ACS vs Non-ACS

MathieuJM_2 · ‎03-25-2008

Hi,

Can anyone explain me the difference between the ACS mode and the Non-ACS mode ?

I mean that we find TACACS mode in both ACS and Non-ACS mode and Radius and MS AD are in Non-ACS mode.

Regards,

akemp · ‎03-25-2008

Sure!

Short answer:

The ACS mode entails Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting as well as Inventory.

The non-acs mode using TACACS+ or RADIUS entails only Authentication.

You can do either using the same CiscoSecure ACS server. Both have positives and negatives.

IMHO, the larger your installation the less likely I would do the ACS mode just for performance reasons. I use the non-acs mode but with TACACS+ on CiscoSecure ACS on 2 clusters of LMS 3.01 10K.