What is RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service)? - Definition from Whatis.com

Definition

RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service)

Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is a client/server protocol and software that enables remote access servers to communicate with a central server to authenticate dial-in users and authorize their access to the requested system or service. RADIUS allows a company to maintain user profiles in a central database that all remote servers can share. It provides better security, allowing a company to set up a policy that can be applied at a single administered network point. Having a central service also means that it's easier to track usage for billing and for keeping network statistics. Created by Livingston (now owned by Lucent), RADIUS is a de facto industry standard used by a number of network product companies and is a proposed IETF standard.

Contributor(s): Olivier Thomas and Ciske van Oosten
This was last updated in August 2006

Dig Deeper

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know.

Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com