VMPS server

[sciarrone]

Good morning all.

I've a small question regarding VMPS server. We have a network that is managed centrally using a Catalyst 4500 that act as VMPS server for all the other switches. The 4500 load a vmps text file from a TFTP server and the other switches act as clients requesting mac address authorization to the vmps server.

I'm trying to implement a disaster recovery procedure in case the 4500 switch will fault: I want to be sure that all the other switches will be able to take the vmps file from another vmps server. Considering that actually i do not have any other switch that is capable to act as vmps server, is there any solution using a server (linux or windows) that can act as vmps server? I had a look on internet and there are several opensource solution but I really do not know which is the best and simple to implement. Is there maybe something in Cisco that I can use?

To be clear: I have already an external application based on SQL used to create the vmps file and to maintain the list of authorized mac addresses. The application create a vmps plain text file that is stored on the TFTP server.

Thanks in advance to everybody for the help.

Have a nice day,

Marco

[Peter Paluch]

Hello Marco,

Personally, I recommend using the FreeRADIUS  Linux-based software that also contains the support for the VQP/VMPS.  The reason to use the RADIUS service is that gradually, you will  probably be interested in moving towards RADIUS authentication instead  of VMPS, and having the same software would allow you to perform the  transition more easily. There are also other open VMPS solutions  available but personally, I think that for the future, the best approach  would be to use the FreeRADIUS.

I cannot guarantee that the plain text file your SQL  application generates is of the same syntax that the FreeRADIUS uses.  Then again, I believe that the SQL can be easily adapted to produce the  FreeRADIUS config file syntax, or even better, that the FreeRADIUS is  capable of directly accessing the SQL database.

I am not proposing my solution as the best available but I believe you would be satisfied.

Best regards,

Peter