TOI Author :: Gaurav Chaudhari

A device's classification as a phone or non-phone is determined by the switch through three mechanisms: advertisement via LLDP packets, explicit MAC address classification via CLI commands, or classification as a phone through the DeviceType VSA from a AAA server during authentication. This feature enables the port to be flapped (portflap) when the device's classification transitions from phone to non-phone or vice versa. This functionality applies to classification changes for both MBA and EAPOL supplicants. 

If Dot1x Mac based authentication ( MBA ) is disabled, supplicant discovery is attempted by sending periodic multicast identity requests. These requests are transmitted at a fixed interval, which is 60 seconds. This transmission continues until a successful authentication of an EAPOL supplicant is achieved. With MBA enabled, supplicant discovery also relies on multicast identity requests. However, the transmission interval is set to 30 seconds and the transmission count is set to 3.