How common is RADIUS in primary schools?

[Jobos]

As title really. There is a technician vacancy at a primary near me so I went for a look round and they were running a RADIUS server which I thought was odd being a smallish primary. Maybe I'm living in the past as I thought RADIUS was for large sites.

[dmj]

It's pretty much a de-facto standard since the 1990's - you find it everywhere, I don't think site size has much to do with it's usefulness.

[DalekSec]

It's pretty much a de-facto standard since the 1990's - you find it everywhere, I don't think site size has much to do with it's usefulness.

 

This, RADIUS is pretty much industry standard now.

[Cat_Jam148]

None of the primary schools in our area run RADIUS. Mixture of 1 & 2 form entry. While it is industry standard, I reckon it's not as common as you think. Edited September 26, 2024 by Cat_Jam148

[mavhc]

Schools aren't industry, never seen one using radius

[dmj]

Schools aren't industry, never seen one using radius

?

There's entire threads on this forum dedicated to using 802.1x, which is (almost) always setup using RADIUS

[synaesthesia]

Odd thing to say. It could be used for wifi authentication, VPN setups, some systems that don't work with LDAP, internet filtering/firewall authentication etc.

[Primus]

We run the same WiFi networks across all our schools which include primaries and RADIUS authentication.

[CrootUK]

We run the same WiFi networks across all our schools which include primaries and RADIUS authentication.

 

snap!!

[dmj]

Odd thing to say. It could be used for wifi authentication, VPN setups, some systems that don't work with LDAP, internet filtering/firewall authentication etc.

 

.. or plain old remote access dial in, but I very much doubt anyone is using that anymore!

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Switch/network equipment auth is another common one.

[Olliedawg]

Few primaries i've visited in my area dont use radius, just PSK

[mavhc]

?

There's entire threads on this forum dedicated to using 802.1x, which is (almost) always setup using RADIUS

 

And I've never visited one of them

[JRA]

Don't run it here (mid-sized primary,) have done elsewhere in the past.

[LeMarchand]

2 single form primaries, one two form junior. No RADIUS.

 

On the "must get around to looking at" list.

[Jobos]

I suppose you would see radius more if the primary was part of a academy i.e. with the backup to do this sort of thing but the school in question is a standalone just managed by a msp

[dmj]

I suppose you would see radius more if the primary was part of a academy i.e. with the backup to do this sort of thing but the school in question is a standalone just managed by a msp

Does look like it comes down to tech time/ability.

[Jobos]

Does look like it comes down to tech time/ability.

 

And how much money they can squeeze out of the school.

[PrimaryNetMan]

If the role is taking over from an MSP, RADIUS is going to be the least of your issues.

[psydii]

And how much money they can squeeze out of the school.

 

eh? how so. I don't think anyone has touched our NPS setup in 15 years (apart from a couple of OS upgrades)

Somebody set up radius/NPS for wifi here 15 years ago, dropping users into appropriate vlans based on groups.

There's a wifi GPO, and a certificate server set up too.

Salamander handles what group users go into.

Firewall / Filtering applies to VLANS (if no user auth information is available from client)

 

It just works. We've had three wifi networks and I don't think we've had to touch the NPS or GPO configs as we've swapped out the APs. It's completely maintenance* free.

 

*well apart from the fact we pay salamander each year, but we'd be paying that anyway.

 

NPS/RADIUS/802.1x wifi auth once set up just works like AD. It just sits their being infrastructure. Its implementation here I am pretty sure was booked as capital investment.

[dmj]

And how much money they can squeeze out of the school.

 

Everywhere I've done it with free software, never paid a penny except for my time. The ongoing maintenance is next to zero*

 

*notwithstanding blastradius which sounds like an issue with the protocol, as it is so old.

[Jobos]

Everywhere I've done it with free software, never paid a penny except for my time. The ongoing maintenance is next to zero*

 

*notwithstanding blastradius which sounds like an issue with the protocol, as it is so old.

 

I’ve never setup radius before so unable to comment on how long it takes but the school had been quoted £540 to set up.

[Jcx500]

The Windows one is easy to setup if you have access to a windows server machine

[sigma]

I've not seen it in maintained village Primaries with just 2 or 3 classes and a tech maybe 2 or 3 hours a week or less.

[dmj]

I’ve never setup radius before so unable to comment on how long it takes but the school had been quoted £540 to set up.

 

Nice work if you can get it!