Book excerpt: Cisco's complete, authoritative guide to Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) solutions with CiscoSecure ACS AAA solutions are very frequently used by customers to provide secure access to devices and networks AAA solutions are difficult and confusing to implement even though they are almost mandatory Helps IT Pros choose the best identity management protocols and designs for their environments Covers AAA on Cisco routers, switches, access points, and firewalls This is the first complete, authoritative, single-source guide to implementing, configuring, and managing Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) identity management with CiscoSecure Access Control Server (ACS) 4 and 5. Written by three of Cisco's most experienced CiscoSecure product support experts, it covers all AAA solutions (except NAC) on Cisco routers, switches, access points, firewalls, and concentrators. It also thoroughly addresses both ACS configuration and troubleshooting, including the use of external databases supported by ACS. Each of this book's six sections focuses on specific Cisco devices and their AAA configuration with ACS. Each chapter covers configuration syntax and examples, debug outputs with explanations, and ACS screenshots. Drawing on the authors' experience with several thousand support cases in organizations of all kinds, AAA Identity Management Security presents pitfalls, warnings, and tips throughout. Each major topic concludes with a practical, hands-on lab scenario corresponding to a real-life solution that has been widely implemented by Cisco customers. This book brings together crucial information that was previously scattered across multiple sources. It will be indispensable to every professional running CiscoSecure ACS 4 or 5, as well as all candidates for CCSP and CCIE (Security or R and S) certification.