VENDOR Definitions

The VENDOR definition consists of a single line of text with three or four fields, as shown below:

  • VENDOR

    • The keyword that indicates the format of this entry.

  • vendor-name

    • The name of this vendor.

  • number

    • The private enterprise number assigned to this vendor.

  • format

    • Optionally, the format of the VSAs used by this vendor.

The following is an example of a VENDOR entry in the dictionary file:

VENDOR    Cisco    9

The vendor-name field is usually the corporate name of the vendor. As with the ATTRIBUTE, it cannot have spaces or other "special" characters in it. A good rule of thumb is to keep the name as short as possible, usually just one word (e.g., Cisco) .

The number field is a decimal number taken from the Internet Assigned Number Authority, Enterprise Numbers registry, for that vendor. This number will generally be between 1 and 65535.

The format field is optional and defines the encoding method used when packing or unpacking attributes in a packet. If not set, the default packing method as defined in the RFCs is used. If set, the contents of the field are format=t,l. The t field defines the size of the "vendor type" in bytes, and can be 1, 2, or 4. The l field defines the size of the "vendor length" in bytes, and can be 0, 1, or 2.

FreeRADIUS includes all commonly used vendor dictionaries. If the server does not include a dictionary or is missing attribute definitions for a particular vendor, we suggest contacting that vendor, getting a copy of the dictionary, and sending the changes back to FreeRADIUS so it can be included in the next release. Doing so will ensure that others will not have to go through the same process to find and define the vendor attributes.