So let's put this
whole thing into a story using some of the metaphors I alluded to in the previous entry regarding State Machine.
Imagine if you will, there is a client device. Let's call him Stan (get it?
STAn? Nothing? Well anyway…) Stan is walking down the street looking for a
place to eat dinner. In this world the restaurants all have a person outside
yelling the name of the restaurant and its specialties. (This is the AP's
beaconing) Stan hears a restaurant name that he thinks sounds delicious and
walks up. The person outside the restaurant asks him what the password is. But
poor Stan doesn't know it. So he meanders along. He turns the corner and
doesn't hear anyone yelling restaurant names for a minute. So he decides to
yell out and ask if any are out there (Active Probing) all of a sudden he's
bombarded with restaurants who are answering his call for food. He chooses the
one closest to him and walks up to the doorman outside. The doorman says to him
that this isn't one of those hoity-toity restaurants that requires a passcode
and probably limits the amount of food you can eat. This is a public place, so
come in and have your fill. (Open System Authentication) So Stan is allowed
(authenticated) into the restaurant. Inside the foyer of the restaurant there
is a host who makes sure that Stan meets the bare minimum criteria of eating
there. This is an old place with very old and basic requirements, and Stan being a
younger up-to-date person easily meets them. The host then allows him on through to the
inside of the restaurant. Upon walking through the door, Stan not only feels
like he has been Authenticated, but he feels like he has a place he is truly
associated to.
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