Cisco Certified Network Associate (200-301 CCNA) – Question612

What is the difference between AAA authentication and authorization?

A. Authentication identifies and verifies a user who is attempting to access a system, and authorization controls the tasks the user performs.
B. Authentication controls the system processes a user accesses, and authorization logs the activities the user initiates.
C. Authentication verifies a username and password, and authorization handles the communication between the authentication agent and the user database.
D. Authentication identifies a user who is attempting to access a system, and authorization validates the user's password.

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

Explanation:
AAA stands for Authentication, Authorization and Accounting.
* Authentication: Specify who you are (usually via login username & password)
* Authorization: Specify what actions you can do, what resource you can access
* Accounting: Monitor what you do, how long you do it (can be used for billing and auditing)
An example of AAA is shown below:
* Authentication: “I am a normal user. My username/password is user_tom/learnforever”
* Authorization: “user_tom can access LearnCCNA server via HTTP and FTP”
* Accounting: “user_tom accessed LearnCCNA server for 2 hours”. This user only uses “show” commands.