VPN Security: AAA Servers

AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) servers are used for more secure access in a remote-access VPN environment. When a request to establish a session comes in from a dial-up client, the request is proxied to the AAA server. AAA then checks the following:

• Who you are (authentication)
• What you are allowed to do (authorization)
• What you actually do (accounting)

The accounting information is especially useful for tracking client use for security auditing, billing or reporting purposes.