IEEE8021X-PAE-MIB

MIB Reference — IPNetwork Monitor · Updated October 05, 2026

All MIBs › IEEE8021X-PAE-MIB

Organization: IEEE 802.1 Working Group

Last Updated: 2017-10-28

Category: Protocol: 802.1X, Standard: IEEE 802

Description: IEEE 802.1X MIB for Port Access Entity providing 802.1X-2010 port-based network access control and authentication management.

Start monitoring vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB, any SNMPv3-capable network device (SNMP engine identity/boot/clock status) with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor. Import MIBs, browse SNMP OIDs, create custom SNMP monitors, configure alerts, and monitor any SNMP-enabled network device from a single console.

What Is IEEE8021X-PAE-MIB?

This is a vendor-neutral IEEE 802.1X-2010 standards MIB for the Port Access Entity, used to manage port-based network access control, EAPOL authentication, and MACsec Key Agreement (MKA) on switch/authenticator ports. It exposes system-wide settings (access control mode, announcements, EAPOL/MKA protocol versions) and a per-port table describing port type, controlled/uncontrolled/common port numbering, and initialization control. Its monitoring role centers on authentication/access-control status: whether a port's access control is enabled, its EAPOL/MKA version, and whether a port has been forced to reinitialize, together revealing authentication failures or misconfigured supplicants/authenticators on a given switch port. As the successor MIB in the 802.1X family it commonly works alongside MACsec-related MIBs for the encrypted data path negotiated via MKA. It is typically deployed on enterprise access switches and wireless controllers enforcing 802.1X port-based authentication for wired or wireless clients. Engineers implementing or auditing this functionality typically reference the IEEE8021X-PAE-MIB RFC/standard documentation for the authoritative specification.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in IEEE8021X-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, IEEE 802.1X-2010 standards-based MIB, not tied to a specific manufacturer
  • enterprise access switch or wireless controller enforcing port-based authentication

Monitoring Examples

An operator checks ieee8021XPaeSysAccessControl to confirm access control is globally enabled, then walks ieee8021XPaePortTable (keyed by ieee8021XPaePortNumber) to inspect ieee8021XPaePortType and the ieee8021XPaeControlledPortNumber/ieee8021XPaeUncontrolledPortNumber pairing for a given switch port. If a client repeatedly fails to authenticate, ieee8021XPaePortInitialize can be checked to see if the port was recently forced to reinitialize, and ieee8021XPaeSysEapolVersion/ieee8021XPaeSysMkaVersion confirm whether a version mismatch with the supplicant is causing the EAPOL or MKA negotiation to fail.

What Can Be Monitored

  • global access control mode
  • EAPOL/MKA protocol version
  • per-port controlled/uncontrolled port numbering
  • port type
  • port (re)initialization state
Imported Objects

From IEEE8021-SECY-MIB

SecySCI

From IF-MIB

InterfaceIndex

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Counter64
Gauge32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE
Unsigned32

From SNMPv2-TC

MacAddress
RowPointer
RowStatus
TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
TimeInterval
TimeStamp
TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using ieee8021XPaePortSessionOctetsRx OID:

Select a device implementing IEEE8021X-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 ieee8021XPaePortSessionOctetsRx 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. The number of octets received in this session of this PAE. 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 Counter64-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if the counter increases sharply between polls relative to its normal baseline (in Octets), since an unexpected spike often reflects a real change in traffic or activity. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.
OIDs

RFC description

Monitors IEEE 802.1X Port Access Entity (PAE) functions including authentication, MACsec, and EAPOL on network ports.

Start monitoring Vendor-neutral IEEE 802.1X-2010 standard (enterprise access switch/wireless controller, PAE/MKA) with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor. Import MIBs, browse SNMP OIDs, create custom SNMP monitors, configure alerts, and monitor any SNMP-enabled network device from a single console.

Download IEEE8021X-PAE-MIB