In a CWA scenario, the user is redirected to the portal, authenticates, but the session is not transitioning from the 'redirected' state to the 'authenticated' state. What is the most likely cause?
Dynamic authorisation (CoA) lets the NAD accept change-of-authorisation packets from the RADIUS server. Without 'aaa server radius dynamic-author', the switch cannot process the CoA that moves the session from redirected to authenticated after portal login.
Why this answer
In a CWA (Central Web Authentication) flow, after the user authenticates on the portal, ISE must send a Change of Authorization (CoA) to the NAD to move the session from redirected to authenticated. This requires the NAD to be configured with the 'aaa server radius dynamic-author' command so it can accept CoA requests from ISE. Without it, the NAD ignores the CoA and the session remains in the redirected state.
Exam trap
SISE often tests the CWA post-authentication CoA requirement, and candidates frequently blame the portal or policy set instead of the NAD's missing dynamic-author configuration, which is the actual cause of a stuck redirected session.
How to eliminate wrong answers
Option B is wrong because a missing Guest user group in the Policy Set would cause authentication to fail entirely, not a successful authentication with a stuck redirected state. Option C is wrong because a misapplied Redirect ACL would prevent the initial redirect to the portal, not the post-authentication transition. Option D is wrong because an incorrect portal URL would prevent the user from reaching the portal at all, not cause a post-authentication state transition failure.