IEEE8021-PAE-MIB

MIB Reference — IPNetwork Monitor · Updated September 09, 2026

All MIBsIEEE8021-PAE-MIB

Organization: IEEE 802.1 Working Group

Last Updated: 2004-06-22

Category: Protocol: 802.1X, Standard: IEEE 802

Description: IEEE 802.1 MIB for Port Access Entity (PAE/802.1X), used to manage port-based access control and authentication on the network.

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What Is IEEE8021-PAE-MIB?

IEEE8021-PAE-MIB is the IEEE 802.1X standard MIB for the Port Access Entity, implementing port-based network access control and authentication on managed network devices. It exposes per-port authentication configuration and state, including protocol version and capabilities, admin/reauthentication controls, and detailed authenticator/backend authentication state machine status. Its monitoring value is centered on software/security-control status rather than physical hardware; operators use it to verify whether 802.1X is enabled and functioning correctly on each port and to see if ports are stuck in an unauthenticated or error state, which can indicate misconfigured supplicants or a failed RADIUS backend. As a vendor-neutral IEEE standard it has no dependency on vendor-specific MIBs, though it's typically deployed alongside IF-MIB for per-interface correlation. It's common on managed Ethernet switches and wireless controllers that enforce port-based or SSID-based authentication, and network engineers searching for ieee8021-pae-mib documentation are usually looking for exactly these per-port authentication and backend state objects to script compliance checks.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in IEEE8021-PAE-MIB. Use the built-in SNMP Monitoring Browser to explore available variables, view their current values and descriptions, and select the objects you want to monitor. You can then create SNMP monitors, configure thresholds, and receive alerts when monitored values change.

Supported Devices

  • vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB, not tied to a specific manufacturer
  • managed Ethernet switches
  • wireless LAN controllers

Monitoring Examples

An administrator would poll dot1xPaePortTable/dot1xPaePortEntry, indexed by dot1xPaePortNumber, checking dot1xPaePortProtocolVersion and dot1xPaePortCapabilities alongside dot1xPaePortInitialize/dot1xPaePortReauthenticate to control or reset a port's authentication cycle. dot1xAuthConfigTable/dot1xAuthConfigEntry would be checked for dot1xAuthPaeState and dot1xAuthBackendAuthState per port; a port stuck in a non-authorized dot1xAuthPaeState with dot1xAuthBackendAuthState showing a timeout suggests a RADIUS server reachability problem. Toggling dot1xPaeSystemAuthControl globally lets an admin verify whether 802.1X enforcement is active fleet-wide.

What Can Be Monitored

  • per-port 802.1X admin status
  • authenticator PAE state
  • backend authentication state
  • port protocol version/capabilities
  • global authentication control
  • port reauthentication/initialize actions
Imported Objects

From IF-MIB

InterfaceIndex

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Counter64
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE
TimeTicks
Unsigned32

From SNMPv2-TC

MacAddress
TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using dot1xAuthSessionTime OID:

Select a device implementing IEEE8021-PAE-MIB as the target host to create a monitor — the SNMP service should be up and running on it. Click New Monitor, then check SNMP Custom on the Favorites tab, click Next, and confirm the host. On the next page, click Select... to open the built-in SNMP MIB Browser and type dot1xAuthSessionTime into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, selecting the specific row/instance you want to monitor since this is a table column, then select it and click OK. It reports the duration, in seconds, of this 802.1X-authenticated session. On the monitor's Main parameters page you can set the target's SNMP port (default 161), credentials, polling interval, and other settings — see the SNMP Monitor help for details. On the State conditions and Alerting tabs, configure when the monitor should change state and trigger an alert; since this is a TimeTicks-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if a specific session's duration exceeds an unexpectedly long value for your environment (e.g. many hours), which can indicate a session that failed to re-authenticate or time out as expected. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.
OIDs

FAQ

How would a network engineer use IEEE8021-PAE-MIB to spot a failed 802.1X authentication rollout?
By polling per-port admin status along with the authenticator PAE state and backend authentication state machine status, an engineer can see whether 802.1X is enabled and working correctly on each port, and identify ports stuck in an unauthenticated or error state -- a sign of a misconfigured supplicant or a failed RADIUS backend.

Is IEEE8021-PAE-MIB tied to a specific switch vendor?
No, it's a vendor-neutral IEEE standard with no dependency on vendor-specific MIBs, so it's commonly found on managed Ethernet switches and wireless LAN controllers from any vendor that enforces port-based or SSID-based authentication; it's typically deployed alongside IF-MIB for per-interface correlation.

RFC description

IEEE 802.1 MIB for Port Access Entity (PAE/802.1X) managing port-based network access control and authentication.

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Download IEEE8021-PAE-MIB