= RADIUS Test Procedures

== Introduction

This document describes how to test your radius server authentication
using random usernames and passwords with the `radclient` program.

== Why test?

Many people want to see the difference in efficiency behind the various
authentication methods, compilation methods, etc of their radius server.
Before now, this was difficult to do efficiently across a large number
of users. However, with this document, you’ll be able to test your
radius server and determine the best options to use for your system.

== Getting started

First thing we have to do is generate a large number of users. You’ll
want to do this even if you have a large passwd file you want to use
from your system, because the create user script sets up other files you
need for testing. So head to the scripts/ directory, and do this:

Make a tmp dir

```
# mkdir tmp
# cp util/create-users.pl tmp
# cd tmp
```

Run the script to create 10,000 (or however many you want) random users
and passwords

```
# ./create-users.pl 10000

Output from the script will include several files:
        passwd : A standard passwd file you can append to /etc/passwd
        shadow : A standard shadow file you can append to /etc/shadow
passwd.nocrypt : A file with *unencrypted* users & passes in form "user:pass"
   radius.test : File you'll use as input for radclient
  radius.users : A standard radius 'users' file

So, equipped with lots of users and passwords, there's several methods of
authentication you can test:

  o  System users (Auth-Type:=System)
  o  Local users (Auth-Type:=Local)
  o  Cached system (passwd) users
  o  Others
```

NOTE: Before moving on, you will probably want to add `/dev/null` to
/etc/shells _temporarily_ so that default system authentication will
work. REMEMBER TO TAKE IT OUT!

== Test procedures

=== System (/etc/passwd) users testing

[arabic]
. Append the `passwd` file from `create-users.pl` onto your system
passwd file:

```
# cat ./passwd >> /etc/passwd
```

[arabic, start=2]
. If you have shadow, append the shadow file onto /etc/shadow

```
# cat ./shadow >> /etc/shadow
```

[arabic, start=3]
. Make sure you have a DEFAULT user similar to the following in your
radius `users' file:

```
DEFAULT Auth-Type:=System
        Reply-Message = "Success!"
```

[arabic, start=4]
. Start radiusd

```
    # /usr/local/sbin/radiusd
```

[arabic, start=5]
. Run radclient with `radius.test` as the input file.

NOTE: First you need to setup a secret for your local machine in the
`clients` file and use that secret below

```
# time /usr/local/bin/radclient -q -s -f radius.test <yourhostname> auth <secret>
```

NOTE: The above is to be put all on one line.

NOTE: Some systems do not have the `time` command, so you may need to
break out the stopwatch instead :)

Take note of the output of `radclient`. If there were lots of
failures, something is wrong. All authentications should succeed.

[arabic, start=6]
. Take note of the output from the above `time` command. The output
format should be something similar to the following (on linux, this for
example only!):

```
1.72user 0.53system 5:11.34elapsed 0%CPU
(0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k 0inputs+0outputs
(340major+29minor)pagefaults 0swaps
```

_This means it took 5:11 (311 seconds) to authenticate 10,000 users.
Simple division tells us this is:_

```
10,000 auths / 311 seconds = 32.1543 auths/second
```

=== Local users testing

[arabic]
. Copy the `radius.users` file from the script over your `users` file.
Make sure you do NOT have a DEFAULT entry or you will invalidate this
test.
. Restart radiusd (kill and restart)
. Run radclient (See A-5 above for NOTES on this):

```
# time /usr/local/bin/radclient -q -s -f radius.test <yourhostname> auth <secret>
```

[arabic, start=4]
. Take note of the output from the above `time` command, and divide the
number of auths (10,000 in this case) with the number of seconds it took
to complete. See A6 above for more info.

=== Cached system users

[arabic]
. Set `cache=yes` in your radiusd.conf file
. Restart radiusd (ie, kill it and restart, not just a HUP)
. Perform the same steps outlined above for testing System users (A)

=== Other methods

There is no reason why you can’t use some of this to test modules for
PAM, SQL, LDAP, etc, but that will require a little extra work on your
end (ie, getting the users/passes you generated into the corresponding
database). However, by now you should have a good idea of how to test
once you do that.

Also, play around with compile options like `--with-thread`,
`--with-thread-pool`, etc. Run radiusd with `-s` so it runs one
process only, etc etc. Play around with it.

== Caveats

The above test procedures make no allowances for users that login with
incorrect usernames or passwords. If you want a true test of
performance, you should add in lots of bad usernames and passwords to
the radius.test file and then re-run `radclient` with that file as
input.

Additionally, these tests make no reference to how the pre-authenticate,
post-authenticate, and accounting methods you choose could affect server
performance. For example, checking for simultaneous use after authenti-
cating the user is obviously going to slow down authenticate
performance.

The numbers you get from this test are raw authentications/second in a
perfect environment. Do not expect this kind of result in the real
world. However, having tested in this manner, you will have a good idea
of which authentication methods and compilation options give you the
best base to start from, which is key to an efficient server.

== Results

I’d really rather not post results because they will vary tremendously
with other system-specific configuration. This is exactly the reason you
should run tests of this nature, to find what’s best for _your_ system.
Good luck!
