The VOP COM Radius client (VOPCom.RadClnt) is an ActiveX/COM Object that gives developers the ability to include a Radius solution into their applications (VB, ASP, VC++, J++).

It can authenticate User IDs and generate accounting information in conjunction with a Radius Server, using the Radius protocol over a TCP/IP connection. Currently, the VOP COM Radius Client works with all Radius servers compliant with RFC 2138 & 2139. It also works with Vircom's WorldGroup Radius Server (WG Radius) and Vircom's VOP Radius Server,

The VOP COM client object was created using the ATL (Active Template Library) from Microsoft. It is essentially a basic COM Object, so it doesn't require an ActiveX Control Container to work. But, it can be considered as an ActiveX Control, since all ActiveX Controls are COM Objects, hence the title ActiveX/COM Object.

Network Access Servers (NAS) are multi-port devices that typically hookup to your TCP/IP (Ethernet) LAN. A NAS is a "smart" device with an on-board CPU that can handle on it's own SLIP, PPP and digital (ISDN/xDSL) traffic

The Catch: Network Access Servers can't store all the users you are likely to have in its meager internal database. They need to talk to an external "datasource" to authenticate your users. You also need to be able to keep track of usage as well. That's where Radius comes in.

Radius is a protocol developed by a consortium of companies that manufacture Remote Access Servers in association with the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). What Radius does is that it lets Network Access Servers (also called Remote Access Servers) talk to a central accounting system through the intermediary of a Radius server.

The Radius client receives an access-granted at this point.
The Radius client can (optionally) send an accounting-start packet.
The Radius server sends an acknowledgment.
The Radius client can (optionally) send an accounting-stop packet on user disconnect.
The Radius server sends an acknowledgment.

VOP COM therefore, consists of the following processes:

Radius Authentication: In order to authenticate a user in your application using a Radius Server, you need to create a request instance, send the request to the proper server and then finally, close/free the request.

Radius Accounting: After a positive reply is received, you can create and send accounting packets from your application. To do so, you use VOP COM to create a request instance, set the accounting options, send the request to the proper Server and then close/free the request on disconnect.

Key Product Features
The VOP COM Radius Client allows for the creation of customizable Radius Requests that can be sent to an Radius Server for users trying to gain access to a remote service.

You will also be capable of viewing the results for different Radius Requests (Access Granted/Rejected).

VOP COM's functionality is identical to that of a NAS (Network Access Server also know as a Terminal Server) when querying a Radius server. For all intent and purpose, VOP COM looks like a dial-up user device.

VOP COM's features are based on the Radius attributes used when creating and sending a request. These attributes can be broken down into two categories, Access Requests and Accounting Requests. You can add any Radius attributes to your requests, and get any Radius attributes from server replies. Example: you could retrieve the session time limit for a user accessing a secured software application.

All of these requests include customizable values for various attributes. They also contain configurable options for the Secret, Radius Server IP Address and Radius Server Port number.