumulative effort of many years of work by many people, and you've gotten it for free. No one gets paid to work on FreeRADIUS, and no one is getting paid to answer your questions. This is free software, and the only way it gets better is if you make a contribution back to the project ($$, code, or documentation).
We will note that the people who get most upset about any answers to their questions usually do not have any intention of contributing to the project. We will repeat the comments above: no one is getting paid to answer your questions or to fix your bugs. If you don't like the responses you are getting, then fix the bug yourself, or pay someone to address your concerns. Either way, make sure that any fix is contributed back to the project so that no one else runs into the same issue.
Support is available. See the "support" link at the top of the main web page:
Please submit bug reports, suggestions, or patches. That feedback gives the developers a guide as to where they should focus their work. If you like the server, feel free to mail the list and say so.