Question
A network engineer is establishing a wireless network for handheld inventory scanners in a manufacturing company's warehouse. The engineer needs an authentication mechanism for these scanners that uses the Wi-Fi network and works with the company's Active Directory. The business requires that the solution authenticate the users and authorize the scanners. Which of the following provides the best solution for authentication and authorization?
- A. TACACS+
- B. RADIUS Correct
- C. LDAP
- D. PKI
Explanation
RADIUS is the standard AAA protocol used with 802.1X/WPA2-Enterprise or WPA3-Enterprise Wi-Fi, and a RADIUS server such as Microsoft NPS can authenticate users against Active Directory and return authorization attributes for the scanners. TACACS+ is designed for device administration (logging in to network equipment), not wireless client access. LDAP is a directory query protocol that a RADIUS server may use in the background, but wireless access points do not authenticate clients with it directly. PKI provides certificates but is not an authentication and authorization service by itself.
