Technical Documentation

Access Technologies

A subscriber access environment can include various components, including subscriber access technologies and authentication protocols. In a subscriber access environment, service providers want to provide video, voice, and data services over the same network for subscribers. The subscriber access functionalists enables users to gain access to multiple simultaneous services. Subscribers can be billed based on the service level and usage, rather than being charged a set rate regardless of usage.

Service providers can separate services and access technology and eliminate unprofitable flat-rate billing. They gain the ability to efficiently design, manage, and deliver services that subscribers want, and then bill subscribers based on connect time, bandwidth, and the actual service used.

The subscriber access technologies include the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) features and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) that allows Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to be tunneled across a network. The E Series router supports the DHCP access model, DHCP proxy client, DHCP relay and relay proxy, DHCP local server, and DHCP external server. L2TP separates the termination of access technologies, such as cable or xDSL, from the termination of PPP and subsequent access to a network. This separation enables public ISPs to outsource their access technologies to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs).

The subscriber authentication protocols include the RADIUS server and TACACS+ server. A RADIUS-based remote access environment typically involves three types of components. An access client is a user who initiates a network connection. A network access device, also called a RADIUS client, is a device that recognizes and processes connection requests from outside the network edge. The RADIUS server matches data from the authentication/authorization request with information in a trusted database. TACACS+ provides security by encrypting all traffic between the NAS and the process. Encryption relies on a secret key that is known to both the client and the TACACS+ process. The TACACS+ server provides centralized validation of user access.

This page provides information about the JunosE Software features that you can use to configure subscriber access and authentication protocols for E Series routers.

JunosE Software Documentation for E Series Broadband Services Routers, Release 13.2