RADCLIENT(1)

💅 RADCLIENT(1) — the FreeRADIUS Daemon girlies' guide ✨

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about radclient — it's literally the cutest little radius client program from the FreeRADIUS Daemon family and you're gonna be obsessed 🫶

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🌸 NAME 🌸

radclient — send packets to a RADIUS server, show reply. that's it, that's the vibe. 💌

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

radclient [-4] [-6] [-b] [-c count] [-d raddb_directory] [-D
dictionary_directory] [-f file] [-F] [-h] [-i id] [-n
num_requests_per_second] [-p num_requests_in_parallel] [-q] [-r
num_retries] [-s] [-S shared_secret_file] [-t timeout] [-v] [-x] server
{acct|auth|status|coa|disconnect|auto} secret

like, don't panic at all those brackets, it's giving "choose your own adventure" and honestly? iconic. 👑

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so radclient is a radius client program. no cap. it can send arbitrary radius packets to a radius server, and then it shows you the reply. that's the whole personality. ✨

what's it for, you ask? two big moods:

• testing changes you made in the configuration of the radius server (you little config gremlin, you)
• monitoring if a radius server is up (is she alive? is she thriving? vibe check 💀)

radclient reads radius attribute/value pairs from its standard input, or from a file specified on the command line. then it encodes these attribute/value pairs using the dictionary, and sends them to the remote server. literally the whole pipeline, chef's kiss. 🧚

and the best part? the User-Password and CHAP-Password attributes are automatically encrypted before the packet is sent to the server. she handles the scary part for you, periodt. 🔥

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

every single flag, no skips, no summaries, we respect the grind. 🫶

• -4 — Use IPv4 (default). she's the default for a reason, bestie.
• -6 — Use IPv6. for when you're living in the future 🦋
• -b — Enforce the Blast RADIUS checks. All replies to an Access-Request packet must contain a Message-Authenticator as the first attribute.

For compatibility with old servers, this flag is not set by default. However, radclient still checks for the Blast RADIUS signature, and discards packets which match the attack. so like, she's got her guard up even when you don't ask her to. 💅

• -c count — Send each packet count times. repetition! commitment! 💀
• -d raddb_directory — The directory that contains the user dictionary file. Defaults to /etc/raddb.
• -D dictionary_directory — The directory that contains the main dictionary file. Defaults to /usr/share/freeradius.
• -f file[:file] — File to read the attribute/value pairs from. If this is not specified, they are read from stdin. This option can be specified multiple times, in which case packets are sent in order by file, and within each file, by first packet to last packet. A blank line separates logical packets within a file. If a pair of files separated by a colon is specified, the second file will be used to filter the responses to requests from the first. The number of requests and filters must be the same. A summary of filter results will be displayed if -s is passed. a whole little filing system, we love a girl with organization 🌸
• -F — Print the file name, packet number and reply code. receipts, basically. 🧾
• -h — Print usage help information. when in doubt, ask for help, that's growth 💜
• -i id — Use id as the RADIUS request Id.
• -n num_requests_per_second — Try to send num_requests_per_second, evenly spaced. This option allows you to slow down the rate at which radclient sends requests. When not using -n, the default is to send packets as quickly as possible, with no inter-packet delays. chaos mode is the default, obviously 😭

⚠️ Due to limitations in radclient, this option does not accurately send the requested number of packets per second. she's trying her best okay, but the math is mathing imperfectly.

• -p num_requests_in_parallel — Send num_requests_in_parallel, without waiting for a response for each one. By default, radclient sends the first request it has read, waits for the response, and once the response is received, sends the second request in its list. This option allows you to send many requests at simultaneously. Once num_requests_in_parallel are sent, radclient waits for all of the responses to arrive (or for the requests to time out), before sending any more packets.

This option permits you to discover the maximum load accepted by a RADIUS server. main character energy: how much can she handle 😌

• -P proto — Use proto transport protocol ("tcp" or "udp"). Only available if FreeRADIUS is compiled with TCP transport support. conditional queen 🎀
• -q — Go to quiet mode, and do not print out anything. silence is golden, she's meditating 🧘
• -r num_retries — Try to send each packet num_retries times, before giving up on it. The default is 10. she's persistent but she's not gonna chase you forever.
• -s — Print out some summaries of packets sent and received. the receipts, the lore, the data 📊
• -S shared_secret_file — Rather than reading the shared secret from the command-line (where it can be seen by others on the local system), read it instead from shared_secret_file. safety first, bestie, don't be out here leaking secrets 🔐
• -t timeout — Wait timeout seconds before deciding that the NAS has not responded to a request, and re-sending the packet. The default timeout is 3.
• -v — Print out version information. ✨
• -x — Print out debugging information. for when things are giving broken and you need the tea 🍵
• server[:port] — The hostname or IP address of the remote server. Optionally a UDP port can be specified. If no UDP port is specified, it is looked up in /etc/services. The service name looked for is radacct for accounting packets, and radius for all other requests. If a service is not found in /etc/services, 1813 and 1812 are used respectively. For coa and disconnect packets, port 3799 is used. she has a whole lookup system, it's giving organized.

If a host name is specified, then radclient will do a DNS lookup, and use the A record to find the IP address of the RADIUS server. If there is no A record, then radclient will look for an AAAA record. If there is no AAAA record, an error will be produced. no record, no vibes. 💀

IPv6 addresses may be specified by surrounding it in square brackets. For example, [2002:c000:0201:0:0:0:0:0], or with a port, [2002:c000:0201:0:0:0:0:0]:18120. brackets are her accessory of choice 🎀

The RADIUS attributes read by radclient can contain the special attribute Packet-Dst-IP-Address. If this attribute exists, then that IP address is where the packet is sent, and the server specified on the command-line is ignored. she said "I know a place" and went there instead.

If the RADIUS attribute list always contains the Packet-Dst-IP-Address attribute, then the server parameter can be given as -.

The RADIUS attributes read by radclient can contain the special attribute Packet-Dst-Port. If this attribute exists, then that UDP port is where the packet is sent, and the :port specified on the command-line is ignored.

• acct | auth | status | coa | disconnect | auto — Use auth to send an authentication packet (Access-Request), acct to send an accounting packet (Accounting-Request), status to send a status packet (Status-Server), or coa to send a CoA-Request, or disconnect to send a disconnection request. Instead of these values, you can also use a decimal code here. For example, code 12 is also Status-Server. pick your fighter 💅

The RADIUS attributes read by radclient can contain the special attribute Packet-Type. If this attribute exists, then that type of packet is sent, and the type specified on the command-line is ignored.

If the RADIUS attribute list always contains the Packet-Type attribute, then the type parameter can be given as auto. let her decide, she's autonomous ✨

• secret — The shared secret for this client. It needs to be defined on the radius server side too, for the IP address you are sending the radius packets from. it takes two to tango, bestie 🫶

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🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

A sample session that queries the remote server for Status-Server (not all servers support this, but FreeRADIUS has configurable support for it). look at her go:

$ echo "Message-Authenticator = 0x00" | radclient 192.0.2.42 status s3cr3t
Sending request to server 192.0.2.42, port 1812.
radrecv: Packet from host 192.0.2.42 code=2, id=140, length=54
    Reply-Message = "FreeRADIUS up 21 days, 02:05"

she said "FreeRADIUS up 21 days" and honestly? she's thriving, we love a server with uptime. 🔥👑

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🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

• radiusd(8)

(and that's the whole list, don't @ me)

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

Miquel van Smoorenburg, miquels@cistron.nl. Alan DeKok <aland@freeradius.org>

legends, both of them. respect the architects. 🫡

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💖 this was RADCLIENT(1) from the FreeRADIUS Daemon collection, dated 21 May 2024 — go forth and send packets, you gorgeous nerd 🦋✨🎀