# Network Access Identifier

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Network_Access_Identifier
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Network_Access_Identifier.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Access_Identifier
> Source revision: 1156474815
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Unique identifier for individual users of a computer network}}
In computer networking, the '''Network Access Identifier''' (NAI) is a standard way of identifying users who request access to a network. The standard syntax is "user@realm".  Sample NAIs include (from RFC 4282):

* bob
* joe@example.com
* fred@foo-9.example.com
* fred.smith@example.com
* fred_smith@example.com
* fred$@example.com
* fred=?#$&*+-/^smith@example.com
* eng.example.net!nancy@example.net
* eng%nancy@example.net
* @privatecorp.example.net
* \(user\)@example.net
* alice@xn--tmonesimerkki-bfbb.example.net

Network Access Identifiers were originally defined in RFC 2486, which was superseded by  RFC 4282, which has been superseded by RFC 7542. The latter RFC is the current standard for the NAI.  NAIs are commonly found as user identifiers in the [RADIUS](/source/RADIUS) and [Diameter](/source/Diameter_(protocol)) network access protocols and the [EAP](/source/Extensible_Authentication_Protocol) authentication protocol.

The Network Access Identifier (NAI) is the user identity submitted by the client during network access authentication.

It is used mainly for two purposes:
# The NAI is used when roaming, to identify the user.
# To assist in the routing of the authentication request to the user's authentication server.

==See also==
* [Diameter](/source/Diameter_(protocol))
* [EAP](/source/Extensible_Authentication_Protocol)
* [RADIUS](/source/RADIUS)
* [Request for Comments](/source/Request_for_Comments)

==External links==
*{{IETF RFC|7542}}
*{{IETF RFC|4282}}

Category:Internet Standards

{{compu-network-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Network Access Identifier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Access_Identifier) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Access_Identifier?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.