Evaluation of EAP-methods

Abstract: Network administrators typically employ di erent methods for authenticating and authorizing the access to their networks. A exible and scalable network access method is needed to combat the ever increasing network ubiquity brought on by technological advancements. The IEEE 802.1x Port-Based Network Access is a technology that allows transparent authentication to a network. It uses EAP-methods in order to authenticate against a server. There are a lot of di erent EAP-methods to choose from, and they vary in complexity and security. This report will bring up the di erences between the most commonly used authentication methods regarding the authentication time depending on di erent delay and network load. Results showed that EAP-methods that are less complex take less time to perform authentication than their counterparts. When there is no delay, or a very small delay, this might not matter, but when the delay is higher complex EAP-methods take signi cantly longer time to perform the authentication process. This is very negative considering the nature of transparent authentication, and could lead to users becoming annoyed. A general formula for determining how long time an EAP-authentication process will take is presented.