A company has HPE Aruba Networking APs managed by HPE Aruba Networking Central. You have set up a WLAN to enforce WPA3 with 802.1X authentication. What happens if the client fails authentication?

Question

Options

• AThe AP assigns the client to the WLAN's default role.
• BThe AP drops the client because authentication aborts.
• CThe AP assigns the client to the WLAN's critical role.
• DThe AP assigns the client to the WLAN's initial role.

• A
  2% (1)
• B
  90% (56)
• C
  6% (4)
• D
  2% (1)

Explanation

When WPA3 with 802.1X is enforced, a client that fails authentication (i.e., the RADIUS server sends an Access-Reject) is simply dropped - the AP terminates the connection attempt with no fallback. There is no grace assignment because enforced WPA3 means non-authenticated clients have no business on the network.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (default role): The default role is assigned after successful authentication when the RADIUS server returns no specific role.
• C (critical role): The critical role applies when the RADIUS/authentication server is unreachable - a server being down is different from a server actively rejecting credentials.
• D (initial role): The initial role is a temporary holding role applied during the authentication handshake, before a result is known - not after a failure.

Memory tip: Map the three "special" roles to three distinct states - Initial = in progress, Default = success, Critical = server gone dark. Authentication failure maps to none of these; the server responded, it just said "no" - so the AP shows the client the door.

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