Understanding and Implementing TACACS+

This paper will focus on understanding and implementing TACACS+, however the same methodology can be applied to other protocols that handle access control. What is TACACS+? TACACS+ stands for Terminal Access Control Access Control Server. It is a derivative of the TACACS application used by Defense data network (DDN). Cisco made some enhancement to the TACACS application and thus TACACS+ came into existence as a Cisco Proprietary Protocol. The main goal of TACACS+ is to provide a centralized database against which to perform authentication. In actuality TACACS+ provides Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA).