Supported Platforms
Subscriber Access Overview
The Juniper Networks Junos OS subscriber access feature provides subscriber access, authentication, and service creation, activation, and deactivation. You can also collect accounting information and statistics for subscriber service sessions.
The subscriber access feature supports both CLI and AAA-based configuration (such as RADIUS) for subscribers. Access and services start when the router receives a message from a client (such as a DHCP discover message). For RADIUS clients, RADIUS Access-Accept messages and Change-of-Authorization-Request (CoA-Request) messages can create, modify, and delete subscriber sessions as well as activate and deactivate service sessions. You can use CLI commands to create a dynamic profile, which acts as a template of user attributes.
A subscriber service is based on the combination of a defined dynamic profile and attributes configured through authentication. Dynamic profiles can include dynamic firewall filters, class-of-service (CoS) settings, and protocol (IGMP) settings that define access limits for subscribers and the scope of a service granted to the subscriber after access is obtained.
The subscriber access feature provides the following convenience and flexibility to service providers and subscribers:
- 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.
- Subscribers benefit by gaining access to multiple simultaneous services. Depending on the service provider configuration, subscribers can dynamically connect to and disconnect from various services when they want and for however long they want. Subscribers can be billed based on the service level and usage, rather than being charged a set rate regardless of usage.
Subscriber Access Terms and Acronyms
Table 1 defines terms and acronyms that are used in this discussion of subscriber access.
Table 1: Subscriber Access Terms and Acronyms
Term | Definition |
|---|---|
AAA method for subscriber authentication | The AAA method that uses authentication (for example, including RADIUS VSAs in the Access-Accept packet) to verify a subscriber and activate a service when the subscriber logs in. |
Dynamic profile | A template that defines a set of characteristics that are combined with authorization attributes and are dynamically assigned to static interfaces to provide dynamic subscriber access and services for broadband applications. |
RADIUS CoA method | The method that uses RADIUS CoA-Request messages and VSAs to activate a service for a subscriber that is already logged in. |
Subscriber access technology | The technology used by a subscriber to access services (for example, DHCP). |
