Radius vs Diameter

In this article, we will focus Radius vs Diameter and we will learn the details of the key properties of these AAA Protocols. Yes, these two protocols are AAA protocols. Radius is the previous one and the Diameter is the new, enhanced protocol. So what are the differences and similarities of these AAA protocols? Let’s compare Radius and Diameter protocols and learn the details of Diameter vs Radius.

First of all both of these protocols are AAA (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting) Protocols. They have been developed for AAA operations. 

Radius is a connectionless protocol, so it do not need any session creation before its operation. But Diameter is a connection oriented like TCP. 

As a transport protocol, Radius uses UDP (User Datagram Prtocol) and Diameter uses TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or SCP. This makes Radius a little unreliable but Diameter is a reliable protocol. 

The ports that Radius and Diameter uses are different. While Radius uses UDP ports 1812/1813 and 1645/1646 ports, Diameter uses TCP or SCTP 3868 port.

In Radius, the security is provided Hop-by-Hop. Diameter protocol also uses this mechanism. But beside, Diameter provide End-to-End security.

If you would like to learn more on about Radius vs Diameter, you can visit related article below:

https://ipcisco.com/diameter-protocol-overview/