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RADIUS Accounting
RADIUS Accounting operates on port 1813 and is part of the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS), primarily used for tracking usage and accounting purposes in network authentication scenarios. It helps network administrators manage resource consumption, billing, and audit trails by recording data usage, connection times, and user activity. Usually paired with RADIUS Authentication on port 1812, accounting ensures proper monitoring and management of network services..
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) is a standardized protocol used in network environments for authentication, authorization, and accounting of users who connect and use network services. Port 1813 specifically handles the accounting aspect, where user session data such as start and stop times, data transferred, and resources consumed is collected.
RADIUS Accounting is implemented through Accounting-Request and Accounting-Response message pairs transported over UDP or TCP on port 1813. These messages include information encoded in Attribute-Value Pairs (AVPs) that detail session metrics reported by the Network Access Server (NAS) to the RADIUS Accounting server. This enables service providers and enterprises to track resource utilization, plan capacity, and perform usage-based billing.
RADIUS Accounting supports both real-time reporting through interim updates and summary accounting upon session completion. The protocol is designed to be lightweight and compatible across diverse vendor solutions, making it broadly adopted in WiFi networks, ISPs, VPNs, and enterprise access solutions. As networks migrate to modern identity protocols, RADIUS remains a core component due to its simplicity and interoperability.