28/5/2014

Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5, CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10

Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5,

CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10
07 May 2012 / 31 Comments / in FreeRADIUS / by Admin

A simple tutorial to setup and configure FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5 and Ubuntu 10.04.

Just follow the instructions below to have your FreeRADIUS setup ready to go when used
along with our WHMCS module, we have distinguished the difference between CentOS
commands and Ubuntu commands:
CentOS 5:

yum install freeradius2 freeradius2-mysql freeradius2-utils mysql-server -y

CentOS 6:

yum install freeradius freeradius-mysql freeradius-utils mysql-server -y

Ubuntu:

apt-get install freeradius freeradius-mysql freeradius-utils mysql-server

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Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5, CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10

They should install without any problems.

To setup MySQL, start the service by running below:
CentOS:

service mysqld start

Ubuntu:

service mysql start

Now run the following to set your password and security settings:

/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

Common problems usually arise on cPanel servers but please check our knowldgebase for
fixing issues on cPanel servers, next we need to create the radius database, type:

mysql

or

mysql -uroot -p

Then enter your mysql root password to continue

Now create the database and grant all privileges to user radius:

CREATE DATABASE radius;

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Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5, CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON radius.* TO radius@localhost IDENTIFIED BY "radpass";

flush privileges;

In certain situations you may need to grant remote access to mysql, to do this please follow
the guide below:

TO SETUP MYSQL REMOTE ACCESS TO YOUR FREERADIUS INSTALLATION

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK. LINK.

Now thats done we want to import the tables for radius:

mysql> use radius;

CentOS:

SOURCE /etc/raddb/sql/mysql/schema.sql

Ubuntu:

SOURCE /etc/freeradius/sql/mysql/schema.sql

exit

Now open up CentOS:/etc/raddb/sql.conf Ubuntu:/etc/freeradius/sql.conf and enter your

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Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5, CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10

mysql database details you just created, Example:

# Connection info:
server = "localhost"
#port = 3306
login = "radius"
password = "radpass"

# Database table configuration for everything except Oracle

radius_db = "radius"

In /etc/raddb/radiusd.conf ensure that the line saying:

$INCLUDE sql.conf

is uncommented.
Edit /etc/raddb/sites-available/default and uncomment the line containing sql in the
authorize{} section and sql in the accounting {} section, also uncomment sql under session
{}.
Additionally, edit /etc/raddb/sites-available/inner-tunnel and uncomment the line containing
sql under authorize {} and under session {}.
Open up /etc/raddb/clients.conf set your secret to something a bit more random, example:
Change:

secret = testing123

To something like:

secret = 3c23498n349c3yt290y93b4t3

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Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5, CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10

Now check to see if Radius is working ok:

CentOS:

service radiusd restart

service radiusd stop

Ubuntu:

service freeradius restart

service freeradius stop

To

add

clients

(External

VPN

Servers)

you

would

edit

CentOS:/etc/raddb/clients.conf Ubuntu: /etc/freeradius/clients.confand directly under

this line:

coa_server = coa

Add a block such as this:

client VPN_SERVER_IP {
secret

= YOUR SECRET HERE

shortname

= yourVPN

nastype

= other

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Install and Setup FreeRADIUS on CentOS 5, CentOS 6 and Ubuntu 11.10

To allow external servers and software to authenticate off your FreeRADIUS, this has to be
done every time you setup an external server to use this FreeRADIUS database.
Everytime you add a client or change a value in the config files you need to restart radius like
this:
CentOS:

service radiusd restart

Ubuntu:

service freeradius restart

Add a test user to the radius database, first you need to login to your mysql radius database:

mysql -uroot -pyourrootpass

Switch to the radius database:

use radius;

Once there execute the below commands:

mysql> INSERT INTO `radcheck` (`id`, `username`, `attribute`, `op`, `value`) VALUES (1,'test'

Next test the test user with radtest.

radtest test test 127.0.0.1 0 mysecret

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If you see rad_recv: Access-Accept then your installation is working fine.

If you have any problems with FreeRADIUS you can run FreeRADIUS in debug mode to help
pinpoint any issues, to do that just do the following:
CentOS:

service radiusd stop

radiusd -X

Ubuntu:

service freeradius stop

freeradius -X

Now you can see in realtime if your authentication queries are actually reaching the server or
the reasons why some users may be rejected authentication.
**Please follow below if using our WHMCS FreeRADIUS Module and UAS System:**
Open up /etc/raddb/sql.conf for CentOS or/etc/freeradius/sql.conf for Ubuntu and
uncomment the following line:

#readclients = yes

to:

readclients = yes

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Now your FreeRADIUS will read off the MySQL NAS table for clients when adding NAS
servers via our UAS system it will auto create the NAS table in your FreeRADIUS databases
the first time you add a client.
Regards
SafeSrv.net

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