Patent ID: 8528071

Claim:
A system comprising: one or more client devices; and a network access device comprising: a memory configured to store: an indication of a selected one of a plurality of different authentication procedures a system administrator of the network access device has selected to perform authentication, the authentication based at least in part on credential information identifying the one or more client devices and credential information identifying users of one or more client devices the plurality of different client authentication procedures comprising a combined physical address and web authentication procedure, comprising transmitting user credential information from a client device toward the network access device according to a secure protocol, and then transmitting the user credential information from the network access device toward an authentication server; and control logic configured to, when executed: detect that the new client device has attached to a port of the network access device; upon detecting the new client device, perform authentication according to the selected one of a plurality of different authentication procedures each supported by the access device; and determine whether to grant the new client device access to a data communications network based upon a result of the authentication.