Cisco Ccna (640-553) Security Training: Using The Aaa Group Server Radius Command

In today’s article, I’m going to inform you about the Cisco IOS global configuration mode command named “aaa group server radius”.


CCNA’s (like you) use the “aaa group server radius” command to group different RADIUS server hosts into distinct lists and distinct methods.

Another way of saying it is, network administrators (like you) use the command to select a subset of configured RADIUS server hosts and use them for a particular service. A “group server” is a list of RADIUS server hosts. The router uses a “group server” and a “global server list”; a “global server list” is a “group server” of IP addresses, which are the IP addresses of the selected server hosts.

Below is the command’s syntax:

aaa group server radius group-name

As you can see, the command is really easy to use; and the group-name argument, is used to name the group of configured RADIUS servers. By the way, the following words can’t be used as a group-name argument:

1. auth-guest
2. enable
3. if-authenticated
4. if-needed
5. guest
6. krb5
7. krb-instance
8. krb-telnet
9. tacacsplus
10. tacacs
11. rcmd
12. radius
13. none
14. local
15. line

Below is an example of the command being used:

Router>enable
Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#aaa new-model
Router(config)#aaa group server radius radiusittechtips
Router(config-sg-radius)#server 10.1.1.1 auth-port 1800 acct-port 1801
Router(config-sg-radius)#server 10.2.2.2 auth-port 1802 acct-port 1803
Router(config-sg-radius)#server 10.3.3.3 auth-port 1805 acct-port 1806
Router(config-sg-radius)#end
Router#copy run start

In the example above, the AAA group server named radiusittechtips has three member servers.

Note: If auth-port and acct-port are not specified, the default value of auth-port is 1645 and the default value of acct-port is 1646.

And, just like mostly all Cisco IOS commands; you can use the word “no” in front of the command to remove (disable) the configured command; like you see below:

Router(config)#no aaa group server radius radiusittechtips

By the way, if you decide to use the command, make sure your router(s) is running Cisco IOS 12.0(5)T or higher.

I hope this article was very informative and helped you quickly understand the usage of the aaa group server radius command. If you need to learn more; I suggest you visit my website, were you’ll find the latest information regarding the Cisco CCNA (640-553) Security exam techniques.

To your success,

Charles Ross
CCNA- CCNP #CSCO10444244

By: Charles E Ross

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Charles Ross, CCNP #CSCO10444244 is the owner of Ittechtips.com; where you'll find free comprehensive information and videos on how to pass the CCNA (640-553) security exam. Sign-Up for "100 Free Videos" and, also learn more about the new "Cisco CCNA (640-553) Video Accelerated Training Course" at his website. www.ccnaittechtips.com