>
    Strata Copilot
    Configure RADIUS Authentication
    Focus
    Download PDF
    Focus
    1. Home
    2. Next-Generation Firewall
    3. Authentication
    4. Configure RADIUS Authentication
    Download PDF
    Next-Generation Firewall

    Configure RADIUS Authentication

    Table of Contents

    Configure RADIUS Authentication

    You can configure RADIUS authentication for end users and firewall or Panorama administrators. For administrators, you can use RADIUS to manage authorization (role and access domain assignments) by defining Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSAs). You can also use RADIUS to implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for administrators and end users. To enable RADIUS authentication, you must configure a RADIUS server profile that defines how the firewall or Panorama connects to the server (see Step 1 below). You then assign the server profile to an authentication profile for each set of users who require common authentication settings (see Step 5 below). What you do with the authentication profile depends on which users the RADIUS server authenticates:
    • End users—Assign the authentication profile to an authentication enforcement object and assign the object to Authentication policy rules. For the full procedure, see Configure Authentication Policy.
    You can also configure client systems to send RADIUS Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSAs) to the RADIUS server by assigning the authentication profile to a GlobalProtect portal or gateway. RADIUS administrators can then perform administrative tasks based on those VSAs.
    1. Add a RADIUS server profile.
      The profile defines how the firewall connects to the RADIUS server.
      1. Select DeviceServer ProfilesRADIUS or PanoramaServer ProfilesRADIUS on Panorama™and Add a profile.
      2. Enter a Profile Name to identify the server profile.
      3. (Optional) Select Administrator Use Only to restrict access to administrators.
      4. Enter a Timeout interval in seconds after which an authentication request times out (default is 3; range is 1–120).
        If you use the server profile to integrate the firewall with an MFA service, enter an interval that gives users enough time to authenticate. For example, if the MFA service prompts for a one-time password (OTP), users need time to see the OTP on their endpoint device and then enter the OTP in the MFA login page.
      5. Enter the number of Retries.
      6. Select the Authentication Protocol (default is PEAP-MSCHAPv2) that the firewall uses to authenticate to the RADIUS server.
        Depending on which factors you want to use to authenticate users within your multi-factor authentication (MFA) environment, select the appropriate authentication protocol:
        • Username, password, and push (an automatically triggered out-of-band request): Supported with all authentication protocols
        • Push, password, token, and PIN (when password or token or PIN are provided together): Supported with PAP, PEAP with GTC, and EAP-TTLS with PAP
        • Username, password, token, and PIN, and challenge-response (when password or token or PIN are provided together): Supported with PAP and PEAP with GTC
        If you select an EAP authentication method (PEAP-MSCHAPv2, PEAP with GTC, or EAP-TTLS with PAP), confirm that your RADIUS server supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.1 or higher and that the root and intermediate certificate authorities (CAs) for your RADIUS server are included in the certificate profile associated with the RADIUS server profile. If you select an EAP method and you do not associate a correctly configured certificate profile with the RADIUS profile, authentication fails.
      7. Add each RADIUS server and enter the following:
        • Name to identify the server
        • RADIUS Server IP address or FQDN. If you use an FQDN to identify the server and you subsequently change the address, you must commit the change for the new server address to take effect.
        • Secret/Confirm Secret is a key to encrypt passwords and can be up to 64 characters in length.
        • Server Port for authentication requests (default is 1812)
      8. Click OK to save the server profile.
      For redundancy, add multiple RADIUS servers in the sequence you want the firewall to use. If you have selected an EAP method, configure an authentication sequence to ensure that users will be able to successfully respond to the authentication challenge. There is no alternate authentication method with EAP: if the user fails the authentication challenge and you have not configured an authentication sequence that allows another authentication method, authentication fails.
    2. If you are using PEAP-MSCHAPv2 with GlobalProtect, select Allow users to change passwords after expiry to allow GlobalProtect users to changed expired passwords to log in.
    3. (PEAP-MSCHAPv2, PEAP with GTC, or EAP-TTLS with PAP only) To anonymize the user’s identity in the outer tunnel that is created after authenticating with the server, select Make Outer Identity Anonymous.
      You must configure the RADIUS server so that the entire chain allows access for anonymous users. Some RADIUS server configurations may not support anonymous outer IDs, and you may need to clear the option. When cleared, the RADIUS server transmits usernames in cleartext.
    4. If you select an EAP authentication method, select a Certificate Profile.
    5. Assign the RADIUS server profile to an authentication profile.
      The authentication profile defines authentication settings that are common to a set of users.
      1. Select DeviceAuthentication Profile and Add a profile.
      2. Enter a Name to identify the authentication profile.
      3. Set the Type to RADIUS.
      4. Select the Server Profile you configured.
      5. Select Retrieve user group from RADIUS to collect user group information from VSAs defined on the RADIUS server.
        The firewall matches the group information against the groups you specify in the Allow List of the authentication profile.
      6. Select Advanced and, in the Allow List, Add the users and groups that are allowed to authenticate with this authentication profile.
      7. Click OK to save the authentication profile.
    6. Configure the firewall to use the authentication profile for all administrators.
      1. Select DeviceSetupManagement and edit the Authentication Settings.
      2. Select the Authentication Profile you configured and click OK.
    7. Configure the roles and access domains that define authorization settings for administrators.
      If you already defined RADIUS VSAs on the RADIUS server, the names you specify for roles and access domains on the firewall must match the VSA values.
      1. Configure an Admin Role Profile if the administrator uses a custom role instead of a predefined (dynamic) role.
      2. Configure an access domain if the firewall has more than one virtual system:
        1. Select DeviceAccess Domain, Add an access domain, and enter a Name to identify the access domain.
        2. Add each virtual system that the administrator will access, and then click OK.
    8. Commit your changes to activate them on the firewall.
    9. Configure the RADIUS server to authenticate and authorize administrators.
      Refer to your RADIUS server documentation for the specific instructions to perform these steps:
      1. Add the firewall IP address or hostname as the RADIUS client.
      2. Add the administrator accounts.
        If the RADIUS server profile specifies CHAP as the Authentication Protocol, you must define accounts with reversibly encrypted passwords. Otherwise, CHAP authentication will fail.
      3. Define the vendor code for the firewall (25461) and define the RADIUS VSAs for the role, access domain, and user group of each administrator.
        When you predefine dynamic administrator roles for users, use lower-case to specify the role (for example, enter superuser, not SuperUser).
        When configuring the advanced vendor options on the ACS, you must set both the Vendor Length Field Size and Vendor Type Field Size to 1. Otherwise, authentication will fail.
      4. If you have selected an EAP method, the firewall validates the server but not the client. To ensure client validity, restrict clients by IP address or subdomain.
    10. Verify that the RADIUS server performs authentication and authorization for administrators.
      1. Log in the firewall web interface using an administrator account that you added to the RADIUS server.
      2. Verify that you can access only the web interface pages that are allowed for the role you associated with the administrator.
      3. In the Monitor, Policies, and Objects tabs, verify that you can access only the virtual systems that are allowed for the access domain you associated with the administrator.
      4. In MonitorAuthentication, verify the Authentication Protocol.
      5. Test the connection and the validity of the certificate profile using the following CLI command:
        admin@PA-220 > test authentication authentication-profile auth-profile username <username> password <password>

    © 2026 Palo Alto Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.